La Laiterie du Berger achieved positive EBITDA for one month

Adrien Varrod (on La Laiterie du Berger)

on the Monday, 13 February, 2012 - 10:47

For the first time since danone.communities invested in the project in 2008, La Laiterie du Berger achieved a positive EBITDA for one month, in August 2011. This huge achievement on 1 month resulted from 2 main factors. First, ramadan in 2011 was from 1^st to 30^th August and yogurt consumption in Senegal peaks during Ramadan. The consumption is at its highest at the end of Ramadan, the “korite”, when families buy yogurt in buckets of 5 kilos. August 2011 was therefore THE time of year to push yogurt sales. Second, Dolima - La Laiterie du Berger’s yogurt brand - did a huge sales and marketing push in store and on TV, delivering massive sales uplifts in August, allowing LDB to break even.

The Dolima TV ad showed the milk freshly collected, the Fulani cows and a mouth-watering demo of the new, thicker recipe. Many adults within Dolima’s core target audience were convinced and tried our yogurt, discovering how tasty it is. Those who were not convinced by the ad were cornered in store with product sampling and converted many more consumers. The ad also featured Sanekh, a well-known Senegalese stand-up comedian, who made the whole country laugh to its jokes and funny faces featuring Dolima yogurt. Children absolutely love him and immediately adopted Dolima as their favourite yogurt brand.

Danone Nations Cup in Senegal : some words from La Laiterie

Laurence Saquer (on La Laiterie du Berger)

on the Thursday, 6 October, 2011 - 16:02

"The Danone Nations Cup is a magical event. Especially when it takes place in an African country where the activities of young people are not necessarily at the heart of the priorities. The most incredible is the children's eyes when they see a whole team (Danone, Diambars, LDB) getting mobilized around their favorite activity.

The dances and songs of spectators (parents, friends, teams) were matched by the enthusiasm that young sports players have demonstrated. This year there were mixed teams where boys and girls competed with dexterity, a sign of noble values ​​that we learn from sport such as team spirit, beyond the differences among the members that compose it.

After a competition of 4 axes with the participation of 3000 children, the grand final was played at the shot. A session stressful enough, for this little person that becomes responsible for his/her team by taking the penalty that would seal the team victory.

The joy of the winners - who we announced shortly before they had the chance to meet football legend Zidane and they would go to Spain - is a message to thousands of children to keep on believing in their dreams. There are people worldwide who are ready to deploy considerable resources to participate in the realization of these dreams.

This initiative of Danone and its involvement in the Social Business are really signs of the birth of a new type of business where the global economy comes from those good feelings and solidarity. Thank you to everyone who made this dream possible."

Fekke ko ay Déwene Sowone Bawane InchAllah*.

Memories of a Danoner from the field in Senegal

Laurence Saquer (on La Laiterie du Berger)

on the Wednesday, 31 August, 2011 - 15:58

(via Google Translate)

Ernestine is a Danone for 11 years. Assistant Emmanuel Faber, it always follows the actions of danone.communities. From inception, it was she who attends Emmanuel Marchant during the first 9 months of existence of this adventure.

Since that time, Ernestine keeps an eye on the bubble inside Danone, which attempts to change the world. Yet it lacked Ernestine was to go on the field!

 "I saw tons of slides, presentations, photos ... But after a while, this is not enough! I wanted to see what it looked on the spot!". Ernestine tells me a few weeks after his return from Dakar. Thus, taking advantage of an ideal schedule (formal meeting about the launch of the pilot MossTekki), Ernestine flew in late June for three days of immersion and discovery.

Senegal is the country where danone.communities supports two projects: La Laiterie du Berger Lemateki since 2008, the first product tests were conducted in recent months.

Ernestine was able to follow, almost step by step, Guillaume Debost, responsible for the collection of milk for the Dairy and the Shepherd was struck by the gap between gathering a more "Western" Europe, and the device of Dairy: it can sometimes collect only 1200 liters per day, when in France, the collection is evaluated only on the numbers 5 or 6 figures ... this shows the commitment of these local teams who believe every day. For Ernestine, this project is a "wonderful achievement".

To enter the concrete project Lemateki, Ernestine met with local teams and followed the driver of MossTekki for a whole morning to provide vendors with products. The task must be methodical as before delivery to vendors must receive all the bags from France, recount the number of sticks in each of them (there are normally 80), which can sometimes happen fragmented and therefore need to clean all the others ... then it is in the playground that our reporter Danone has seen the effects of this new product, but more importantly, how vendors, children and schools are suitable: regularly, one of the four schools visited Ernestine, celebrates the best seller MossTekki. In addition, children have named their football team, Mosstekki ...

On her return, Ernestine came to us in our office on the 6th floor. She shared with us ... but this little journey, which gave the feeling of having taken "a double dose of vitamin C in 1000! ". Its reflection at the end of this adventure is also about people who engage in such projects: "Thank you so much for everything you do! ".

Some pictures made by Ernestine during her travel.

The milk collect explained at La Laiterie Du Berger.

Social business parties at La Laiterie Du Berger

Merryl (on La Laiterie du Berger)

on the Wednesday, 13 July, 2011 - 10:30

On the following to the General Community Meeting, two events were organized to celebrate the social business in Senegal and recall the spirit of the Laiterie du Berger to all staff.

DAKAR, May the 7th

It is primarily the headquarters of Ouakam that the festivities began. All services in Dakar were present: Pipo and the commercial team, Petit and the logistics team, Joel and the administration team. After they introduced themselves in pairs and said what they preferred the Laiterie Du Berger, the knowledge of everyone on the Laiterie du Berger has been tested ! The score was very tight and it would have almost had a bailiff to receive complaints from other teams who contested the answers! It is ultimately the team of Pipo Bob sales manager who won.

Then HR manager, pushers (sellers feet), commercial and accounting listened attentively to a presentation on my collection expérience, the ”Peuls” herders and those of Seydina about production and sales. The sententious "Vive la Laiterie du Berger" delivered by Baba at the end of the speech announcing the start of the barbecue. No one has left a crumb!

RICHARD TOLL, June the 4th

The first arrivals were the “Peuls” herders, in a cart from afar to attend the event. They started watching, intrigued, the huge tarp trombinoscope breeders in search of their portrait.

Nearly 100 people attended the event. We started with the quiz on Laiterie du Berger, not so easy for farmers : "How can I know that myself! I'm a shepherd! "