Our dual key investment series features stories of our investments from our investments.

This investment is being featured by Sharmeen Hossain , Municipal Finance Investment Officer

UNCDF assisted ESDF in developing a business plan, restructuring legal and management architecture and piloting a blended financing model, in turn unlocking public and private resources, to establish the first district level branding, packaging and distribution center for locally crafted mozzarella cheese by marginalized women artisans of Thakurgaon district of Bangladesh.

• What made you enthusiastic about this investment?

To discover that marginalized women from Thakurgaon, a remote district in the northern tip of Bangladesh, were producing mozzarella cheese for 5-star hotels and global brand franchises anonymously! This highly technical production capability, high-income generating non-traditional work and skills development opportunity for women while innovating the dairy value chain and expanding the export cheese industry excited me!

• What were the challenges faced by this project?

Through this investment, we piloted our work with NGOs and invested in Social Enterprises as an entity/vehicle in catalyzing gender responsive local economic development. The most challenging aspect of this project was working around the legal constraints of Foundations in raising debt capital. We were able to facilitate the restructuring of the legal entity, capital and management structure, designed a commercially viable business plan and inclusive ownership structure – reaching a balance between social to commercial mindset and organizational infrastructure was highly challenging yet rewarding.

• What are the lessons learned from this example?

Through social enterprises (SEs) it is possible to mobilize larger sums of financing and create rippling effects in employment generation at the local level for last mile communities. SEs have access to substantial sources of internal funds (from affiliated NGO), access to concessional private sector capital (CSR funds and development loans), hard to reach network of marginalized women and youth receiving basic resources, training and micro-credit, have done mapping of local economic opportunities and access to local business anchors. Our investment in ESDF exemplifies this lesson: Emergence of a newfound sector in the district with multiple layers of women beneficiaries driving the value chain as entrepreneurs, artisans, suppliers and shareholders, advancing their economic and political empowerment.