Volans Co-Venture Case Studies

Joint Ventures – Grameen-Danone

An innovative joint venture spearheaded by the Grameen Group (founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, creator of the pioneering Grameen Bank that launched microfinance onto the global stage), and the Danone Group (the largest supplier of fresh dairy products in the world with €13 billion in sales in 2006).

The venture has the following three objectives:
1. to provide children suffering from nutritional deficiencies with a low-priced yoghurt adapted to their nutritional needs;
2. to create jobs around an economically viable and scalable business model;
3. to preserve the environment.

Not only is this venture having meaningful impact on the communities where it operates, but it is also contributing to the respective brands of Danone and Grameen, positioning them as innovative leaders in creating social business solutions to poverty.

Over the course of the first 12 months of this joint partnership, the host of Danone professionals deployed to the joint venture had their assumptions about plant construction, supply chains, manufacturing, distribution channels and packaging turned upside down.

And in that process, Danone has taken away lessons that have had a direct and positive impact on its branding, its mainstream markets and its employees.

Social and Environmental Supply Chain Alliances– UK Up-Market Restaurants & Belu Water

Reed Paget founded Belu Water in 2002 to harness the resources of business to create a sustainable balance between people and the planet – focusing specifically on water. Belu has created the most eco-friendly bottled water in the world. Its natural mineral water is the first carbon neutral bottled water, the first to come in a compostable bottle made from corn and the first to donate 100% of its profits to fund clean water projects around the world.

Belu is also influencing the consumer goods industry as a whole. As the first carbon neutral product out of the 70,000 at Tesco’s, one of the UK’s largest retail chains, Belu is showing by example that all businesses could and should take responsibility for their carbon emissions. To develop its brand and raise awareness about the importance of clean water, Belu has developed partnerships with over 400 up-market restaurants in London that wish to support the social enterprise’s mission. By demonstrating their commitment to environmental sustainability, restaurants also are able to further burnish their reputation as a good place to eat.

Strategic CSR Partnerships – The Cisco Academy: Cisco and ASAFE

Cisco spearheaded the Cisco Networking Academy in 1998 to bridge the “digital divide” among poor and excluded population groups. The Academy partners with public and private institutions, including schools, businesses, nonprofits, social enterprises and government organizations. One of those partners was ASAFE, a social enterprise started by Gisèle Yitamben in Cameroon.

ASAFE provides business training and development services, alternative financing and access to e-commerce to support thousands of women entrepreneurs in Cameroon, Guinea, Benin, Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many of ASAFE’s 5,000 members have created flourishing micro-enterprises.

By partnering with the Cisco Networking Academy, ASAFE has been able to support its members to learn to use information and communication technologies to connect to larger markets. And Cisco has benefitted by enabling more customers around the world to make use of its services.

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