In conversation with Zeeshan Kingshuk Huq on Direct Fresh’s business verticals and plans for the future
Director and Chief Marketing Officer
Direct Fresh
What led to the inception of Direct Fresh? What is the core idea that catalyses its activities?
We wanted to grab the bull by the horns in addressing the inequality in food distribution. We initially started with sourcing the food from farmers and bringing it directly to the tables. This reduced the middlemen, provided consumers with better prices, ensured better profitability for farmers, and most importantly, ensured and maintained the quality of food. We started our journey as an e-commerce platform to solve this problem.
But over the years, we realised that it would be better to pivot. Today we are into more B2B business, bringing benefit to the bottom of the pyramid as well as to businesses in between. What remains the same throughout our journey is that we have stayed true to our core value of ensuring equality in food and nutrition.
We currently cater to five different factories and more than 30,000 workers, which is soon going to reach 20 factories and 100,000 workers. 100,000 workers actually mean 100,000 families.
Please elaborate on Direct Fresh’s business verticals. How does each vertical help decrease food inequality?
Direct Fresh currently has three different revenue streams. Firstly, we have partnered with the World Food Program (WFP) to provide food and supplies for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. While there are 30+ companies that provide food and supplies to the Rohingya community, we are catering the largest volume by far. Our second business vertical, which is continuously expanding, is Amar Dokan- fair-priced shops for workers of the RMG and other manufacturing industries.
Amar Dokan has a fantastic proposition. We currently cater to five different factories and more than 30,000 workers, which is soon going to reach 20 factories and 100,000 workers. 100,000 workers actually mean 100,000 families. Customers of these factories can buy groceries and food on a credit basis, where the credit is securitised against their salaries. Since all their purchases are through POS Terminals, we can come up with a data-driven, assured nano-lending system. If we are able to provide better credit leverage, this will help solve the issue of affordability for low-income groups.
Our third concern is supplying groceries and ingredients to medium to large restaurants and hotels. We currently cater to North-End, Sushi Tei, KFC, Pizza Hut, Chows, Westin and many more.
You have over two decades of experience across various industries, from start-ups to large corporations. What drew you to Direct Fresh, and how do you see this business growing?
What excited me first was the Direct Fresh proposition. Food is a core need, and we at Direct Fresh are concerned with making food affordable, as well as increasing the financial capability of marginalised people. At Direct Fresh, we ensure the basic right to affording quality nutrition.
Direct Fresh already has a fantastic sourcing system in place. We are currently digitising the system and trying to make commodity distribution more efficient. We are aiming to target the lower-income group because that is the group we – as a company – understand better, and have been working with for the last few years. Our next step will be to work with small family-owned businesses and those providing local supply chain solutions such as merchants. In addition, we will be expanding our Amar Dokan franchise, automating the nano-lending and creating more smiles! The global recession will put pressure on RMG and manufacturing companies to be more compliant and become more attractive to buyers. Ensuring a fair-price shop will definitely help them in this endeavour. Our strengths are supply chain management access to the proper sources and our finances. We understand the bottom of the pyramid, and we would like to keep bringing solutions to the bottom of the pyramid.
In the last four months, my role in the company has evolved, and I have taken up the role of Group COO of the parent company- Agile Group. The group has multiple companies in tech, tech-enabled payment and banking solutions, fintech products, restaurants, as well as, of course, Direct Fresh. I have always believed in the blue ocean strategy, and most of the products we provide are first of their kind, which means scaling up businesses and creating huge differences in the economy and society.
We started 2023 with a certain amount of unpredictability in terms of global geopolitics and trade. How do you envision the growth of Direct Fresh as the issues may continue to persist?
We are in the field of commodities and food. As food is not a luxury item, the demand will not decrease as much as most other verticals. While the sale of mobile phones, for instance, will drastically go down, the sale of sugar or rice will not; while the demand for grapefruits will decrease, that of potatoes will not decrease at the same level. Hence, I do not think Direct Fresh will face a major threat. Considering the team we have at Direct Fresh and through Agile Group, we are well-equipped to deal with any challenges brought on by the current economic climate. We source things directly from farmers, and we ensure proper quality control. It is likely we will grow into a better position than that we are in now.