Launching new hygiene and nutrition products
in complex markets

Sometimes private companies need a little nudge to design and launch products that can change lives. Hystra has been working with several teams from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) – Nutrition, Innovation Introduction, Water Sanitation & Hygiene – to build partnerships with large companies, helping design and launch new nutrition and hygiene products targeting lower-income consumers in Nigeria and South Asia.

In early 2019, the foundation launched a program involving industry partners, research institutes and NGOs with the aim to develop voluntary and mandatory standards for bouillon fortification focusing on 6 key micronutrients. As part of this program, we are coordinating the Design for Success taskforce, focused on improving the economics of fortified bouillon cubes – and helping tackle micronutrient deficiencies at scale.

After three years and three market tests, 2021 saw the exciting scale-up of FanPrime, a nutritious frozen yogurt targeted to low-income women of reproductive age – developed by Danone and funded by the BMGF. For this initiative, FanMilk Nigeria leveraged an existing distribution channel of 15,000 vendors and launched two new innovative distribution channels. The first one serves existing retail stores via direct delivery to increase product availability, and the second leverages a women sales network to drive loyalty and frequency among target populations.

Our report shares some of the secret sauce that explains this success.