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Phase: Community Review

Real fruit probiotic ambient yogurt for vulnerable school going children, pregnant & lactating mothers

Using real fruits from farmers & milk, we make probiotic yogurt that can keep at room temperature and fed to the most vulnerable in society

Photo of Davis Nyamweya
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I confirm that I am fully aware of the eligibility criteria, and based on its description, I am eligible to apply to the CSV Prize 2017.

  • Yes, I'm eligible

Preferred language

  • English

Organization name

Valley Green Farm Limited

Year founded

2015

Initiative stage

  • Start-Up (a pilot that has just started operating)

Annual budget in 2017 (USD)

  • $10k - $50k

Number of beneficiaries impacted so far

  • 1,000 - 5,000

Organization type

  • Social enterprise

Secondary Focus Area

  • Rural development

Headquarters location: Country

  • Kenya

Headquarters location: City

Nairobi

Location(s) of impact

Kenya: Naivasha, Nairobi, Kiambu

Website

www.valleygreenfarm.com
Our farm
Children enjoying real fruit ambient yogurt Children enjoying real fruit ambient yogurt
Mango & Passion Fruit Preserve (90% Fruit Content) with Ambient yogurt flavored with Mango & Passion Fruit Mango & Passion Fruit Preserve (90% Fruit Content) with Ambient yogurt flavored with Mango & Passion Fruit
3 varieties of our ambient yogurt with real fruits, Mango & Passion Fruit; Pineapple; Strawberry 3 varieties of our ambient yogurt with real fruits, Mango & Passion Fruit; Pineapple; Strawberry
Top View of the yogurts, Pineapple, Mango & passion Fruit, Strawberry Top View of the yogurts, Pineapple, Mango & passion Fruit, Strawberry
Mango & Passion Fruit Preserve (90% Fruit content) with ambient yogurt with real mango & passion fruit Mango & Passion Fruit Preserve (90% Fruit content) with ambient yogurt with real mango & passion fruit
Pineapple Preserve with Ambient yogurt flavoured with real pineapple fruit Pineapple Preserve with Ambient yogurt flavoured with real pineapple fruit
Strawberry Preserve (85% fruit content) with Ambient yogurt with real strawberry flavour Strawberry Preserve (85% fruit content) with Ambient yogurt with real strawberry flavour
Grade 1 strawberries from Valley Green Farm Grade 1 strawberries from Valley Green Farm
With my employees at the farm With my employees at the farm
Grading of strawberries Grading of strawberries
Farm visit by my sons, the future of Valley Green Farm Limited Farm visit by my sons, the future of Valley Green Farm Limited
Casual workers joining us in a late evening harvest. I have employed women to do the harvesting, grading and packing Casual workers joining us in a late evening harvest. I have employed women to do the harvesting, grading and packing

Facebook URL

https://www.facebook.com/ValleyGreenFarm/

Problem: What problem is this initiative trying to address?

1. Many children are in marginalized communities in Kenya do not attend school typically because the families have been displaced in search of food and water. 2. 2.6 million people in Kenya are severely food insecure. 370,000 children and 37,000 pregnant and lactating women are severely malnourished. 3. In the urban there is increased cases of children obesity and diseases related to high sugar intake in foods and snacks 4. School feeding programs are not effective in encouraging early entry of children to schools

Solution Summary: What is the proposed solution? What do you see as its most promising aspects for creating shared value?

Having run our own farms, we understand post harvest handling challenges that come with fruits. We make preserves that have 85% fruit content in it, have low sugar and no artificial flavours and colours. We buy second grade fruits from the farmers in Kenya and also buy what is left of grade 1 whenever a farmer fails to clear stock. Using the Amasai fermented milk culture, we make our plain yogurts with no sugar but can stay at room temperature for over 5 months. We then whey off and remain with a thick and high quality yogurt which is then flavoured by real fruits. The yogurt has high calcium level, high protein content 17g/100gand its probiotic (live cultures). Our project creates shared value over the supply chain, it enables farmers have a sure market of their fruits, we then manufacture the yogurts and schools adapt them in their menus especially for the children 3-9 years. The assurance of the RDI boosts the nutritional intake of the children, parents and the vulnerable.

Impact: What is the impact of the work to date? Specify both the social and the environmental impact of your work

We have aggregated 50 farmers with tropical fruits who then sell their produce to us for subsequent manufacturing. We have aggregated 10 dairy farmers to supply us with the best quality of milk for our yogurts. We walk hand in hand with the farmers through agronomy advice and in turn they yield high quality fruits which earns them good returns for economic empowerment. Currently we have 2000 repeat customers of our yogurt every month who enjoy our real fruit yogurts we have also rolled out a yogurt menu in a school with no refrigeration so as to encourage parents to start off their children with education with the assurance that they will have a meal in the day. Because of the probiotic nature and nutritional value of our yogurts, most households in Kiambu, Nairobi and Naivasha are adopting consumption of our yogurts for protein and calcium benefits. We would wish to roll out training on making the yogurt in pastoralist communities in Kenya so that they are empowered too.

Financial sustainability plan: How is this initiative financially supported? How will you ensure its financial sustainability long-term?

We started our farm in a partnership of friends. We raised the finances of up to USD $25,000 to set up, test and expand our strawberry farms in Naivasha. We slowly transitioned into a manufacturing company that makes low sugar jams (preserves). Over time we got into yogurt manufacturing which led to trying out the ambient yogurt made from traditional fermentation cultures. Currently the expansion and product development is financed with earned income from the sales of preserves, Greek-Styled yogurts, Fruit parfaits and fresh fruits. Annually our operation budget is $50,000. For sustainability, we would like to train communities to make their own while managing output and the market. We want to transform the project into a low margin, high volume product execution with 20-30% profit margin

Unique value proposition: What makes your initiative innovative? How does your project differ from other organizations working in the same field?

We are aping traditional way of making way of making fermented milk and commercializing it. We go further and use fresh fruits from farmers whom we have worked with in communities to make real fruit yogurts that can keep without refrigeration for over 5 months. We intentionally procure large volumes of our fruits & milk during season to reduce on cost. We supply the ambient yogurt to the most vulnerable in society, school going children, the elderly, lactating & pregnant in marginalized region

Founding story: Share a story about the "Aha!" moment that sparked the beginning of this initiative.

I grew up in a family of medics. Good food and strict adherence to the diet was the norm. But on the other side of the our country many died of hunger and starvation. Yet we claimed that "agriculture is the backbone of our nation" No one should die of hunger in a country of abundance! I did not end up in medical school but I did join Food Science and Technology degree in Egerton University. What i learnt in school prompted me to re-evaluate existing food preparation methods. I learnt that Masai warriors used to make fermented milk that could keep for up to 1 year as they fought their wars. I learnt in school about the benefits of probiotics. My partners and I then later started farming where I implemented post harvest methods to prevent wastage. My desire is to see that no excuses are given for children not to go to school because of lack of food more so quality food

Where did you hear about the Nestlé Creating Shared Value Prize?

  • Social media

Evaluation results

2 evaluations so far

1. Overall evaluation

5 - This idea rocked my world. It’s awesome! - 0%

4 - This idea seems really exciting. With a little more polishing, it’d be among my favorites. - 50%

3 - I think the idea is great, but it needs some work before it moves onto the next round. - 0%

2 - I liked it fine but preferred others. - 50%

1 - It didn’t make my heart beat faster. Needs significant revisions. - 0%

2. Innovation

5 - Absolutely, 100%! - 0%

4 - I feel really good about this - very promising - 50%

3 - This has some good elements and some areas for development - 50%

2 - This doesn’t inspire me so much - 0%

1 - This entry is weak here - 0%

3. Social and/or Environmental Impact

5 - Absolutely, 100%! - 0%

4 - I feel really good about this - very promising - 100%

3 - This has some good elements and some areas for development - 0%

2 - This doesn’t inspire me so much - 0%

1 - This entry is weak here - 0%

4. Financial sustainability

5 - Absolutely, 100%! - 100%

4 - I feel really good about this - very promising - 100%

3 - This has some good elements and some areas for development - 0%

2 - This doesn’t inspire me so much - 0%

1 - This entry is weak here - 0%

Nothing stands out! I thought it was great. - 0%

5. Potential to Scale / Replicability

5 - Absolutely, 100%! - 0%

4 - I feel really good about this - very promising - 50%

3 - This has some good elements and some areas for development - 50%

2 - This doesn’t inspire me so much - 0%

1 - This entry is weak here - 0%

6. Organizational Leadership

5 - Absolutely, 100%! - 50%

4 - I feel really good about this - very promising - 50%

3 - This has some good elements and some areas for development - 0%

2 - This doesn’t inspire me so much - 0%

1 - This entry is weak here - 0%

7. Potential for Creating Shared Value

5 - Absolutely, 100%! - 0%

4 - I feel really good about this - very promising - 50%

3 - This has some good elements and some areas for development - 0%

2 - This doesn’t inspire me so much - 0%

1 - This entry is weak here - 50%

2 comments

Join the conversation:

Comment
Photo of Arielle Semin

Great to have leveraged an ancient method of the Masai for fermented milk, seems to be a very good nutrition product. Project seems to have a good business case. Yet I struggle to see the Creating Shared Value part, would be great to know more how the product is reaching the vulnerable in the society.

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Photo of Davis Nyamweya

Thank you for your remarks. The vulnerable in the society in Kenya are young children, lactating women, pregnant women and the elderly in rural areas and the low income urban areas.
We are currently focused on school going children (4-7 years old) in the pastoralist communities by using localized micro processing units in communities where the yogurt is made by the community under our supervision and training then served to the early school going children.
The milk is sourced from the parents who are willing to spare a litre or more to be used for the yogurt. They earn some revenue from the supply of milk.
Each new child entered to the school is given a basic check on their health status from weight and body mass index, this is monitored all along the feeding program.
We also give incentives for the parents who carry our customized nutrition program to their homes. This is done to prevent parents neglecting the continuity of feeding the family with balanced diets simply because the children have been fed in schools.
All fruits are sourced from farmers from other regions in Kenya that are high producers of the fruits especially when they are in season. we follow up the agronomy of the fruits using our agronomist who visits the farmers to make sure that each farmer complies to a customized feeding program.
Valley Green Farm then purchases all the grade 2 fruits and converts them into pulp to be used in the real fruit ambient yogurts.
Our concern is monitoring and reducing waste from the farms, markets (those grade 1s that are not sold in time), we buy milk from farmers for the yogurts and we encourage localized micro-processing of milk into yogurts in clusters.
We create value along the chain of both fruits and milk production and eventually give value to the community by giving children nutritious meals, eventually encouraging parents to admit more children to schools at the right school going time.

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