- Loan Successfully Funded On 7 Jun 2023 and Fully Repaid
Innovative wafer snacks to overcome malnutrition in young children in Cambodia
Danish Care Foods
- Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Menu
- 20,000 USD
Loan has been fully repaid
The loan will help to supply ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) products for over 1000 children in three provinces in Cambodia. It will also enable Danish Care Foods to increase the company’s capability in preparation for the supply of larger orders in the future. Nutrix, as an innovative therapeutic food, marks an important step towards reaching the Cambodian government’s goal to treat at least 25,000 children with severe acute malnutrition per year.
- 2 Lenders
Committed
- 6 months
Loan Period
- 10%
Interest Rate
- BACKGROUND
Loan summary
Danish Care Foods (DCF) specialises in the production of therapeutic and supplementary foods that helps to create a positive impact in nutrition for the consumer. Their fish-based ready-to-use-therapeutic food (RUTF) is utilised by the Royal Government of Cambodia and major INGOs to treat children with severe acute malnutrition.
This loan helps provide bridging capital to keep the smooth flow of productions and distribution of their products to satisfy existing orders, and preparation to scale as they await major orders to distribute RUTFs across 15 provinces in Cambodia.
DCF is the only social enterprise in Cambodia harnessing innovation for their RUTFs, and the loan helps them to continue creating a positive impact to Cambodian society and generate significant impact at scale.
Borrower's mission
After a significant research and design phase, with in-depth consumer testing, Danish Care Foods developed a new fish-based wafer snack – Nutrix – to treat severe acute malnutrition in children. This wafer snack was developed with UNICEF, the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), Copenhagen University (CU) and in collaboration with the Royal Government of Cambodia. The ready-to-use-therapeutic food will be produced at scale to address malnutrition in children in Cambodia.
As an affordable snack-like therapeutic food, the Cambodian government will provide Nutrix to treat severe acute malnutrition in children under the age of five in remote and poor communities through local health facilities. It is estimated that in Cambodia, between 60,000 to 90,000 children need specialised medical treatment annually, including therapeutic food.
The Nutrix wafer is completing its first testing and sales phase, funded by a major international NGO. In late 2023, the product will be scaled and rolled out to 15 new provinces in Cambodia. Additional INGO’s are looking to place orders, with the Royal Government of Cambodia also setting aside significant finances to continue purchases and develop new market based RUTFs.
The activities funded by this loan are helping to achieve the above Sustainable Development Goals as defined by the UN.
Intermediary's experience with impact enterprises
For more than 8 years, Red Hat Impact has helped impact enterprises by raising capital and providing other kinds of business and strategy support. We have raised more than $3M from our network of impact investors, and loaned this capital to support 30 enterprises. We use a crowd-lending model to raise loan capital. As of May 2024, we maintain a 98% success rate on loan repayment. We establish close working relationships with all of the impact enterprises we raise debt capital for, and co-manage risks with them during the loan term.
- IMPACT
Impacts and how they are measured
The loan will help to supply the needed RUTF products for the projects to support 1000 children in three provinces. It will also enable DCF to increase the company’s capability in preparation for the supply of larger orders in the future. Over 10% of young Cambodian children suffer from moderate and severe acute malnutrition. Nutrix, as an innovative therapeutic food, marks an important step towards reaching the Cambodian government’s goal to treat at least 25,000 children with severe acute malnutrition per year.
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