Iran Kandelous 2011 - Growing Inclusive Markets

availability of wild plants can be a great source of nature-based products. ‘Herbal products’ werethe practical means to materialize this plan. The basic idea was proposed by the founder;however, in later years (around 1985-1986) the local people decided to help him and took animportant role in the preparation of infrastructure in addition to be paid for collecting naturalplants and herbs.Jahangiri's social character had already helped him to form a vast network of professional friendsand business partners. Through causal contacts within his world-wide network, he managed toidentify several species of plants which could be used for production of medicine, cosmetics,foods and drinks. Figure 1 presents a time-line of important events in the life cycle of KandelousGroup.Figure 1: TimelinePRO-POOR ASPECTSPro-poor activities of the company started in the early 1980s by the unofficial opening of‘Kandelous Help Foundation’, which then became a formal institution. The founder invested inbuilding a primary school (built by the founder but run by the government), small incomegenerating projects for youth (e.g. collecting plants or helping in construction work) anddistribution of basic livelihood to poor habitants. Since the founder found these activities usefulbut not sustainable he turned into more pro-poor business type of activities using innovativebusiness models.The literature on pro-poor and bottom of pyramid activities mentions various strategies toimprove the life of the poor. One strategy is to connect the local poor to the outside world andCase Study ● Kandelous Agro-Industry Group 5