Wrapping Up With the Candy Co-Op

After 14 months of working with Sunita, Sabina, and Bimala didi, it was finally time to wrap up our work with the candy co-op. These months have been eventful, to say the least. From planning remote work to designing the internship, learning about the ingredients that make up the milk candy, studying the local market, and planning bigger and moving Saughat’s products to stores in Kathmandu, Sunita, Sabina, Bimala didi and I have kept ourselves busy. Even with all the hurdles thrown our way — as COVID variants raged across Nepal and shutdowns and natural disasters disrupted lives in Sindhuli, the milk candy co-op stood their ground and persevered.

Building Blocks

In April 2021, we began with the first step in the candy making process. We researched the farms where the raw materials that go into the Saughat candies come from, set appointments with farmers, and came up with a set of questions together with Sabina and Sunita. When we were ready, the co-op traveled to the farm they source their milk from to get a deeper look into what goes into the candies they eventually bring to the market. We learned from the research how important the work of farmers is behind the scenes. Today, we can trace the entire journey from farm to factory to market, all thanks to the stories of people along every step of the way. The entire journey is documented here: From Farm to Factory: the Journey of Milk

Then we delved into the main force behind Saughat — Bimala didi — her life, her inspirations, and her struggle to get the milk candies recognized locally, as well as nationally. As Bimala didi’s ingenuity and drive brought this project to life, it was only fit to devote the second post to her. Her vision and guidance was critical for our candy cohort throughout the year, not only for Sabinaa and Sunita, but me as well. Read Bimala didi’s full story here: The Role of Mentor in the Candy Story

Milk Candies Everywhere

Following my post on the process of dairy production in candy-making, I decided to take a deep dive into the next steps. This journey mapped each step in candy manufacturing: beginning where we left off, with the handling of milk products, and cycling through the combining and cooking of the ingredients, cooling, and finally packaging. This section of our journey was crucial to gain a thorough understanding of what my Nepali counterparts were doing day-to-day in the candy factory. The co-op’s ‘day in the life’ is explored in this story: A Day in the Life….

Challenges Strike

In June, Nepal was hit with another wave of the COVID-19 ‘delta’ variant. This challenge really tested our virtual collaboration — while cases were declining in the US, they were steadily rising in Nepal. This had an obvious impact on our co-op, as the members were forced to go into a government-mandated lockdown, and asked to stop operating their businesses. This affected the business tremendously as Bimala didi had to resort to smaller orders and diversified products to keep Saughat afloat. Read about the struggles we faced here: How a New COVID Variant Affected Saughat

On top of the COVID-19 variant that ravaged Nepal, came heavy torrents of monsoon rains that washed life in Sindhuli away. This was a stressful time for the co-op. The floods reached Saughat’s factory, and Bimala didi and the co-op had to struggle to keep the factory safe. Bimala didi was forced to make a choice between staying at the factory, or packing up her family, and belongings and leaving to take shelter from the floods. The anxiety and fear for her family kept Bimala didi up at night, but it was her strength that inspired Sunita and Sabita to stay strong themselves. Read all about it here: Life In Sindhuli… an Update.

Getting tech involved

A game changer in our journey with Saughat was the discovery/introduction to MIT Solv[ED], and the resources it offered. As the summer was coming to a close, I (along with Sunita and Sabita) would be starting school again, and I struggled to find financial resources for our team. Winning the MIT Solv[ED] microgrant was monumental for us. The workshops I attended specifically targeted young innovators. From Zoom meetings where other young people spoke about their own projects, to an interactive innovation workshop, each meeting I attended strengthened my work with Saughat.

In July I also won a $300 microgrant from MIT Solv[ED] that was incredibly helpful in our research into market expansion of Saughat products . Read about the impact of these MIT Solv[ED] workshops and the grant here: From MIT Solv[ED] to Sindhuli.

Continuing with the theme of technology, the next post explored the organization Green Growth. Founded by Saurav Dhakal, Green Growth is a Kathmandu-based online platform that provides small businesses with help to take their products to market, analyzing data on their materials, growth, products, and more. This Q&A type interview allowed us to explore sustainability and the online aspect to our project, this was a real turning point for us as it allowed us to explore the online marketplace. The interview is in this post: Driving Market With Technology.

Data, Data, Data

Following our successful win of the $300 MIT Solv[ED] microgrant, we designed a market survey for small businesses and shops in Sindhuli, to examine the best places to sell our product. The survey was conducted in Nepali and asked a few store owners the essential question: “who wants candy?” This step was integral for our research trips in the future where we further explored the market. The details of our data collection are included here: Who Wants Candy?

Looking beyond Sindhuli

After gathering data on the market in Sindhuli, we decided our next course of action was to expand beyond Sindhuli. As it was Bimala didi’s dream to turn Saughat into a nationally-recognized candy business, we knew we had to look into the state of the market as well as the candy business in bigger cities, starting with Hetauda (a town some four hours west of Sindhuli). This was the perfect starting point for us as the co-op had connections in the town and were able to learn more about candy marketing through this process. Read all about our Hetauda trip here: Headed out to Hetauda

Following the success of our Hetauda trip, we decided to devote an even bigger portion of our research budget into our Kathmandu trip. This trip was a little longer and required more planning, which we did over the month of January 2022. As we prepared for the trip, we laid down our plans for Kathmandu and questioned the incorporation of blockchain and further expansion for Saughat. These future plans and preparations are detailed in this post: Kathmandu Calling.

Finally, comes our biggest endeavor yet, our trip to Kathmandu. After weeks of planning, the co-op took a trip to the capital, Kathmandu. Since this is the largest city in Nepal, it was the best place for us to examine the impacts of a large market on Saughat’s product. This trip was even more successful than our Hetauda trip, the co-op conducted interviews, met with potential business partners, and got to be truly immersed in the market culture of Kathmandu. Read about the Kathmandu trip here: Finally Reaching the Big City: Kathmandu

Future plans

This month, I will wrap up the first phase of our work with Bimala didi and Saughat. I learned so much about not only the candy making process but also how small businesses operate, the Nepali market, and online marketplaces. And not only have I greatly benefitted from this experience but I can confidently say that Sabina and Sunta have as well, as they learned basic computer skills, got first hand experience in the candy business, conducted market surveys, and explored new opportunities for their product in Kathmandu and Hetauda.

Sunita and Sabina are reaching the end of their high school years, and they plan to branch out. Sabina plans to pursue higher education, and is hoping to continue with her bachelors in Sindhuli. Sunita wants to travel to Kathmandu to follow her dreams of getting her undergraduate degree in the city. Both have emphasized the role of Bimala didi in this process. Below are six concrete results we achieved:

1. Two highschool-aged girls were able to intern at a milk-candy cooperative and learned candy production and marketing skills with the help of a mentor.
2. The team carried out research locally (with 50 small store-owners) to understand if there was market expansion possibilities locally in Sindhuli
3. Saughat’s milk candies passed the food safety standard test and received the food quality certification from the government in Nepal
4. The team traveled to the regional center Hetauda and capitol Kathmandu to learn from other entrepreneurs — about quality products and market expansion.
5. The candy cooperative made connections with Muna Bajar, an organization that runs a series of stores in Kathmandu and sells products made in Nepa. Muna agreed to sell the Saughat candies in Muna Outlets.
6. The cooperative also supplied milk candies to GreenGrowth. The milk candies — in a different shape, were offered as a Valentines’ Day special on GreenGrowth

As I continue forward working with Green Growth I plan to incorporate Saughat into my future plans as much as I can in the transition from working with primarily one small business to multiple with an online marketplace.