Four Ivey HBA students headed to Tanzania and Kenya at the beginning of June to work on a small business yogurt project. The students are now wrapping up their work there and heading back to Canada. Kinleigh sums up some of the results of their work and recommends the program to future students.
We are now feeling the crunch to finalize all the important details and tie off the loose ends regarding our work and research at the kitchens. I am working on my recycling program and building relationships with local tree nurseries to re-use our plastic bags. We are trying to solidify various suppliers of packing bags, print-screening and other goods that the mamas use on a consistent basis.
“Fiti probiotic yogurt, allegedly Africa’s first probiotic yogurt, has had its official launch party. We organized a massive music festival to celebrate Fiti –complete with the hottest musicians, free yogurt samples and t-shirts, face painting and dance, rap and yogurt chugging competitions! Fiti was the hit of the town and hundreds of people came from all over to join in on the party.” Kinleigh is one of four HBA students participating in the Ivey Heads East program working with a small yogurt business in Tanzania and Kenya.
“The work with the yoghurt Mamma’s has been less hands on as of late. Since informing them of their less then ideal financial situation, they have been doing a much better job of getting out to the market, and July has seen a noteworthy increase in sales and profitability.” Jesse is one of four HBA students participating in the Ivey Heads East program working with a small yogurt business in Tanzania and Kenya.
“We are currently trying to juggle the launch of our marketing campaign, the competition problems between the two kitchens and compiling and analyzing the data we collected from our market research project. We are balancing all of this on top of the daily tasks associated with the kitchens.” Kinleigh is one of four HBA students participating in the Ivey Heads East program working with a small yogurt business in Tanzania and Kenya.