Zameen Organic

Improved Management Information System for Marketing Company in organic cotton

 

About Zameen

Zameen Organic (2007) is a young Indian marketing company for Fair Trade and organic cotton products. It is owned by 30 cooperatives, having a total membership of 6000 farmers, most of whom in conversion to organic cotton. Zameen supports these cooperatives in domestic as well as international marketing, quality control, agro technology and organisation development by raising dedicated premiums from textile buyers and communicating transparently about the use of these premiums. The organisation's philosophy is centred on improving the livelihoods of rural farming communities. The social impact of Zameen Organic is:

 

• local employment and/or income generation
• community involvement
• improving quality of life
• transfer of knowledge and skills
• positive environmental impact

Business case

Zameen is a growing company and deals with a comprehensive decentralised structure, as they are owned by 30 co-operatives and work with regional offices. This demands extra attention for the establishment of a transparent and accurate Management Information System (MIS), which can constantly provide them with accurate and up to date financial and non-financial information. The company asked SharePeople for assistance in setting up this system. The primary scope of the assignment consisted of setting-up a user friendly MIS and a cashflow projection. SharePeople matched Zameen with Ruud Beckers, manager at KPMG, and with experience predominantly in the financial sector.

 

Results

 

Analysis

Ruud concludes that Zameen's management has a strong drive and enthusiasm to strengthen and expand the Fair Trade and organic cotton market. Furthermore, he believes that many opportunities exist in expanding Zameen's business to higher margin products for which Zameen has some unique selling points. However, some issues need management attention to create maximum value for its farmers, such as improving the MIS. The current management information is not sufficiently structured. Important information has to be received from the regional offices. However, this information is not always updated in a timely manner. This makes it difficult to fully understand the issues on regional level. Also, cash flow projections and budget analysis are not sufficiently included in the management information. To monitor the current cost and sales levels, a budget analysis is needed.

 

 

Advice

The expert developed a Management Information System, including financial and non-financial data. This system includes more periodic reviews on site, cash flow projection and budget analysis per crop season.

 

In addition to this MIS the following deliverables have been reported:

 

• template for contract register
• template for plan of approach of volunteers/ interns
• overview of the global cotton price (lint) compared to Zameen's prices
• template for guest house management (planning and rules) 

Also, the expert has been able to give broader advices regarding management of the company. This touches upon issues such as:

 

• the formalisation of the Human Resource Policy of the company
• advise on how to improve administrative procedures and internal controls  
• advise to implement a detailed track-and-trace database of (potential) clients to utilize Zameen's sales efforts 

Impact on the partners

The co-operation between Zameen management and Ruud has been highly appreciated by both parties.

 

‘Ruud was a fantastic addition to the team.  He was incredibly easy- settled in very well and put up with all the magical idiosyncrasies of India with much grace! He worked very effectively with our accountants, who really benefited in both skills, approach and in confidence.' (Gijs Spoor, Zameen Organic)

 

And also for Ruud it has been an interesting learning opportunity:

 

‘I have learned to cooperate with people of a (very) different background/ culture in an effective way. Also, I gained a lot of knowledge about the (fair trade and organic) cotton business as well as insights in doing business in India. In my current job I can apply my experience of doing business in India.'

 

‘It was a great pleasure to do this volunteer job in a different culture and a different organisation than I am used to. I have learnt so much in only four weeks. A refreshing view on the everyday things of life. I can recommend such an experience to everyone.'

 

(Ruud Beckers, KPMG)

 

Follow up

The work was well streamlined with the existing system, which makes it easy for the accountant to give follow up to the implementation of the improved MIS. Ruud will review the implementation of the management information structure in the next months. His knowledge and experience remains available for Zameen. Furthermore, Zameen management and Ruud also identified that it is of importance to improve the HR strategy of Zameen. Therefore, future co-operation between SharePeople and Zameen regarding HR management is considered.

 

Click here for the weblog 'Expert Programme Ruud Beckers'

 

Related business cases

• Udyogini/UJAS, 2009, Expert Program, India
• PRADAN, 2009, Expert Program, India