The Nomad Dairy

Nomad Dairy (ND) taps large scale urban food markets to drive resources to rural indigenous populations. ND enables rural pastoralist communities (camel herders) across vast territory to steward resilient food, cultural, and land management practices and indigenous rights, and in the process provides nutritious food to city residents. By facilitating this market relationship, ND reverses extractive economic and environmental trends that are deteriorating food security, nutrition, biodiversity, water cycles, cultural traditions, and global climate. 

ND has demonstrated this over three years with a cooperative of 41 indigenous members collecting raw camel milk and transporting it to public markets. Sales average 1000 litres per day. We now propose to scale up hugely, collecting raw milk and distributing value-added products in grocery stores and cafes (and eventually for export), supporting thousands more pastoralist producers, serving millions of urban food customers, and demonstrating this resilient pastoralist food producer approach for six other countries.

The Karrayyu, a large pastoralist community, have lost 60% of their land since the 1950s. Development in the region has excluded the Karrayyu in particular and all pastoralists in general. Similar challenges face 11 million other pastoralists in Ethiopia, and large pastoralist populations in several other countries, resulting in deterioration of food systems, livelihoods, and cultural traditions.

 Through large scale commercial camel milk production for sale in urban markets, the Karrayyu and others have potential to adapt to climate change, sustain large landscapes, and steer their own development.

The cooperative of 41 camel collectors demonstrating this approach, however, lacks technical skills to harness full market potential. For example, in our initial project with them, 40% of the milk spoiled en route from the rural producers to city markets. Through our initial work, this has now been solved and the potential for massively larger scale of operation has been demonstrated.

 Camel milk is a staple food for ethnic Somali Ethiopians, Christian-non-orthodox Ethiopians, and pastoralists who migrated to the city. Their demand is currently unmet. It is also popular in some niche food markets in Europe. ND aims to build a small processing plant for milk and value-added products such as yogurt.

Establishment of the small scale dairy processing plant will tackle food waste, the supply chain that is happening just, because of the lack of infrastructure, and technology that allows to produce value-added products. The ND will own the plant and process camel milk, then distribute products to Addis Ababa the capital and Adama, the first city before reaching the capital. There are starting points with the potential to expand to other pastoralist communities. Pastoralists have deep rooted indigenous and local knowledge of animals (feeding, landscape, culture, care, etc). Technical support from ND includes connections to markets, brand development, resolving technical issues beyond their capacity, and a milk processing plant. ND and the community share ownership of the processing plant. The pastoralist community will own a 10% share of the processing plant. This will positively highlight the pastoralists’ rich food system which has been looked over by the mainstream.

In Ethiopia alone, there are 13 million shepherds in general and 11 million of them raise camels. On average there are about 1.5 million milking camels in the country and on average a camel can give 7 liters of milk per day. Thus the country has the capacity of 10.5 million liters of camel milk per day. Karrayyu, the group the project focuses on, represents 5% of milk production and has a geographic advantage. Karrayyu Oromo shepherds are just 200kms away from the capital and 100kms away from the Adama the city before the capital. The shepherds are the most marginalised segments of Ethiopian populations and such projects have enormous potential to tackle urban migration and mitigate the climate change crisis.

Shepherds are at the frontline of the climate crisis globally. Few breeds of animals, like camels, can sustain their livelihoods by providing nutritious food and generating income as well. Food waste during the wet season is enormous because of a lack of simple technology like refrigerations. Introduction of such technology and connections to markets will tackle interwoven issues of gender base challenges and urban rural migration as well.

ND, is a socially innovative start-up with specific focus on camel milk and the shepherd communities who care for camels. Camel milk is a $7 billion industry, yet neglected in the continent of Africa, particularly in Ethiopia despite its real potential. ND believes investing in camel milk will benefit the large number of shepherd communities in the country. 

The primary competitors are cow milk distributors. Cow milk is approximately half the price of camel milk and easy to access. So far, there is no company or organisation involved in camel milk in Ethiopia apart from local small traders along the highways. There is a low threat of new entrants due to the complexity and reality of camel herders.

People who are accustomed to drinking camel milk are willing to pay more because of its distinct taste and cultural significance. Camel milk is high in nutrients, rich in minerals and is hypoallergenic. It has 10 times the Vitamin C and 3 times the Iron compared to cow’s milk.

ND will introduce existing technology to marginalised communities that lack access to such technology. We are using cooling systems to transport the camel milk to the processing plant that will add value to the milk. A new, value-added product will be sold at grocery stores, kiosks, cafes and restaurants. 

The existing technology will solve the food waste/loss issues experienced during the wet seasons when camels produce a lot more milk than during the dry season. In addition, the technology will solve the problem of high dependence on ecosystem services while creating a food system that allows herders to plan accordingly for each season.This simple and existing technology will help to solve these problems through value-added, and maximize the shelf-life of the dairy products in the supply chain.

The cooling industry has already contributed an enormous contribution to the supply chain tackling the food waste issues, particularly, for perishable goods. As a perishable product, camel milk needs a cooling system to minimize food waste and maximize the shelf life. Processed and value-added product means maximising the margin of the product as well. 

The technology of cooling and processing adds value to the product. Companies such as Stonyfield Organic, Chobany, and many more are serving millions of consumers with perishable products such pasteurised milk, yogurt, fermented milk and, etc. 

The global food waste stands third after the US and China in contribution to the GHE. Food waste exists also in poor countries like Ethiopia because of lack of infrastructure.  

ND understands the challenges Karrayyu shepherds and Ethiopian pastoralists have in general. Pastoralists are a marginalised segment of populations. They have limited opportunities to economically prosper. They are excluded from information and from long existing technologies such as cooling and dairy pasteurisation machines that could impact pastoralist communities.

 Using existing technologies of cooling and pasteurizing, ND will tap the unutilized resources that could address the challenges Ethiopian camel milk producers’ and consumers' have. In doing so, ND will produce affordable value-added products to be sold in the Karrayyu pastoralist community and beyond.

  ND invasions itself to establish a processing plant that will enable the company not only to produce the value-added products but also tackle the food waste challenges. This will put ND to be the first mover in the country to come up with such products that are nutritionally rich and sustainably produced, while creating better livelihoods for more than 11 million shepherds in the country and beyond.

 ND plans to work with the shepherds, vendors, consumers, restaurants, nutritionists, educators to raise awareness about the nutritional values of camel milk. In addition, ND collaborates with NGOs to attract consumers who are conscious of healthy and sustainable food.

Thus, ND plans to satisfy customers with products (nutritious, tasty, less pricey) that conveniently get into store retailers and while creating a viable local economy that will enable the local community to thrive. 

Nevertheless, the camel milk has not yet made it to the market, because ND does not have infrastructure in place that could transform milk into value-added products.

Initiative like ND came out as a response to the challenges shepherd communities are facing today. It deeply understands the challenges and believes the ground-up solutions like creating a market while avoiding the food waste camel milk business, would be sustainable and will have a huge impact on the communities while challenging the policy as well. 

At the country level, 65% of leather products come from shepherds, 70% of cow milk, 100% of goat milk, sheep milk and camel milk respectively comes from shepherds. In showing the above potential to the policy makers, transforming these potential resources into a viable local economy and beyond will buy-in the interest of the bigger market that drives Demand-Supply game! Above, all ND impact lives of thousands shortly and in million in five years. 

ND’s goal is to create financial sovereignty among millions of Pastoralists, who are the most marginalized group of people in Ethiopia. They are voiceless and don’t have representation in the political mainstream. Pastoralism has never been considered as a way of life. Therefore, pastoralism is not considered as a viable economy. Disrupting this challenge means allowing pastoralism as a viable way of life economically and socially.

Camels are the few resistant breeds of animals that can let the Pastoralists survive at times of the climate crisis in the harshest weather conditions. ND brings socially inclusive opportunities that allow pastoralists to live their way of life while contributing to the development of the country. Eventually, the action of ND will challenge the development policy towards Pastoralists. 

In east Africa, camels are a tradition to nomads in Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, and Tanzania. Creating an opportunity in Ethiopia will path the means to scale projects in the mentioned countries above, where the harazon of the problem are similar to the ones Ethiopia. 

Because we have developed, tested and refined this strategy over several years, proving its feasibility for very large scale, our primary barriers are now for implementation and expansion. We have already tackled the deeper, systemic challenges in how we have designed this approach.

The lack of finance to build the processing plant could affect the numbers of pastoralists we could reach by each year, and could also affect the impact we could have in the next 5 years. Also, the existing barriers that will impact the success of next year are the uncertainty of the Covid19 in the region. 

The historical marginalisation and exclusion of pastoralists from several social services including basic rights to education, healthcare, financial support have put the livelihoods of shepherds in difficult situations. In addition, the land grabbing wave by multinational corporations since the 2008 economic crisis, has put enormous pressure on the herders’ land rights. The climate change and recurrent drought has exacerbated the situations, putting most of the East African shepherds in the climate refugees situation. 

From a general public policy perspective, pastoralism has never been truly considered as a viable economically sustainable way of life regardless of whether the shepherd contributes a significant figure to the GDP of the country, particularly in Ethiopia. Ethiopia remains the largest homeland to Pastoralists. 

The Covid19 has disrupted our work and delayed the launch of our plans. We will persist!

The ND is a social enterprise that came out of the Karrayyu-Oromo pastoralist pastoralist community of Oromia region in Ethiopia, as a response to the challenges of financial exclusion, lack of information about the market opportunity, technical challenges, and legal barriers to the land use management that shepherd communities are experiencing. 

ND believes in the ground-up solution of creating a large viable market for value-added camel milk products that the community wouldn't be able to produce or sell otherwise. 

ND will partner with store retailers, restaurants, media outlets, community leaders, NGOs to promote the camel milk products and the indigenous culture behind camels. 

Financially we face a challenge. But, our business school analysis shows that the revenue potential and economic opportunity is big. However, we cannot extract financial resources from the region if we want to reach and support increasing numbers pastoralist producers (thousands more in the near term!) We are now beginning to look for national and international grants, qualified investors, and other supports to enable ND to grow with its full potential.

ND was started by three young professionals who are members of the Karrayyu community, where the project started. Roba B. Jilo is the founder and an MBA graduate from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. He is a food activist, worked with hundreds of smallholders including dairy, and is a human rights advocate, particularly for shepherd communities in Ethiopia, and global as well. 

The camel milk Cooperative that ND was born out of, has been there for more than 7 years. ND has been conceived three years back to tackle the challenge cooperative is facing in terms of marketing, product development and resource mobilization. ND has participated in some start-up challenges and has received the awards that have supported the cooperative’s capacity. ND won a Spark Starp-Up organized by the International Business school where it won $7000, and another $5000 from the Heller Start-Up Challenge at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. The award went to the cooperative to modify the truck which the cooperative needed the most.

In addition to the Founder Roba B. Jilo, the ND team also includes Mamo Boru, an Economist and one the founding members of ND. He is a member of the shepherd community, and has extensive experience in livelihood development. Roba Fantalle, a veterinary Dr. has a deep understanding of animals' health and holds an MBA from Jima University in Ethiopia.

Last but not least, the Nourishment Economies Coalition has been coaching ND in the last three years, connecting ND with possible funders, promoting the work of ND and playing the role of ND Ambassador. We all share the same vision which is about unlocking opportunities to the most vulnerable communities through social entrepreneurship.

Slow Food International has supported the foundation of the camel milk Cooperative that produce camels and sell locally. The project has been promoted national and internationally. Slow Food has also donated a truck to the cooperative, where the coop uses to transport their milk.

Brandeis University, the Heller School has supported ND to be mentored, coached and to the extent of funding the kick off the project, that ND got born out of the camel milk cooperative. With $12,000 awarded, ND modified the truck for the cooperative that 40% of the milk wasted because of the lack of refrigeration has been saved. In doing so, ND is  strengthening of the cooperative’s capacity, while aiming  to start small scale processing plant to produce the value added projects 

Nourishment Economy has been coaching ND over the last three years and connecting the ND to the potential investors as well. 

The cooperative will pay a percentage of the cost of modified trucks and will buy additional aluminium containers for the increased supply of camel milk. As they are able to, the cooperative will pay back the investment in the truck modification, resulting in revenue for ND. We will simultaneously conduct our market research and begin to process and package camel milk on a small scale. With the support, ND will create value-added products such as pasteurized, packaged camel milk, yoghurt, kefir, ice cream and powdered camel milk to expand into new markets in Ethiopia and beyond.

     The value-added products will be sold at supermarkets, restaurants, and cafés to consumers who don’t utilize the open air market such as Embassy employees, expatriates, and NGO staff. These customers will be targeted through brand development, educational advertisements on billboards, radio broadcasts, and tasting events at restaurants and supermarkets. We will also work with the Karrayyu to expand the raw milk market by identifying additional locations for sales within Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa.

 Refrigerated trucks, a food safe rental space, dairy processing and packaging equipment, and reliable power and water supply is crucial to run the operation. During the entire process all members of Nomad Dairy will be trained on processing and packaging milk.

 For the processing: a feasibility study for value-added products, registering as a for-profit business in Ethiopia and setting up the processing location. Our variable costs include the purchase of milk from the cooperative, packaging materials, and staff salaries.

Through the SOLVE initiative, MIT aggregates and makes the resources available for the people who have ideas that could affect individuals, communities, and the environment. ND applies to the SOLVE challenge because we believe we'll be the best fit to win the award where the money can go to the real projects that affect millions of people's lives while creating a viable local economy. 

The food system is a complex and highly neglected sector when it comes to investment. Indigenous groups like shepherds have been historically marginalized, including financial and technical support. With access to the resource through the opportunity SOLVE can entertain, ND is thrilled to take a chance to use its maximum effort and energy to approach the shepherds' challenge using the food systems at the time of the climate crisis and pandemic.

ND has been trying its best to understand which existing technology can be used to address food waste issues when it comes to dairy. In developing countries, food gets wasted because of the lack of technologies. Most of the technologies, like cooling and dairy processing, already exist to solve huge problems in the dairy industry. As almost all of the shepherds are mobile, is there a mobile dairy processing plant?

Can ND consider solar energy to run the processing plant? Does ND seek partners that help to understand better which machines can be effective in semi-desert areas? Besides, ND appreciates anyone who could connect with the powdered market for camel milk.

ND also seeks partners that would help in the revenue model and funding opportunity as well. 

ND is interested in green energy, specifically solar power. African pastoralists live in the lowland parts, which is semi-desert, where the sun shines throughout the year. The solar technology will enable ND to harness the energy that would run the processing plant that would process millions of gallons of milk from 11 million shepherd communities. 

In connecting with the above partners, ND will have a better understanding of what kind of existing technology would be worthwhile to use in the African context where technical knowledge is limited to the cities. Using solar would be great to go green and, at the same time, to have options as energy fluctuates throughout the year.