Prominent foreign academics were among the fifty participants in the first two-day Base of the Pyramid Learning Laboratory (BoP Lab) in South Africa that took place at the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) in December. The purpose of the Laboratory was to debate and promote sustainable development by making markets and organisations work for the poor in southern Africa.

The WF Kellogg Foundation in the USA was the sponsor of this initiative having awarded a grant of $150 000 (about R1 million) to the USB for the establishment of the Learning Laboratory.

As the largest supplier of fresh dairy products in the world, €13 billion in sales last year, and offices in more than 120 countries, there is no doubt about the expanse of Groupe Danone’s reach. Yet, their 2005 Social and Environmental Responsibility Report has a section called: “Serving the Local Community All Around the World” – a seemingly contradictory statement for what hardly seems like a local operation.