The SMART Rwanda team has been busy at work this past week! We have been working closely with Regis, CEO of CARL Group, and his team on our individual tasks including grant writing, nutrient analysis, financial management, and marketing and branding. This blog post will provide some insight into the work of each team member.
Emily and Lexi have been working hard on creating a grant proposal outline for the CARL Group’s expansion. In addition to using OFSP flour to make their bread products, they hope to also include cassava flour. Both OFSP and cassava are meant to be used as substitutes for traditional wheat flour as they have increased nutritional value and are locally available. Rwanda currently has a high reliance on imported wheat which is driven by increased consumption due to lifestyle changes and urbanization. Our proposal requests the support of funders to help CARLGroup scale up their business as well as act as a facilitator for youth agripreneurship and training in OFSP and cassava. The ultimate goal of this project is to reduce malnutrition and increase economic development.
Discussion of CARL grant proposal over breakfast regarding: Emily, Lexi, and Regis
Photos used throughout the blog: Aliou Jabari Kamau Gambel
Although Vita Bread is composed of 50% OFSP that is enriched in vitamin A, CARL Group had not yet determined the macro and micro nutrient content of their product.Thus, Robert first conducted a nutrient analysis of each of the ingredients of their bread to get a break down of the nutritional profile of Vita Bread as a whole. This analysis was then compared with standard daily intakes to give percentages of each nutrient for both whole bread and individual slices. This process was completed for adults, and is now being repeated for infants, children, and lactating women, which are the target audience of CARL Group due to the common vitamin A deficiency in these populations.
Bichara worked on listing and analyzing the financial accounting tools used by CARL. The company uses an excel workbook developed by one of its partners that meets its needs. It is completed by their accountant and a tax adviser assists them in filing tax forms at the end of the year. Bichara and Lexi also developed order forms templates to ease the logistics between the production team and the accounting office for the requisition and storage of raw materials.
The team had the opportunity to observe the production of Vita Bread, and were asked to capture this process both photographically and in video format. Jabari had the opportunity to capture this process, and create a marketing strategy, and samples for the CARL group. Throughout this process, the positioning of the brand in relation to its competitors as well as creating a distinct CARL group product aesthetic were considered. Given the current success of the brand in its available 25 supermarket spaces, Jabari is working on branding that could allow the brand to expand to neighboring countries. The aim is to produce a flexible marketing strategy, which simultaneously creates a brand identity, that may be associated with a certain lifestyle and targeted consumer demographic, but is readily accessible and enticing to a broad spectrum of consumers. Below is one example, and a picture taken as the cohort explored the “traditional” Rwandan architectural style, specifically that of the king of Rwanda before and during the colonial period.
CARL Group: Reducing Vitamin A Deficiency in Rwanda 