With affordable food, our focus is on both providing dairy products and developing locally sourced ingredients to produce nutritionally balanced food solutions for low-income families in developing countries. Families on a very low income are often unable to buy nutritious food and are likely to be malnourished. Most low-income families want to purchase the most affordable and filling products to avoid everyday hunger. With affordable milk powder solutions and other whey-based dairy products, we can ensure that more people will have access to the essential nutrients of milk.
We want to grow our business in a sustainable and responsible manner while caring for people and delivering growth. We want to help develop and share knowledge about milk’s nutrients in developing countries. Our aim is to combat malnutrition and make sure that more people will get access to dairy nutrients that they could not otherwise afford.
Dolima – La Laiterie du Berger
In Senegal 15-25% of the population go hungry and around 37% live on less than 1.5 US dollars a day, while almost half of the population lives on less than two dollars per day. It is with this population group in mind that we have participated in the development of Dolima®.
Dolima® is a social business project where Arla Foods Ingredients works closely with a local dairy company La Laitere du Berger, which is French for herder’s dairy. The Dolima® brand is owned by La Laitere du Berger. By working with local manufacturers and farmers, the aim is to build sustainable value chains that can deliver more nutritious, affordable food. With the Dolima-project we have contributed to develop a new low-cost yogurt, where milk, which is expensive, is replaced with whey permeate and water. Calcium and minerals in the whey permeate make this low-cost yogurt a good source of dairy nutrients that many people wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise.
It all started in 2009 with research projects in developing countries. With help from NGOs and an extensive field work, Arla Foods Ingredients began cooperating with La Laitere du Berger to develop and produce what is now known as Dolima® yogurt. Today, the yogurt is sold under the Dolima® brand in more than 13,000 small shops. Dolima® is made with fresh local Senegal milk mixed with whey permeate from Arla Food Ingredients. In Senegal milk is a high-cost product that was mostly used and consumed by some of the richest people in the country. With Dolima® more people can get essential dairy vitamins and minerals.
Dolima® is commonly used as a snack and it enables more people get a healthier snack compared to crackers and soft drinks. Dolima® is an example of an affordable product that helps low-income families live a healthier life, and which at the same time creates better opportunities for people to learn about the good nutrients of dairy.
Cool Cow®
Dano Cool Cow® is a filled milk powder that meets the standard of Arla branded nutrition criteria providing our consumers with a healthier choice of dairy. The purpose is to equip low-income Nigerians with an affordable and nutrient-rich product to help them develop and sustain a healthy life. 67% of all Nigerians are below the age of 35 years while the estimated population growth is set to reach 400 million people in 2050. That is why Dano Cool Cow’s campaign focuses on female consumers to secure a healthy lifestyle for their kids.
To drive the Global Health Strategy in West Africa, Arla Foods commissioned a research. The result was the birth of a strategy to cultivate the culture of Good Food Habits in 2016 to reach out to consumers of the social economic classes where 50% of Nigerians live on an income of below 1.0 US Dollars a day. With a high level of poverty and fast urbanization, commodity prices are increasing while the need for low-priced milk products and education about how to live a healthy life becomes essential to the majority of the Nigerian population. In addition, Nigerian consumers like and are used to milk powder, while the infrastructure is ideal for distributing the Dano Cool Cow® product.
Therefore, Arla Foods rolled out a Neighbourhood Campaign with considerable success. Cool Cow® was sampled to 150.000 consumers in Nigeria within semi-urban and rural locations while demonstrating the benefits of milk in diet and key attributes of Dano milk. Also, 200 neighbourhoods where activated in the North and East part of the country.
As part of the Neighbourhood Campaign and with a focus on Dano Cool Cow® products, Arla Foods celebrated the efforts of mothers in providing a better quality of life for their children, driving the Arla Dano corporate “good food habit” message in all activations. Dano Cool Cow® is an example of an affordable product that improves the opportunity for a healthier life as well as learning about the good nutrients of dairy.
