French food multinational Danone has joined hands with Asia's leading micro financier, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, to start what they call a social business enterprise. CNBC-TV18 reports from Dhaka where Danone's brand ambassador, soccer star, Zinedane Zidane, launched a new yogurt making company.

Zidane may have stolen the thunder, but for Nobel laureate and founder and managing director of Grameen Bank, Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Danone, the company he inaugurated, is the real story.

Its yogurt, Shakti Doi will be made from milk and skills sourced locally. The project is expected to raise the daily income of more than 1,500 women near the plant by 50 per cent. The investors, Grameen and Danone, will plough all profits back into the company.

Yunus says, "We can do it in water, healthcare, pharma, education, in any area of social problem. You name it and it can be done with a social business format. We can ultimately and even now create social stock market where we list all the social businesses and people have a choice whether they want to invest in companies that are pure profit maximisers or social enterprises or both," Yunus adds.

Grameen, which means `of the village' or with rural roots, is a formidable brand name today. Perhaps one of the reasons why the multinational Danone has got into a 50:50 joint venture here.

Emmanuel Faber, executive VP, Asia Pacific, Danone, says, "Obviously when you are in France and want to address the mass market you talk in our jargon of A&B consumers. The same in the US. If you want to talk about massive population in countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, we must create business models that can fit with the economic conditions of much poorer people."

Danone says that this pilot ties in with its mission to spread health through food. It also gives the giant with consolidated net sales of over €13,000 million in 2005 (it projects between 5 and 7 per cent growth in calendar year 2006) a chance to reach consumers outside its net. It's not ruling out the future possibility of doing business the conventional way in Bangladesh.