ECO Ltd is an organization that aims to promote organic farming and marketing of chemical-free foods in Bangladesh. Their goal is to address issues of contaminated food leading to health problems. Their plan involves integrating organic production methods with formaldehyde-free marketing of foods. Farmers will be connected via mobile phones to consumers in Dhaka to build trust in safe foods. Capacity building efforts include training farmers and young rural leaders in organic farming techniques using experiential learning and ICT resources. Revenue will be generated through course fees, eco-tourism, and sales of organic foods to consumers seeking safe options. The organization plans to scale up their pilot programs by leveraging existing rural ICT centers and networks of organic farmers.

1. ECO Ltd
Green Entrepreneurship As Inclusive Business Addressing Poverty
Justification: Food is medicine
People in this country are getting sick. Hospitals are getting crowded. Doctors are getting rich. Poisoned food is
certainly not a desired situation. Pesticides at production and formalin at marketing stage remained a daunting
problem. These days many health conscious consumers are scared of buying poisoned food items from the market.
As customers it is our right to know which items are poisoned with formalin.
Operation Plan: Production & marketing integrated
Organic Food Production
Formalin–Free Food Marketing
Chemical agriculture is already facing limitations. Alternatives, building on experiential learning will be evolved.
UISC will be of strategic use in this regard in feeding information and generating knowledge for change. Organic
fertilizer, organic way of killing harmful insects etc will be integrated. Cow rearing /bio gas plant will be a critical
input towards transformation from chemical to organic farming. Soil test, organic way of killing harmful insects,
bee keeping etc will be inclusive in the package of organic farming.
Safe food produced in the process will be marketed to the targeted customers in Dhaka, frantically looking for safe
food, free of poison both at production as well as formalin free during marketing. Farmers will be in mobile
connections with the customers. Such producer-consumer virtual connections is likely to build trust of the
customers about what they eat.
Participation of farmers (Link:www.ashoka.org/fellow/2508) will be in the core in evolving organic farming.
Farmers, with mobile phones in 100 unionsx10 villages, connected with 100 UISCs for information and knowledge
on organic agriculture, will sell organic safe foods through existing mega shops. Rather than opening our own
shops in the beginning it will be better to stay as supplier till enough capacity is developed over time. Agriculture
near townships has unique advantage of using human droppings as fertilizer including Jessore. Application of food
chain will be extremely important in evolving organic agriculture.
How GoUF Operates?
GoUF builds on gonogobeshona/ experiential learning of the farmers tired of chemical agriculture. Trend analyses
collectively of the past with facilitation from the gonogobeshoks blended with information from outside through
UISC empowers them intellectually to think of alternative to chemical agriculture. Each group democratically split
their knowledge work into different topics such as field agriculture, livestock, fuel & energy, poultry, fishery, health
& nutrition, afforestation, education, transport and communication, legal aid & women’s rights etc. They call it
bisoy vittik sadaissa tairee. Knowledge leads to participatory planning and they look for resources (training,
technical assistance & inputs) available at local government. So far different donors including Ford Foundation,
NORAD & The Asia Foundation supported the process.
We are now trying to explore how different banks and companies can be integrated for synergy.
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2. Capacity Building: Green Leadership For Rural Transformation
We are imparting computer training to young women and men from all the hinterland villages eying digital
capacity building on organic farming in the near future. Besides face to face training they will participate classes
through skype, facebook etc and will be virtually connected with agricultural scientists/ professors in the relevant
universities including Sher e Bangla Agriculture University/ Mymensingh Agriculture University, Soil Research
Institute etc. Future rural leaders will access materials on agriculture both online and offline. These young rural
leaders will in turn will work on capacity building of the organic farmers. Capacity training will be blend of
gonogobeshona (experiential learning) and ICT to generate knowledge for change. Computer skill unfolded
opportunities of accessing need based information and knowledge on organic agriculture as and when required
eying knowledge agriculture.
Revenue Generation: Life blood for survival
Utility: Revenue will be generated both at production as well as vertical value chain; while creating utilities. With
more than five crore people moved out of poverty we shall have enough customers to buy our services, serving
organic dish.
Course Fees: Diploma in Organic Farming: We shall charge course fees. Contracts with different universities will be
inked on such diploma for the information workers/uddogtas/Entrepreneurs based in UISCs on ORGANIC
FARMING.
Earning from Eco-tourism: Eco-tourism will be further value addition. Our hunch is: many consumers will be
curious about process. Arrangement will be made to take them to the source; seeing is believing. Community
managed ecotourism will be a likely byproduct of eat safe movement.
Opportunities:5000x2x1000 organic farmers
We have minimum 5000 rural ICT centers, mainly UISCs, across Bangladesh villages; furnished with enough
computer equipments-desktops, laptops, OHP, scanner, camera etc. Unfortunately in most cases those ICTS are
yet underemployed. This is a big opportunity to train farmers, in a low cost ICT way, through info workers/
entrepreneurs/uddogtas stationed next to the farmers. After green business design takes mature shape at pilot
level we shall go for up scaling in phases making strategic use of UISCs.5000x2 young leaders are our future in rural
transformation in green way(s).
HR: NGO+ Business +university: Synergy for better delivery
We are in touch with UNDP & DFID. World Bank(Business Incubation? DFID is showing keen interest in our
knowledge approach in terms of experiential learning of farmers interfaced with ICT and proposed to study how
the approach empowers rural women (Link: www.dfid.gov.uk/media-room/2010/Laptop ladies of rural
Bangladesh). UNDP proposed joint field visits. University professors from Sher-e Bangla Agriculture university have
shown interest to take classes through skype. Facebook group will be formed to facilitate interactions on e-
agriculture. Existing contents, on line, offline, will be used /new contents will be made. We shall negotiate with like
minded companies with similar vision to bring synergy. A team of the company, comprising various roles & skills,
will include marketing specialists, managers, agronomists, web designers, content makers, finance analysts etc.
Arjun Majumdar remain responsible for web design and Afzalur (studied in the U.K) for finance analysis.
Ashoka for Idea Synergy: Ashoka fellows in green entrepreneurship will make a cluster eying synergy. They are
Mohammad Zakaria, Saikh Siraj, Rezaul Karim Siddique, Anisuzzaman, Abu Sayeed, Moral Nur Mohammad, Sahidul
Islam, Shamsul Momen Polash, Shahriar Hossain, Rezaul Huq Khokon etc.
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3. Eco-tourism: Building trust among the urban consumers
It is important that the customers have access to information about different stages right from field agriculture
upto final stage of reaching the consumers. Customers, tired of living in crammed Dhaka, will have opportunities to
enjoy fresh air in the rural greenery. Community managed, UISC operated eco-tourism will be arranged. Seeing is
believing; trust is the core in the emerging green business.
Eat Safe, Organic (ESO):
Earlier we named it ESO & subsequently recoined as ECO Ltd sounding more as green venture. ECO is a not for
profit green venture eyeing revenue generation for running various activities of GoUF, an registered with NGO
Affairs Bureau, Prime Minister’s Secretariat and registered also with Social Welfare Directorate, Government of
Bangladesh. The venture may also be called inclusive business as it includes lowest tiers in the social ladder as the
project beneficiaries (Social Entrepreneurship). ECO is our experiment project on interfacing NGO sector with
banking/business sector addressing wider community particularly climate displaced persons (CDPs), believed to be
around ten millions. We intend to create value for rural and disadvantaged communities through
entrepreneurship.
Think Big, Start Small: Act first at pilot level for learning, use learning for up scaling
We are operating in Jessore at pilot level for initial experience. However, problem is big, both at producer as well
as consumer level; solution too has to be big enough for a breakthrough. Organization has to be big enough to
reach maximum benefits to maximum citizens. We intend to create safe food momentum with too many rural
producers & too many urban consumers with free flow of market information. We envision a rural society rich
information empowered to decide where to sell and at what price with inevitable perfect market competition
consequently a nation with better health. We truly believe real change will be triggered by empowerment of
majority producers and consumers. Such vision is achievable in virtual way, making strategic use of ICT
technologies; linking villages will urban growth centers. Let’s contribute toward vision 2021 in ensuring safe and
healthy food for a talented healthy nation.
Mohammad Zakaria
CEO, ECO Ltd (a revenue generation project of GoUF-GonoGobeshona o Unnayan Foundation)
Level 13, Sheltech, Panthakunja, 17, West Panthapath, Dhaka
&
House # 4A, Road # 10
Shekerteq, Rafiq Housing, Mohammadpur, Dhaka
Field Office: ECO Ltd, 30 Chameli, Shaheed Mosiur Sarak, Puraton Kosba, Jessore-7400
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