Arla Foods has been present in Bangladesh with its powder milk brand “Dano” for more than 60 years now. What has the journey been like till now?

The journey has been extremely humbling and filled with very interesting learning curves. The brand Dano has been present in Bangladesh since 1961. In the next six decades, the brand “Dano”, has changed the perception of the people of this region; how milk and dairy nutrition can be available in different forms, and yet be equally effective.

Entering the new millennium, Bangladesh was further emphasized for affordable nutrition as in 2004 a local packaging plant was established. This brought in a new era, as Arla not only facilitated dairy nutrition for the people but also started generating local employment. The plant is now a benchmark of safety and quality while contributing to the national sustainable energy ambitions through its solar power conversions.  In 2013, Arla Foods, in a joint venture with Mutual Group, established the official entity, Arla Foods Bangladesh Ltd. From then on, we started introducing other variants of Dano along with popular cheese and butter products of Arla Foods. 

Throughout the years in Bangladesh, we continued to deliver products and operate our business with compliance and consistency based on our values. We are grateful for the love and trust showed by the people and hope to continue serving them with innovative and nutritious dairy products.

What is the thought process behind Arla’s business in Bangladesh?

To understand Arla’s commitments in Bangladesh, it is essential to understand the company’s approach globally. 

Arla Foods is a farmer-owned company; simply put, it is a cooperative. Our owners are constantly evolving and improving the effectiveness of farming connecting with the latest technological advancements. They take pride in their work and will only produce food at a quality they will comfortably share with their own families.

At a business level, we embody these values in our everyday operations. We continue to remain humble in every approach while valuing the satisfaction of our stakeholders and the happiness of our colleagues. 

Like the rest of the global operations, Arla Foods Bangladesh focuses on facilitating the requirement of the local market. For example, when we understood that affordability is an important requirement for the nutrition intake of the mass population, we introduced Dano Daily Pushti in sachets so that people can easily afford a glass of milk every day. Quality products encouraged by empathy drives our operations in Bangladesh. That has resulted in more than 1 in 3 households in Bangladesh using Dano in their daily lives. 

How does Arla maintain the quality of its products?

Being consistent in maintaining quality has been one of the core strengths of Arla Foods globally. Arla Foods Bangladesh has brought in that same dedication while providing trustworthy products to consumers in Bangladesh. 

At Arla Foods, to ensure the best quality nutritious dairy products, we control every aspect of the value chain or as we like to term it, the “Grass to Glass” process. Since our farmers are the owners, almost all milk used to create the range of Arla products is collected from cows owned by Arla Foods. To ensure the well-being of our cows, we have created Arlagården, our farm-quality management program. Through this tool, we are building one of the largest animal-welfare databases in the world to help us track our cows’ welfare, from their hygiene to the composition of their milk. The collected milk is transported to various Arla facilities, maintaining the highest European safety and hygiene standards. The Dano milk powder is repackaged in Arla Foods Bangladesh’s facility in Gazipur which has ISO 9001:2015 and FSSC 22000 (Version 5.1) certifications for maintaining strict quality standards during every step of the packaging process.

Over the years, Arla Foods Bangladesh has been practicing several stringent methods to ensure the safety standards prevalent at the factory premises. Notable activities include implementing Arla Global Cornerstone Program (Behavioral Safety program) at the site, consistent training (Classroom training, Toolbox training, etc.) and evaluation program for employees,  transparent reporting culture at the site through the Arla Global safety reporting system, etc. This has contributed to a current tally of more than 2100 days without an employee being absent from the workplace for a minimum of one day caused by on-site accidents.

How is Arla Foods contributing to the dairy sector in Bangladesh?

At Arla Bangladesh, we are enthusiastic about the local dairy industry and are open to participation in this prospect with our global expertise. 

During our initial phase in Bangladesh, our focus was to provide the best quality nutritious dairy products at the most affordable possible price range. Moving forward, we felt that we can contribute significantly to the overall development of the dairy sector, as well as support the dairy ambition of the country.

In early 2022, Arla Foods Bangladesh and Pran Dairy initiated a collaboration to showcase market-driven and sustainable dairy production to increase milk productivity and quality, alongside the economic output of the local dairy value chain in Bangladesh. In the primary phase of the collaboration, both organizations conducted farm assessments to build capacity and identify opportunities for more sustainable dairy farming solutions. Subsequently, a series of training sessions were conducted targeting trainers, extension staff, and other relevant stakeholders to supplement the ongoing dairy activities. 

As a part of this collaboration, apart from strengthening the local dairy value chain, there will be a further collaboration with Bangladesh Agricultural University to collect data systematically and scientifically to analyze the social, environmental, and economic impact of the collaboration.

Arla Foods has a massive product portfolio globally. What products does Arla have in Bangladesh? 

The powdered milk brand Dano and its variants are the most popular among people in Bangladesh. However, there are other nutritious and tasty dairy products of Arla also available in the country. Among these are five variants of Arla UHT milk, variants of Arla’s flagship butter brand Lurpak, and variants of cheese brand Castello with Arla branded cheese products. We also cater to the requirements of restaurant and home chefs in the country with multiple cheese and butter types under the Arla Pro banner.

How is Arla Bangladesh contributing to the economy of the country? 

Arla has had a long history with Bangladesh. Though the powder milk brand “Dano” had been present since 1961, in 1972, right after the independence of Bangladesh, Arla’s distributing partner Mutual Group signed up as a national agent for Dano and helped the brand to receive nationwide coverage.

In 2004, a local packaging plant was established. Arla not only further facilitated affordable dairy nutrition for the people but also started generating local employment. In 2013, Arla Foods, in a joint venture with Mutual Group, established the official entity, Arla Foods Bangladesh Ltd. The company directly employs around 170 people, which includes our head office, our field employees, and our packaging factory. But also, we indirectly contribute to the employment of thousands of others, people related to our packaging, sales, distribution, etc.

It would also be feasible to say that we are investing and there will be more investments in Bangladesh in terms of additional production facilities in the next five years along with new product development, and that is in millions of euros.

How is Arla’s people culture contributing to the business?

Our core cultural value at Arla Foods is based on mutual respect, transparency, and understanding. We believe that people should be able to be themselves, whether they are at work or in a personal space. Our colleagues enjoy freedom in their work to reach personal and organizational goals. In return, the company is transparent with every aspect of its operations.

The heart of our core belief is to help and enable stronger people under our Future 26 strategy. We know that our personal and professional performance and happiness come from us optimizing our holistic well-being – Arla encourages everyone to be the best version of themselves. This encouragement comes in the form of ensuring safety and health practices, quality engagement, and promoting diversity, equality, and inclusiveness.

This notion also encompasses our extended workforce too. For example, we have initiated the distributor employee insurance program through which we facilitate insurance services for 1498 employees of our distributors across all the divisions of the country. This includes sales representatives, delivery personnel, drivers, warehouse keepers, and office staff along with other members of each business entity, each receiving up to BDT 175,000 in health and life insurance coverage.

Globally Arla Foods is seen to contribute to social sustainability. How does Arla Foods Bangladesh position itself in that regard?

At Arla, we strive continually to enrich and fortify the communities we are part of. The efforts undertaken are also in collaboration with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and our Future 26 strategy.

Arla’s presence in Bangladesh translates more than it meets the eye. Throughout its journey in this country, the company believed in sustainable business practices and has been proactively responsible for the goodness of the communities. This means that the company does not only convey the fundamental values to the internal stakeholders but also the customers and other relevant stakeholders.

As a part of its sustainability, Arla Foods Bangladesh has, to date, been executing multiple social projects. In 2020 alone, when the pandemic hit the world, Arla Foods Bangladesh supplied nutrition of milk free of cost in 23 districts of the country through 16 humanitarian organizations. Arla has also proactively reached out to around 3 million people all over Bangladesh with affordable milk, awareness of nutrition, and awareness of Covid-19 since 2021.

Simultaneously, to create awareness for dairy nutrition and generate employment, Arla has initiated the “Pushti Ambassador Partnership” through which 5,000 rural women will be economically empowered aided by the affordable powder milk Dano Daily Pushti. This project is being conducted with support from Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), in collaboration with NGO partners. As an extension of this project, Arla Bangladesh, with the support of local partners and aid from the DANIDA Marketplace Development Program (DMDP), has also initiated a recycling project for its foils.

Internally, Arla Bangladesh is also conducting multiple practices which not only result in sustainable business but also contribute to the environment. Maintaining solar-powered renewable energy sources, contributing to a decreasing CO2 emission through nationwide supply chain optimization, etc. are some of the noteworthy efforts.