Ghana, like many countries where people live on less than a dollar a day, has a high incidence of goitre, mental retardation, brain damage and other disorders caused by iodine deficiency.  According to UNICEF 740 million people suffer from iodine deficiency. 

The best way to prevent this is to add iodine to the cooking salt that is widely used.  However, iodised salt is more expensive than raw non-iodised salt, and people on very low incomes do not pay the additional cost. 

UNICEF recognised that the challenge to spread the use of iodised salt needed to be taken to the private sector.

Unilever was keen to build its market share in sub-Saharan Africa.  Developing a market for iodised salt was one such opening, but they needed to do it in a way that enabled them to operate profitably.  Unilever in India had experience with a low-cost iodised salt called Annapurna.  To replicate that in Ghana, the Popular Foods team had to completely rethink the business system and the way brands are normally developed and sold. 

In doing this, they made a number of decisions:

• to keep capital costs down, they outsourced production of iodised salt, creating 200 jobs
• they established partnerships with local manufacturers, investing time, resources and training to help them raise quality standards
• they saved on brand development costs by drawing on India’s experience with Annapurna. 

This included running a series of roadshows to raise awareness of Annapurna and aligning  the brand’s health messages with those of Ghana’s Health Service, in order to build consumer confidence.

A Win-Win Result

The results have been significant. Since its launch in 2000, Annapurna has nearly doubled the use of iodised salt from 28% of the population in 1988 to around 50% in 2002.

The product became profitable for Unilever after just 18 months, nearly two years ahead of schedule.