Creative Capitalism: one for one, from day one

Recently, I was contacted by a PR firm (Attention) and asked if I would profile Blake Mycoskie on my blog(s). I’m ashamed to say how long it’s taken me to turn this piece around, however seeing the latest ATT commercial featuring Blake after a long day of meetings (at my day job) shamed me into finishing. My interest in this company stems from the growing trend of businesses that are modeling a new way of making money: Creative Capitalism.

Traditionally, companies that “do good” are generally non profits, and when people find out that a traditional small business is also “doing good” they feel like somehow the company must be taking advantage of the community it is serving if it is also turning a profit. I do not believe this to be the case and formed my consulting company based on the premise that small businesses would contribute to a triple bottom line if they knew where to find it.

Creative Capitalism has been around for a while. Formerly known as social entrepreneurism, it is a concept newly labeled by Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and other market leaders and the premise is that “we should attempt to stretch the reach of market forces so that more companies can benefit from doing work that makes more people better off.” The book is available on Amazon (unsure of where the profits go). So far, it’s a pretty foreign concept to most bottom-line discussions. Having spent time reviewing the giving trends of big tycoons in the past (land trusts, libraries, parks), there is something different about the timing of this idea: the generation that is receiving it.  

The 30 and 20-somethings have grown disillusioned with where the 1980s consumption and 1990s holding on behavior have gotten us. Those that have the means to get out and travel, see the disparity in the world, come back and want to do something about it. With technology to reflect back their experiences they are twittering, facebooking, myspacing and texting what they are seeing to one another – and a small group are doing something about it.

Why profile TOMS?

Two reasons: 1) Anyone who has seen true the true spirit of leadership in play knows it is the eagerness to lose oneself in the group for the good of the group. This quality is best exemplified in Blake Mycoskie for the simple reason: that is where the heart of his business began. One for One, from day One. 2) Any size business should learn that a social model (something that takes into account the community in which it survives) thrives 10-fold compared to businesses that have tunnel-vision on bottom line sales. There is something to be said for karma.

About the Company

TOMS Shoes promises to give to children in need a pair of shoes for each pair it sells. The company  has given over 140,000 pairs of shoes and expects to give more than 300,000 pairs this year.

TOMS Shoes launched in Venice, California and sold 10,000 pairs during the first year in business. As a result, Blake returned to Argentina in October of 2006 with family and friends and unveiled the second phase of his business plan: the Shoe Drop Tour. To meet demand, TOMS now offers Shoe Drop Tours throughout diverse regions of Argentina. These are volunteer opportunities where TOMS Shoes supporters hand-deliver shoes to children. Since its beginning, TOMS has given over 140,000 shoes to children in need around the world. 

Here is a bit of my discussion with Blake:

 

Why shoes?
BLAKE: Walking is the primary mode of transportation in developing countries. Children walk miles just to get food and water, to make their way to school, or to reach medical help. In some communities, children can’t even attend school unless they have proper footwear. And the leading plague in these countries is soil-transmitted parasites. Shoes are such a simple answer to these problems children face every day.

See TOMS educational videos: One Day Without Shoes and Why Ethiopia (warning on the second video for graphic images)

Technology is required in today’s job market. Is TOMS Shoes looking to attract a blended workforce, or does the average age of the workers in the company reflect a standard .com?
BLAKE: For the first few years, our staff reflected the young, evolving company that we were. But as we grow, TOMS is definitely looking to attract a diverse workforce. We’ve become much more aware of our needs, and therefore able to hire individuals with specific skill sets, relevant experience, and worthy knowledge. I am still the CEO and Chief Shoe Giver, and I continue to immerse myself in TOMS because it’s my passion. I have creative ideas and feverish curiosity, and my team is receptive to that. But I definitely have trust in those who are facilitating the every day, drafting direction, and establishing strategies.

Your company is for-profit. What sort of profit sharing model exists for the employees and how did you arrive at the decision to not do a nonprofit?
BLAKE: My earnings from other businesses I had started before TOMS are what kept us afloat in the earlier days- TOMS was not funded by an outside 3rd party. I never had to present a business plan or get approval, I just had trust in myself and the One for One concept. Of course people laughed when I said TOMS would give a pair of shoes away for every pair we sold, but now TOMS is proving One for One as a viable business model. Our customers have been amazing supporters since day 1.

I created TOMS as a for-profit business to ensure a sustainable way of giving. We’re able to give shoes weekly in Ethiopia, and monthly in Argentina. I also wanted to prove that you can build giving into your business model from day one and still be profitable. We get a lot of inquiries from all types of organizations wanting to get involved with TOMS in one way or another. It’s a blessing, really, but we have to be careful in these first critical years of building our brand.

You are an example of an individual whose actions will help define the generation they are in. Your generation is described as both the “me generation” and the “giving generation.” How do you think your generation should be characterized?
BLAKE: This generation is one that thrives off of action. We don’t dream about change, we make it happen. We don’t imagine a way to incorporate giving in to our daily lives- we do it. TOMS has so many young supporters who are passionate about the One for One movement, and who share the story and inspire others every day they wear their TOMS. Seeing them support this business model is proof that this generation is ready and able to create a better tomorrow.

People connect with TOMS beyond just owning another pair of shoes. There’s something more every time you slip on a pair, every time you share the story, every time you suggest a pair of TOMS as a gift because no matter what brought you to purchasing a pair of TOMS, you are making an impact on a child’s life. Will there be saturation of cause-based marketing? Most likely, but TOMS has paved the way for other entrepreneurs to incorporate giving in to their businesses.

The One for One mission is sticking with this generation, and causing a new way of thinking. We grew up with parents who were taking those first small steps, and now we are just charging full speed ahead towards a better tomorrow. We have to. One for One is proving that you can bring closure to an issue by incorporating a conscious decision in to the actions you already take- whether its as a consumer purchasing a product, or a business looking for ways to inspire a better tomorrow. It makes consumerism and philanthropy come together full circle.

Carpe Diem!

Twit This!    |

Do it…because it feels good.

Do it once a year. Do it once a month. Do it twice a week.

 

Pro Bono, I mean…what were you thinking?

 

Especially in this time, when things are tight for everyone, time is valuable. Give it freely. Find a way to connect with those in your community. I’ve noticed messages being targeted to boomers right now: “Give time because you’ve saved well for youre retirement” and think it is a lot of hooey…people need money right now. However, given the lack of opportunity, volunteering can help people in transition with a few things:

• keeps your portfolio current
• transition into another job
• give you the tools and lingo being used “now” by people who have jobs; language is one of the critical elements that shows a team you belong or you don’t (unforunately, you can know the answer, but if you don’t reflect people back to themselves, they won’t recognize you as part of their pack)
• meet people who have things in common with
• develop your skills
• assist you with transitioning into retirement
• help you get out into the workforce after having kids

 

Volunteering is great social exercise! What ways do you contribute to your community? Has volunteering helped you through a transition?

 

Here is a little plug for TapRoot’s latest project:

Given the focus this administration has on community service, I predict that you will see a copy of this book in the White House, or at minimum, being discussed by the White House…

 

From the folks at TapRoot -

 

Pro Bono Leaders,

On April 20th we are publishing our first book-a children’s book. Mommy and Daddy Do It Pro Bono. We need your help to make it the best selling children’s book on Amazon.com the first week it goes on sale, which happens to also be National Volunteer Week.

We are tired of astronauts and ballerinas getting all the play with our kids. I mean really, how many astronauts do you know? It is time that we introduced our kids to other professionals — people like you — who put their talents to work helping the community. We thought there should be a book for our kids about HR managers, accountants and graphic designers and the impact these professionals can have in the community by using their skills to make a difference.

Thus was born Mommy and Daddy Do It Pro Bono: Epic Careers by Inspiring Parents.

 We did the hard part and wrote the book. Now we need YOUR help.

1) The week of April 20th, go to Amazon.com and order the book. Get one for you and for every family you know.

2) Help promote the book to build awareness.  Are you on any parents’ lists? Belong to any trade or alumni associations? Write a blog (or know someone who does)? Let us know so we can give you the content to get the word out that week.

Thank you for being role models to our children!

do it pro bono.

Taproot Foundation First Family

America's Most Promising Social Entreprenuers

From Business Week: America’s Most Promising Social Entreprenuers

“Social entrepreneurs—enterprising individuals who apply business practices to solving societal problems such as pollution, poor nutrition, and poverty—are now 30,000 strong and growing, according to B Lab, a nonprofit organization that certifies these purpose-driven companies. Together, they represent some $40 billion in revenue.

Not surprising, then, that they’ve caught the attention of venture capitalists such as those at Acumen Fund, a nonprofit that invests in companies that try to alleviate poverty, and Bay Area Equity Fund, which backs businesses aiming to make social or environmental improvements to San Francisco’s needier neighborhoods. President Obama has even suggested starting a new government agency to help socially conscious startups gain more access to venture capital.

Back in January, we asked readers and a few members of the social enterprise community to nominate candidates whose trailblazing companies, in operation for at least a year, aimed to turn a profit while tackling social ills.

After the call for nominations ended on Feb. 20, our staff sifted through more than 200 and narrowed the impressive group down to a final 25. To read profiles of the finalists, click on. At the end of the slide show, you can vote for the business you feel holds the most promise, from now until Apr. 26. We’ll announce the top five vote-getters on May 2. (Note: All revenues and traffic numbers are self-reported.)” for the finalists, click here.

Interesting that President Obama is looking to support this effort with an agency. I wonder how that would work? While I’m glad this is on his radar, I don’t see the government as the best support mechanism for anything venture capital related. McKinley (I believe) said that it if government would go away tomorrow, it would take the American people 6 month to realize it. Given that, I find it hard to believe that the government could really add value in the time necessary for a business to get off the ground.

But I’d love to hear more on the topic.

Show Customer Love: Be Eco Positive

Eco Positive| When companies move from merely neutralizing and offsetting their undesirable eco-effects to actually boosting the environment by going the extra mile.

• London-based Ecoigo, a ‘green’ car service, aims to be carbon positive, offsetting double the emissions from every trip as well as from energy used by its office.
• As part of its sustainable growth initiative, FIJI Water will offset its total carbon footprint by 120%. Pity it still involves plastic bottles, of course.
• The first free green search engine—advertising-funded Ecocho—was launched in 2008 with the intention of planting up to two trees for every 1,000 searches made via its Yahoo-supported search engine, removing a ton of CO2 from the atmosphere. The first trees will be planted in Australia via official government-accredited projects. So far, 6,615 trees have been funded, which will remove 3,307,765 kilos of CO2 from the atmosphere. The service is multi-lingual and will be rolled out globally. Imagine if Google had such a program!
• US-based Of The Earth sells handmade Flower Seed Paper that produces flowers after being used. The paper sheets can be planted directly into the soil in a pot or in the garden. Also check out Pangea Organics, who actually incorporate seeds into their packaging.

Con-Post: Prisons focus on greening too

Being sustainable is something that everybody is doing, no matter where they are in life. Interesting article from MSNBC

Inmates of the minimum-security facility, 25 miles from Olympia, the state capital, raise bees, grow organic tomatoes and lettuce, compost 100 percent of food waste and even recycle shoe scraps that are made into playground turf.

“It reduces cost, reduces our damaging impact on the environment, engages inmates as students,” said Eldon Vail, secretary of the Washington Department of Corrections, which oversees 15 prisons and 18,000 offenders. “It’s good security.”

The most interesting and reinforcing part of this article (for me) was that people can be entrepreneurial ANYWHERE. Inmates should not be allowed to make money, but should do positive projects that build skills, and more importantly, give them hope to make a decent, peaceful living when they leave. Some recycle scraps from old prison blues to make diaper bags for women’s shelters and dog beds for animal shelters. Another inmate is managing a bee hive, learning to make honey and lotions from the wax.

How great would it be if companies like Burt’s Bees or smaller farmer market businesses came into prisons and taught sustainable skills? Reform is possible for those willing to change.

Hey, Green Business, is regulation a good idea?

·         How does environmental regulation affect your small businesses?

o    Additional taxes?

o    Ability to get loans? Credit?

o    Required compliance to unnecissary rules?

·         Are self governing goal setting more effective? How have you been able to get out in front of the economic or environmental climates by

o    Aligning with government initiatives?

o    Joining groups that develop strategies for long term positive change?

 

Given the emphasis on catastrophe in the media, I’d love to hear from some real small businesses what the real experience is with credit, lending, etc. Is it really as bad as people say?

 

Because “green” has been on the top of everyone’s minds of late, several governing bodies, certification boards and initiatives have popped up and it can be confusing to sort them all out and determine which ones you should look into.

 

This post provides an overview of The Climate Leaders Program Guide.  The EPA’s Climate Leaders challenges businesses to develop a comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions inventory for their activities and to set aggressive, long-term emissions reduction goals. Compared to the expected rate of improvement in their industry sector, partners in Climate Leaders will prevent a total of 125 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions — equivalent to the emissions from about 3 million automobiles in a year — through commitments announced to date.

 

Partner companies report emissions of the six major greenhouse gases from all major on-site emissions of greenhouse gases and emissions related to the electricity they purchase. Companies may also report emissions and reductions from a number of other activities including investments in offset projects. The Climate Leaders Protocol is based on an existing protocol developed by the World Resources Institute and World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

 

After partners complete their greenhouse gas inventory, the EPA works closely with them to develop a customized emissions reduction target. These targets must be aggressive long-term targets that exceed business-as-usual performance for the partner’s industry sector.

 

Overview

EPA’s Climate Leaders is an industry-government partnership that works with companies to develop long-term comprehensive climate change strategies. Partners set a corporate-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goal and inventory their emissions to measure progress. By reporting inventory data to EPA, Partners create a lasting record of their accomplishments. Partners also identify themselves as corporate environmental leaders and strategically position themselves as climate policy continues to unfold.

 

By becoming a Climate Leader, your company can:

o    Be identified as an environmental leader

o    Increase energy efficiency and reduce energy costs

o    Create a lasting record of accomplishments

o    Receive technical assistance to complete a GHG inventory

o    Improve management of GHG emissions and their associated risks

o    Become a well-informed player in the climate change policy discussion

 

Program Basics

Partners commit to:

·         Develop a corporate-wide GHG inventory including all emission sources of the six major gases (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, SF6) using the Climate Leaders GHG Inventory Protocol

·         Set an aggressive corporate-wide GHG emissions reduction goal to be achieved over the next 5 to 10 years

·         Develop a corporate GHG inventory management plan

·         Report annual inventory data and document progress towards their reduction goal

·         Publicize their participation, reduction goal, and accomplishments achieved through the program

 

In return, EPA provides:

Recognition

·         National press events

·         Public service announcements in major business and consumer publications

·         Speaking engagements at industry conferences

·         Articles in trade publications

·         Case studies highlighting Partner achievements

·         Full page corporate profile on the Climate Leaders Web site

 

Credibility

·         A credible, transparent GHG reporting mechanism

·         Assurance that Partners have created a high-quality GHG management process

 

Buzz Term: Sustainability

from The Environmental Leader…

The term “sustainability” peaked on blogs, boards and discussion groups after the February 25 telecast of The Oscars as Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” took home the Oscar for Documentary Feature. Nonetheless, “sustainability” has remained a persistent issue in the blogosphere, with buzz levels on this term up 169 percent in July 2007 versus one year ago, Nielsen BuzzMetrics reports.

“Fueled by Al Gore, growing media attention, and other factors, these higher, lasting buzz levels suggest sustainability is further becoming a deep-rooted priority in consumers’ lives,” said Greg Thornhill, VP and Practice Lead, CPG, Nielsen BuzzMetrics. “For marketers, this new era of sustainability means they must prepare for rising consumer awareness and scrutiny in everything they do and how it relates to the future good of the planet.”

More…

A Conversation with Jeff Shay of Rejuvenation

A little while ago, I had the pleasure of a short interview with Jeff Shay, Engineering Manager and Environmental & Safety Officer at Rejuvenation. For those not familiar…

Rejuvenation began in 1977 as an architectural salvage shop in a derelict North Portland saloon. Jim Kelly, who still owns the privately held company, began the business with $1,000 and an eye for discarded architectural treasures. When business was slow, Kelly rebuilt vintage light fixtures found amidst the castoffs. Demand for the fixtures grew until eventually Kelly began manufacturing period-authentic lighting in his Portland factory for customers throughout the United States.

 

Today, Rejuvenation is America’s largest manufacturer and leading direct marketer of authentic reproduction lighting and house parts. Rejuvenation products are made-to-order and sold through the company’s catalogue, website, and retail stores in Portland, Ore. and Seattle, Wash.”

More about the company history…

 

Given their ties to the Arts & Crafts movement which has had the concept of sustainability and appreciation of quality materials infused in its value system for over 100 years, I wanted to understand more about what their thoughts were on this “new fangled ‘green’ movement.” Below are some of the Q&A’s from that conversation.

 

What is Rejuvenation’s philosophy on sustainability?

Rejuvenation has been reticent to talk about how we operate or participate in the “larger world” or to the customer because we’ve been sensitive to companies that greenwash.

 

Side bar: Greenwashing is a relatively new term for me, as I’m just getting into this subject. But I can understand what he is talking about. When you see things like Monsanto talking about how green they are….you have to pause a moment. Check this out.

 

It’s difficult to come up with a message that makes sense when you are in the middle of it (the creation of something). Craftsmanship is a component of that in what we do. For us, the sustainability aspect has its roots in liberal politics. Jim is a fairly left leaning person and has built a business that reflects his values and interests.

 

At its core, Rejuvenation is a manufacturer and gets regulated so we have to keep track of the environmental impacts. We have always been aware of the environmental side of things. We’re in a an unusual position in that the engineering manger is the environmental & safety officer—so there isn’t much of a sell job necessary.”

 

Does Rejuvenation speak publically as influencers?

Members of the management team teach classes and give lectures. We also provide tour groups through the factory

 

Who do you talk to? What are some of the topics you concentrate on?

We speak to fair number of architects and specifiers, manufacturing folks and pollution prevention conferences

 

We talk about the process we went through to integrate sustainability. We worked with the Department of Environmental Quality and the Bureau of Environmental Services  to create a tool to do an environmental assessment of your business. This effort resulted in a rating tool based on the Natural Step Framework for businesses to objectively rate themselves.

 

Often when discussing the environment, you are really discussing your personal values. These debates tend to get reduced to emotional discussions v remaining fact-based. Being somewhat biased toward process and science, I appreciate the objectivity this brings to a business conversation. It cuts right to the important issues.   

 

Businesses that go through the value stream mapping and process flow mapping have learned valuable lessons they were able to apply to their businesses which immediately saved them money. People hear process flows, and they think it’s just for big business, but small businesses are prone to growing organically. They get out there and start doing their thing and wake up one day and ask “how did we get here?” At the very least, it will cause businesses to dissect what they want to do, and a map to go do it.

 

How does Rejuvenation apply the triple bottom line towards its people?

We believe in fairness to workers, etc. The Natural Step Framework is the first sort of environmental/philosophical thing that I’ve run into that included the people component. From a purely pragmatic standpoint, if you are asking someone to pick your cause while they are trying to put food on the table for their kids – I can tell you which one is going to win. It shouldn’t be a choice, but a way of doing business. We as a company have a history of trying to attend to that sort of thing.

 

We look at vendors for environmental and working conditions and don’t do business with companies that aren’t within our value system. We have a luxury–that our goods have a reasonable margin. If we were in the cut throat business of Intel servers we might not.

 

We have internal debates around what the components of a good work place. Fair wage, decent benefits, health care—which for a business our size is very difficult to provide.  We try and provide other benefits, for example: home buying benefit to help out with first time home buyers. Could we do more, maybe – but we always have to keep in mind that we can’t do good business if we’re out of business

 

How has remaining a privately held company influenced your thinking about the rate at which a company needs to maintain growth?

I do think that the Wall Street shareholder set up is the very worst thing you can do to business. There is no question that if we weren’t private there are things we couldn’t do; or had we done those things, they might become some public relations exercise. 

 

Some public companies spend more time managing messaging than really getting the things done that they intended. Being private affords that ability without the pressure of shareholders demanding a particular revenue number, without thought to what is getting created or its overall impact.

 

Last thoughts on Greenwashing? Do you think it’s just another phase? Do Americans have the attention span to make change?

I don’t like the idea of a company “going green” because it’s the new hot thing. Now, there is at least a little bit of a realization that no one is exempt from playing their part in realizing their impact on the world. As a country, we have some huge structural issues that will make green hard to adopt the way it was in Europe. The power structures here don’t hold those values. Companies are doing it bc it makes good business sense, and nothing more. It makes sense to adopt from a bottom line perspective.

 

Attention span? Well, it would need to be mandated over several generations for it to take, but I believe it can change. Our reputation (here in Oregon) for being lefty and strange is founded in reality in many ways, and it’s taken 2-3 generations for that reputation to stick. Take Oregon and Washington as examples. We should be more alike given our proximity; it goes back to the ‘60s when we had a progressive government and a legislature that worked together, unlike the folks up north.

 

Globalization will force it. The multinationals will have to deal with it whether they like it or not. When you are talking about global manufacturing, it doesn’t make sense to make different products for everyone. You make the same for both (countries) and you make them to the higher standard (in this case, sustainable).

 

Do you think Rejuvenation will face the same sort of competition others have from China (or other cheaper markets)?

Rejuvenation doesn’t compete with products from China. Our customers  are very knowledgeable about what they are looking for. In some cases, know more about our products than we do. They are looking for quality materials and a particular craftsmanship. Mass market products don’t provide that.

 

About Jeff Shay

Jeff has “a couple of old degrees in science.”  He started at Rejuvenation fifteen years ago on the sales floor as a day job,  after getting a degree in Fine Arts. When asked if he could supply a few power points of previous presentations, there was a slight pause. “I don’t do powerpoints, I talk. When I’m forced to do them, my wife (an IBM veteran) helps me.” Then he pointed me to his favorite presentation: The Gettysburg Address.

 

Point taken.

 

Links:

-          Oregon Natural Step Framework The Oregon Natural Step Network (the Network) was formed to support Oregon business, governmental, and educational organizations interested in using The Natural Step (TNS) framework for sustainability. The Network is a membership organization open to interested organizations and individuals.

 

What an opportunity, part II

After I wrote the post on Plumpynut, I could not get the story out of my head. It was a classic example of a company meeting a need with the simplest of solutions – and yet I can not understand why some of the larger manufacturing operations are not getting into this game. They would be safer than some of the get-rich quick companies in China or India, who seem to not be regulated as heavily. 

Surely companies like Nestle, Kraft and P&G can:

• produce this product at the lowest cost
• dedicate crop space to this product
• create jobs around the world and build people and communities with a single flavor

And it’s interesting, this story has done more to spur conversation (in person, not on the blog ‘obviously’) about how people can make money doing the right thing. A former collegue even approached me on starting a manufacturing company, which is tempting. I mean, if small mom and pop shops can figure out how to manufacture, market and sell gourmet dog treats - we should be able to figure out how to make a simple peanut butter mixture.

I thought I would share a little additional information on the company that is currently supplying UNICEF.

Nutriset, a private company in France was founded by former African aid worker Michel Lescanne, has been selling food products to combat hunger and malnutrition since 1986. And it finally has a hit on its hands. Plumpy’nut, a patented nutritional supplement, was distributed to an estimated 500,000 children last year – double the number in 2005 and up from just 120,000 in 2004. One 3-ounce packet delivers 500 calories. Severely malnourished children can thrive on three or four a day.

Orders from big buyers like Unicef helped Nutriset’s sales top $25 million in 2006, up from $6.5 million in 2001. Most entrepreneurs would crow about such growth, but not company director Adeline Lescanne. “We don’t want to be a multinational,” she says. “We want to produce all that is needed. If we have to grow, we will grow to satisfy need.”

With no direct competitors and so many hungry people on the planet, Nutriset’s future growth looks certain. Would-be social entrepreneurs should remember the lesson of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus’s micro-finance bank: Sometimes the best solution to a big problem is a small one -in this case, one that fits in the palm of a child’s hand

She says Nutriset reinvests 80 percent of its profit – or about $2.5 million during the past year – into developing new products, and the firm is partnering with entrepreneurs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Niger to produce Plumpy’nut locally. Each African franchisee will be a for-profit entity that relies on less expensive local ingredients to deliver Nutriset’s proprietary recipe.

Related articles:

• SuperChef
• MSF USA – Doctors Without Borders
• MSF Australis
• MSF France (video)
• UNICEF
• IRIN Africa News story

What an opportunity…

For some company to step in, do the right thing, and make money….

Last week, I saw this segment on Plumpynut for the second time on 60 Minutes. I’m glad this topic has come around again, and felt just as dumbfounded as to why this is such a difficult problem to solve this time as I did the first time.

 

Quick Background

• Journalist-designed-to-attract-women-in-their-30s visits third world (complete with Prada-T) and interviews the Nobel Prize-winning relief group “Doctors Without Borders.”
• Every year, malnutrition kills five million children – that’s one child every six seconds.
• Dr. Milton Tectonidis, the chief nutritionist for Doctors Without Borders says Plumpynut is cheap, easy to make, and even easier to use. 
• Plumpynut is a ready-to-eat, vitamin-enriched paste that has the capacity to serve like an essential medicine; in three weeks, a child that looked half dead can be cured.  

  

 

 

The Problem

Mothers in these villages can’t produce enough milk themselves and can’t afford to buy it. Even if they could, they can’t store it — there’s no electricity, so no refrigeration. Powdered milk is useless because most villagers don’t have clean water.

The Solution

Plumpynut is simple: it is made of peanut butter, powdered milk, powdered sugar, and enriched with vitamins and minerals. It tastes like a peanut butter paste. It is very sweet, and because of that kids cannot get enough of it. The formula was developed by a nutritionist. It doesn’t need refrigeration, water, or cooking; mothers simply squeeze out the paste. Many children can even feed themselves. Each serving is the equivalent of a glass of milk and a multivitamin.

My Question

Given the simplicity of this product, why haven’t companies like Kraft, Nestle or Procter & Gamble…with their decades of knowledge in product management, manufacturing and global distribution not done something about this?

It’s those organizations that can secure a government contract, produce this kind of product at a low cost and distribute it. There is a market, it’s cheap, and the product will make money!!! What’s the deal?