Grameen Danone Foods: A Social Business Enterprise

Through this initiative, Danone, however, also expected to expand the market for its products. It was to introduce nutritious products that were reasonably priced. This way it would meet the needs of people at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP)⁶, who otherwise would have remained outside the scope of its business.

While most organizations had corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs that were primarily philanthropic in nature, such as giving away a percent of their profits to charity or funding causes through NGOs, Danone's JV with the Grameen Bank seemed to integrate a social cause with its primary business.

Initially, Carasso sold yoghurt - a dietary staple in the Balkans, where he had lived in his early years. He became aware of new advances being made relating to fermented milk at the Pasteur Institute (PI) in Paris. Carasso then came up with an industrial manufacturing process, which was a combination of the traditional method and the cultures developed at the PI, to produce yoghurt. In 1929, Daniel established Danone in France. During the Second World War, Daniel migrated to the US along with Joe Metzger (Metzger), an associate. In 1942, he established Dannon Milk Products Inc., America's first yoghurt company, in Bronx, New York. He named the company Dannon so that it would sound more 'American'...