Life in Bogra

Bogra farm continues to grow... Here are some pictures taken last October. We are now beginning the dairy production phase. Our teams travel markets in the region of Bogra to find some good dairy cows. The first week of exploration has been good with the identification of cows producing up to 25 liters of milk per day.

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The dairy farm in Bogra accommodates its first cows

The dairy farm of Bogra is the first pilot project of ICMSE. This training center-farm started a few months ago wants to be a model of social business. The farm received its first 50 cows, for a final capacity of 500 cows within 2 years. In addition to the production activities of milk and meat bio, this place is used as technical training center for the farmers of the area. The formations enable them to learn with better feeding and looking after their cows in order to improve their outputs.

The co-operative also wants to be an environmental development model. It functions in éco-cycle. The organic dungs and other waste are transformed into biogas used for the cooking and bio-fertilizers. A project is also in hand to produce bio-fertilizers sold to the farmers, thus offering an alternative to the expensive and harmful pesticides they used until now.

This project answers a real challenge, since Bangladesh covers less than 1/4 of its needs of milk and meat, and strongly depends on the imports. The project in progress envisages to establish a partnership with a European expert, making it possible to optimize the outputs of the farm.

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Yoann Guirimand, a 3 months field-work in Bangladesh

Yoann Guirimand has just arrived for 3 months at Bangladesh. His work primarily consists in developing the communications and prospection tools of ICMSE. Yoann also works on 3 projects in progress :

• The dairy cooperative in Bogra
• A study for the construction of a solar panels factory,
• A study for the establishment of a factory of production of low-cost construction materials.

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Partnership with Grameen Danone FoodLtd.

Involving in the concept of social business ICMSE sells its whole milk production to Grameen Danone Food which is another social business initiative. Indeed the Grameen Danone produces nutritious yoghurt, the features of which compensate for the nutritional lack of Bangladeshi children. Shokti Doi is very cheap to accessible for poor people. ICMSE answers indeed its social criterions thank to the choice of its suppliers, small local farmers and the choice of its customers, Grameen Danone Food.

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Partnership with French Institute of Solar Energy

Energy plays an increasingly important role in our modern societies. In the More Developed Countries the use of energy has a significant impact on the climate and energy is still not accessible to more than 1.6 billion people in developing countries. 150 million people live in Bangladesh and only 30% of the total population has only access to energy. That is why ICMSE has set up a partnership with INES the French Institute of Solar Energy to build up solar panels production plant in order to produce PV modules so that the micro entrepreneurs could access to the energy in low cost manner for their enterprise development and improving the living condition. The INES will also provide their technical knowledge and it expertise in terms of building low cost housing in Bangladesh for under privileged people within their affordable price.

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Three French Students are doing an internship in Bangladesh for ICMSE

Three French students from the Business Schools (EDHEC and ESC Toulouse) are now doing an internship program in Bangladesh for ICMSE : Romane THEOLEYRE, Charlotte LEMAITRE and Sophie GANDON.

They arrived in Bangladesh in the beginning of March and are particularly working about the development of the Dairy Farm Project in Bogra and in the same time they will work on other ICMSE projects in housing and energy sector.

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Dr Mostaq Ahmmed, Member of the new HEC Chaire ’Enterprise and Poverty’

Since many years, Dr. Mostaq Ahmmed is a visiting Professor at HEC to teach Social Business and Microfinance Studies. Recently he became a member of HEC Chair Social Business/ Enterprise Development for eradicating Poverty and the program has initiated by HEC and which is supported Danone.

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