Urmatt Ltd.

Our Successful Impact Investment Model

A Firsthand Experience

Arvind Narulaarvind@urmatt.com

They are why you are here today

But your own family is more important to you

That is why

• Enterprises targeting poverty alleviation must first determine a model that is substantially profitable

• Profitability permits investment into growth

• Growth permits continued inclusion of economically disadvantaged families

Our Formula• Instead of helping the poor become self-

sufficient, lets make them create surpluses for themselves

• Instead of having them produce for their own needs, lets help them produce expensive stuff for others so they themselves can develop freedom to choose how they meet their own needs

• Look at it with an eye to profits :– Low labor cost

– Depressed areas normally provide financial incentives

– Low competition

– Fast expansion potential

Sounds Simplistic – too good to be possible ?

• Long grain rice world price : $480• Basmati Rice world price : $1,600

• Conventional Eggs : 20 cents (in Singapore)• Organic Eggs : $1 (in Singapore)

• Pineapples 50 cents • Organic Pineapples $4

• Tal Dehtiar, founder of Oliberté, world’s first Fair Trade Shoes, Liberia

• Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, founder of Sole Rebels, Ethiopia

• There is so much opportunity • But first the product, then the people• Find a product for which there is more demand

than supply, or where you have a market advantage

• Develop the market• Then launch a project working with challenged

populations that you can impact positively• Set clear targets

• First, establish the demand, THEN produce to meet it

• WE ARE PRIMARILY IN THE ORGANIC RICE CONTRACT FARMING BUSINESS

• WE EMPLOY ABOUT 1,000 FARMER FAMILIES IN THAILAND

• WE HAVE LAUNCHED NEW CROPS AND PROJECTS IN THE PAST YEAR WITH IMPACT INVESTMENT PARTNERS

• ALL OUR PRODUCTS ARE SOLD OUT • WE ADDED ABOUT 300 FAMILIES IN OUR

PROGRAMS IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS

WHO WE ARE

Urmatt Ltd.

• We knew we needed to make profits• We knew we wanted to help the poorest

farmers• We knew the market for organic foods

was growing • Today, we are the largest producers of

organic Jasmine rice through our contract farming projects

• We identified rice varieties and the markets• We identified needy villages • Our program provided them with training, inputs,

seed and buy-back guarantees• We created a group, THE WORLD RICE ALLIANCE,

dedicated to organic trade between members and has cross shareholding between group companies world wide.

Here is how we did it

Multiplier Effect

- We encourage our farmers to raise cattle- They sell the cow dung back to us- They collect snails from the fields (pest control) and sell them to us- From these ingredients we make fertilizer for the farmers

WORLD RICE ALLIANCEThailand USA Scandinavia Vietnam New Zealand Argentina

Brazil NORDIC FOOD PARTNERS A/S

New Directions

• In cooperation with the World Presidents Organization (WPO) we launched a project to produce organic eggs with the hill tribes, North Thailand and target to double household incomes in one year

• Organic eggs from this project are being shipped twice a week to hotels and restaurants in Thailand

• We target a production of 150,000 eggs per day – doubling household income within a year (Thailand consumes 33,000,000 eggs a day)

• This model will be franchised to Bali and India next year

• The West African Rice Company• In Sierra Leone and in Cote d’Ivoire

we are launching a contract farming project to double rice yields

• With a profit sharing model with the farmers

• But all of this works only with a clear vision and intent

• And with secure funding we can benefit thousands of farming families

• Funding is the major challenge to our expansion

• There is much to do• There is much that can be done

Thank You

arvind@urmatt.com