Bangladesh Social Enterprise Project - Bangladesh Enterprise Institute

“Transforming Locals to Self-sufficient
Entrepreneurs through Cooperatives”
KK Tea is the only tea garden in Bangladesh to be USDA certified 100% organic. Their operation
began in year 2000 on the virgin soil of the northernmost upazila of Tetulia. Kazi and Kazi tea is not
an ordinary tea garden-it is an enterprise that would give most people a living wage while protecting
the environment. They established a cooperative to run a new kind of education, health and cattle
lending program for the people working in the garden and the surrounding areas. This cooperative is
supported in Bangladesh by the KK Tea brand, and abroad by the Tetulia brand of teas.
KK Tea’s mission is to sustain the land and the people while
producing top quality tea. They also focus on poverty alleviation
through cattle rearing & social projects. Via their cooperative
they encourage villagers to rear organic cattle. Their interest-free
loans, in the form of cows, are paid back in long-term installments
through the selling of milk, cow dung and calves. In this way,
local farmers can rapidly become self-reliant and self- sufficient
entrepreneurs.
With their Organic Farming Awareness Program they invite neighboring villagers, influential
persons, teachers and professionals to their garden to teach them about organic farming. They instruct
them in bio-fertilizers and bio- pesticides, their advantages and disadvantages over chemical fertilizers
and pesticides, and long-term social and economical effects for themselves as well as for the nation.
They provide assistance to organic produce growers, with the assurance of selling their products to
Kazi & Kazi Tea Estate at a premium price. With the Safe Hygiene Distribution Program they
distributed safe latrines amongst their workers and poor villagers around the area. These latrines are
distributed free of cost and all technical support is provided by their experienced personnel.
KK tea distributes medicinal herbs (Neem, Nisinda) to the neighboring villages
free of cost, which have an immeasurable impact on health of the poor. Sports
equipments, such as footballs, volleyballs, cricket bats, and carom boards, are
distributed free of cost to primary and secondary schools, and local clubs. KK
Tea teaches female laborers to read and write for one hour every day after
work. Already several batches of workers have demonstrated the ability to read
books and newspapers and write letters without assistance.
At Rowshanpur, KK tea has opened a computer lab to initiate IT education for the community that
can instruct up to 60 students per day, in two separate shifts. Overall, projects are designed to meet
both the immediate and future needs of the community, raising the living standards while providing
higher skills training. Thus the tea garden has rejuvenated the lives of the people, given them the
power to fight against poverty and a prospect of a better future.
Source: www.kazitea.com
Data Source: Secondary Literature
Information Compiled by Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI). For further information, please contact Mr. Md. Rashedur
Rahman, Research Associate, BEI; Tel: +88 02 9892662-3 Ext: 120; Cell: +88 01712 193400; Email: rashed@bei-bd.org;
Weblink: www.bei-bd.org