Our real business is people

Our impact is one continuous cycle where purpose fuels profit. The more rural jobs we create, the more milk we produce, the more people we nourish... and the more we can help shape a future-proof economy for Nigeria. 

litres of milk produced to date.
87087
litres of milk produced to date
pastoralists
402
Pastoralists
of all our pastoralists are women
44%
Of all our pastoralists are women
₦2316
Additional daily income earned per pastoralist
₦4785
Highest additional daily income earned per pastoralist
families nourished
239
families nourished
rural jobs created
24
rural jobs created

Our Manifesto

We're a social impact movement that just happens to make dairy. Our goal is to create a massive income boost for 500,000 pastoralists and 10,000 youth entrepreneurs living in extreme poverty, and nourish millions of customers with essential nutrients. We believe (1) to be sustainable we must first be profitable (2) the subsidised dairy import industry is destructive to the planet, our economy and our local jobs (3) the market is flooded with imported processed dairy that arrives tasting beyond its best (4) we have high rates of child malnutrition
(5) we have a large and overlooked pastoralist population living amongst us that own more than 20 million cows and know everything there is to know about real dairy (6) they individually survive on less than $1.90 per day, below the poverty line (7) we have a large and growing population of rural youth without job opportunities (8) as the future third largest national population in the world, Nigeria needs to figure out how to feed itself (9) by creating a pastoralist-driven value chain we can easily produce enough milk to nourish our population (10) it’s time we stopped underestimating the value of our smallholder farmers (11) and create a new and future-proof economy that will nourish our growing population and deliver a massive income boost for all.

The Nutritional Opportunity

Inadequate nutrition is a huge challenge in Nigeria, with 32% of children under 5 “stunted” and 20% underweight due to not getting the right nutrients. This results in irreversible developmental problems which limits professional opportunities later in life and keeps them in a cycle of poverty. A tall glass of milk is a nutritional powerhouse and is more hydrating than water. Increasing dairy production can help to provide our growing population with affordable nutrition.

The Economic Opportunity

Nigeria’s population is expected to double by 2050, reaching 400 million people. More than half of our population will be under 25 years old. In this same timeframe, we anticipate the milk industry could reach $49.8 billion. Meanwhile, our nation currently spends $1.5bn on dairy imports. By breaking our reliance on overseas dairy and investing in our own economy, we’re creating a new industry that benefits the people of Nigeria.

The Employment Opportunity

Our first milestone is to create 10,000 job opportunities for rural Nigerian youth. Our entrepreneurial model has the potential to scale quickly and help thousands of young people living in pastoralist communities to benefit from the modern economy without losing their way of life. We provide the training and financial support to help Câm Rangers get started in their new role along and progress to managing their own team or running a milk aggregation centre.

SUSTAINABLE FOUNDATIONS

We’ve been interested in sustainability from day one. The good thing about building an industry from scratch is that we can choose the foundations. We want the dairy industry in Nigeria to be an example for others around the world.A huge challenge from the beginning was designing and manufacturing sustainable packaging. Some of our early products came in single-use plastic. This is unfortunately a common issue in the food and drinks industry.It’s the default option because it’s hygienic, durable and cheap to produce. But most plastic isn’t biodegradable. That means it hangs around in the environment for hundreds of years, either in landfill or polluting our oceans and urban drainage systems, particularly in cities such as Lagos.
In fact, indiscriminate use of plastic has turned Nigeria into a hotbed of plastic pollution. A 2019 report by the Voice of America places the amount of plastic waste generated in Nigeria per year at 2.5 million tonnes. And another report by the Word Economic Forum estimates that 200,000 tonnes of Nigeria's plastic waste ends up in our oceans. We're building a sustainable supply chain that's not dependant on plastic. We've already switched all of our product packaging to 100% glass jars and bottles. When they’re empty, you can either send them back to us for recycling or upcycle them for pens, potting herbs, storing utensils, holding flowers and other creative uses.

FOLLOW US

@camdairies
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