CA Franche Comté and the Foundation support La Laiterie du Berger

© Philippe Lissac

At the beginning of 2005, while in Senegal, 30% of families lived from livestock in rural areas whose population had incomes 19% below the poverty line of the country (1,90$ per day according to 2015 data from the World Bank), the observation was that 90% of the milk consumed was reconstituted from imported powdered milk. Created in 2005, La Laiterie du Berger began to structure a milk production chain collected from 800 Fulani livestock farmers around the town of Richard Toll (a town located in the northwest of Senegal, close to Mauritania). 

Today, Laiterie du Berger produces and distributes fresh dairy products, particularly from this collected milk. This company is a social enterprise or "social business" whose social utility consists of increasing and stabilizing the incomes of livestock farmers. To date, Laiterie du Berger allows 800 livestock farmers to make a living from their livestock, thus giving them a chance to settle down and an increase in their income in an effort to put an end to the vicious cycle of impoverishment and its consequences in terms of rural exodus. Laiterie du Berger employs 200 people in the Richard Toll factory and in Dakar: it is the only industrial player in the dairy sector in Senegal that manufactures its products from collected milk and the 2nd player in terms of products sold (16% market share). With 1.5 million yogurts sold per month, Laiterie du Berger offers consumers quality products at an affordable price.

Through its solidarity savings funds, Amundi invests for its clients in unlisted, innovative, and growing companies that generate a positive social and environmental impact. This new transaction enables Laiterie du Berger, a key player in the dairy sector, to expand and strengthen the resilience of the dairy industry in Senegal.

This investment was made alongside the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, a partner of Laiterie du Berger since 2010 and in which it holds 11.5% of the capital. An international player in inclusive finance and microfinance services, the Foundation works with a network of nearly 70 microfinance institutions and social enterprises located in some thirty countries, primarily in rural areas. It is through this network that the Foundation contributes to social inclusion by financing income-generating activities.

___________________________________________________________

Source : AMUNDI