Dhuan ‘n’ Dukhaan: a case of successful

green venture start-up in Pakistan

Tehreem Fatima, Ahmad Raza Bilal and Muhammad Kashif Imran

Introduction Tehreem Fatima is based at

the Department of Business
On, 21 October 2018, Rana Waseem, owner of “Dhuaan ‘n’ Dukhan” (D ‘n’ D), a small and Management
ecopreneurial venture in Sargodha, Pakistan, was reflecting on his one year journey. He had Sciences, Superior
just realized his dream of creating a sustainable model for small scale business that University, Lahore,
survived in Pakistan. Waseem was a young business graduate who had engaged in Pakistan. Ahmad Raza Bilal
banking and education sector jobs prior to his entrepreneurial career. He used to face the is based at the Faculty of
issue of having hygienic lunch in office time at affordable prices during his employment at a Business and
local educational institute; yet he found that no such facility was available. He decided to Management, Sohar
University Oman, Sohar,
use his business knowledge to capture this market opportunity and in doing so, he built on
Oman.
the recent conceptualizations of ecopreneurship, with aim to create a business that not only
Muhammad Kashif Imran is
earn him profit but also had sustainable operations. To attain this, he had to face the based at the Department of
dilemma of choosing sustainable business model where he had to keep a balance between Management Sciences,
viable profits and maintaining sustainability. Among possible options of having full The Islamia University of
sustainable operations and minimal economic gains, or having more economic gains and Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur,
some sustainable operations, he had to choose one option. By keeping in view his limited Pakistan.
finance and small scale business operations, he chose the business model with economic
focus while adopting some of the sustainable operations. To put this model into practice, he
followed the general guidelines of sustainable development goals (SDGs) incorporated by
United Nations. After the commercial operations startup in October 2017, Waseem had to
face the challenges of financial constraints, delays in delivery, product recalls and
competitor’s entry that put a toll on the venture’s progress. Now, Waseem was indulged in
deciding the future survival and growth options, to expand in other cities as well as, to open
dine in facility using the same business model[1].

A visionary ecopreneur –Rana Waseem

During the course of his employment in a local university campus, Waseem taught
entrepreneurship; and he always involved students in practical business projects with
innovative ideas to teach the true essence of subject. Instead of teaching the traditional
contents of entrepreneurship, he always researched new developments in the field. The
idea of sustainable development defined as “development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
(World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p. 41) caught his interest. As Disclaimer. This case is written
solely for educational purposes
he probed further into this concept, he came to know that it has recently translated into the and is not intended to represent
notion of sustainable entrepreneurship, where entrepreneurs lead the business by successful or unsuccessful
managerial decision-making.
integrating social, economic and environmental issues in a manner that contribute towards The authors may have
disguised names; financial and
societal sustainable development (Whiteman et al., 2013; Schaltegger and Wagner, 2011). other recognizable information
He learned that global business environment called for investigating the impacts of to protect confidentiality.

DOI 10.1108/EEMCS-06-2018-0157 VOL. 9 NO. 1 2019, pp. 1-31, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2045-0621 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 1
 business on wider societal and environmental levels (Epstein, 2018). That was backed by
the international organizations’ agenda for reconsidering the role of business in sustainable
development (United Nations, 2012; World Business Council for Sustainable Development,
2017). He was also well aware that Pakistani and South Asian context has its unique
dynamics that required more contribution to economic and social issues.
One day while he was going through the SDGs’ global Index, he noted that the position of
Pakistan was alarming in that respect. Pakistan acquired a point score of 55.6 ranking
below the regional peers Bangladesh (56.2) and India (58.1) and the average of 63.3.
Consequently, Pakistan ranked 122 out of 157 countries with the counter parts having better
ranks i.e. India (116) and Bangladesh (120) (SDG Index, 2017). He realized that in addition
to the global importance of attaining SDGs, Pakistan needs to focus them more because of
its lower ranking than the regional peers. This spurred his concern for the environmental
impacts of business and he conceived an idea to start a venture that not only ensured
environmental protection and healthy lifestyle but also earn him reasonable profit to earn his
livelihood. Though he was interested in becoming an entrepreneur, he was not thinking to
take this initiative in near future. Until one day when he went back to home to have lunch but
due to traffic congestion he had to come back to university without having it. He could not
find any suitable food option in his limited budget as low cost edibles were not hygienic and
more hygienic options were out of his financial budget. Pakistan is among the developing
nations that have low per capita income and consumers are price conscious. In Pakistan,
there is less awareness regarding food hygiene and availability of hygienic food in
affordable prices is sparse[2]. This became every day’s dilemma, when some days he had
to eat substandard food from university cafeteria or local market as going back home in
lunch time was not possible given traffic blockage. Occasionally, he used to order good
quality food items from reputed restaurants but they used to be heavy toll on his limited
income. All these issues combined with his interest in becoming a sustainable entrepreneur,
made him seriously think that if he is facing the problem of having affordable hygienic lunch
at workplace, other middle income white collar workers must also be facing similar issues.
The idea of starting a sustainable venture to offer lunch for office workers struck his mind.
The idea of starting a sustainable venture to offer lunch for office workers struck his mind.
One of the unique ways to gain competitive advantage in South Asian context was to
differentiate themselves by resolving the local issues. This was a fast way to get feedback
from the local people and iterate it to improve the business standing. Given the context and
issues that are specific to South Asian region, the attempts of blindly following the western
entrepreneurial practices result in failure. It was much important to serve the unmet needs of
the locality rather being radically innovative in design or product composition. To validate
the market opportunity, he conducted a survey in nearby educational institutions, banks
and, offices and inquired employees regarding the available affordable lunch options in
their workplace. Most of the employees indicated similar issues as Waseem faced and
showed keen interest in a food delivery service that could resolve this problem. In this
backdrop, he started researching regarding sustainable business options and feasible
business model that could possibly support his idea. His research from academic articles
and internet sources revealed that sustainability researchers and practitioners had
consensus on the role of business in sustainable development and its core lied in the
development of sustainable business model. Pakistan being a South Asian region had
different business scenario from the western world. The research and available information
regarding sustainable business operations in small-scale food sector required a care full
adaption to match the needs of context. To have a holistic approach towards sustainability,
the business must focus on developing such models that offer competitive solutions by
removing the negative impacts on environment, and/or having positive influence on
societies and environment (Boons and Lüdeke-Freund, 2013). In this regard, a seminal
business study on the topic of sustainable business model (i.e. Bendigo Bank and Interface
Inc) authored by Stubbs and Cocklin (2008) served as an ideal example for Waseem, and it

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gave him practical insight in business model that exclusively focus on sustainable and
green business management. He noted that a sustainable business model cared for all
stakeholders and had a positive approach toward the protection of nature and resources.
Furthermore, he realized the potential of business owner to play a key role in driving the
firm – wide sustainability objectives (Kuckertz and Wagner, 2010). In Pakistani society,
concern for environmental protection and promotion of social welfare had attained recent
attention of educated class. This made it a viable business option in this context that would
act as a competitive edge and also resolve the inherent problem of eating healthy within
financial budget. Pakistani consumers had a specific trait of being loyal if they were
satisfied with the product pricing (Pakistan Economist, 2018). So these points were kept into
consideration by Waseem while designing the business model for his new business.
In this backdrop, in 2017, he gave up employment to pursue full time entrepreneurial
venture where he applied his entrepreneurial knowledge to resolve a real time issue and
took advantage of an untapped market opportunity. He thought of initiating a hygienic food
service for working people at affordable prices through a sustainable business model. The
major task was deciding on the business model characteristics that address the issue of
sustainability along with financial viability. Although, it seemed a simple business idea yet it
made Mr. Waseem to think on multiple aspects to turn it into a viable business venture.
There were some major questions in his mind:
䊏 How the business will be funded?
䊏 What products will be offered and how they will be priced?
䊏 What will be the activities along supply chain?
䊏 How he will be able to maintain the balance in maintaining sustainability as well as
revenue generation?
䊏 What kind of business case will be used to develop a successful eco-friendly venture?
䊏 How the business will gain competitive advantage?

All these questions in his mind indicated various issues regarding finance collection,
making of products and supply chain decisions and choosing the appropriate source of
sustainable competitive advantage. To resolve the above-mentioned issues, Waseem held
a series of meetings with his friends, family and people in same business and had an
internet-based search. After a period of approximately six months, he came up with multiple
options in the development of a sustainable business model that would be environmental
friendly and would generate adequate revenue. During the course of his research, he read
about the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) that were focused at
people, planet and prosperity to make this world a sustainable place[3] (Figure 1). He found
UN SDGs were the stirring point in creating the quest of sustainability in the contemporary
world and he thought of aligning his business operations to meet at least some of the SDGs.
Waseem was clear in his vision regarding the opening of a new business that would serve
the demand of hygienic food delivery for the working class. He was clear from the very
beginning to develop a business model where both the aims of environmental sustainability
and profit earning were accomplished. The latent intention behind starting an ecopreneurial
venture was not only to attain economic gains but also to foster the social and environmental
objectives. Waseem had to make the decision regarding the business model that supported
his idea. Business model represented the way interrelated business activities were
performed in formulation of strategy, deciding on business architecture and economic
outcomes to attain sustainable competitive advantage in desired market (Morris et al.,
2005). Usually, sustainable business models were linked to corporations with large
budgets, but in the past decades, the academic literature studied by Waseem indicated
use of case study methods to highlight the role of small and medium scale business to

VOL. 9 NO. 1 2019 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 3

 Figure 1 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda-2030)

3 6
2 Good 4 5 Clean
1 Zero Quality Gender
No Poverty Health and Water and
Hunger Education Equality
Well-Being Sanitation
12
8 9
7 Decent Industry, 11
Affordable 10 Sustainable Responsible
Work and Innovation Reduced
and Clean Cities and Consumption
Economic and Inequalities
Energy Communities and
Growth Infrastructure
Production
16
Peace, 17
13 14 15
Climate Life Life and Justice and UN SDGs
Partnerships
Action Below Water Land Strong Agenda 2030
for the Goals
Institutions

Source: Adapted from UN’s official site: 2030 Agenda for

Sustainable Development Goals

depict their sustainable operations through real examples. He searched and studied the
real case examples where sustainable business models were implemented successfully to
guide his business decisions. Such as, he examined the research work of Rodgers (2010)
who indicated that ecopreneurial ventures in small and medium sector are based on
business models that have eco-conscious nature along with the monetary focus. Siikavirta
et al. (2002) exemplified the case of grocery home delivery in Finland that use of right
business model had the capacity to reduce the greenhouse emissions from 18 to 87 per
cent in food production and consumption. Finally, he was convinced by the conceptions of
Linnanen (2005), that ecopreneurial start-ups were not solely non-for-profit concerns with
sole aim to be good for the environment and society with the absence of monetary motives.
Rather successful ecopreneurs have a balance on financial earnings and sustainable
operations. The ecopreneurs had a latent motivation for tapping not only the economic
objectives but also the environment and social objectives for greater good. Ecoprenurs also
kept track of the social and environmental concerns along with the personal benefits
(Schaper, 2016). This notion was based on a triple bottom line (3BL) concept developed by
Elkington (1998) that business should be evaluated on three facets, i.e. economic, social
and environmental (Elkington, 1998). To devise an ecopreneurial venture in food industry,
the ecopreneur must decide about his target consumers, value proposition, competitive
advance, positioning, economic objectives and business scope. In addition, the major
decision point for Waseem was a right trade-off between sustainability, size and profit.
Extant literature on sustainable business offered four major models based on the
preferences on profit, sustainability and mass market (Jolink and Niesten, 2015). In income
model, the prime focus is on earning profit, a small business size with an emphasis on
product sustainability as a leading edge. This kind of business charged higher prices in
exchange of the value they offered to consumers on basis of sustainability. The second
option was subsistence model, where the business operations are kept on small scale,
short-term economic gains are focused along with sustainability. In this model, the small
business owners that have limited resources implement the sustainable operations to the
extent they could afford and keep their prices medium or comparable to non-sustainable
products to survive in middle income markets. The growth model is for large-scale
companies that have enough finances to be completely sustainable along with focus on
financial outcomes; they had a high concern for profits and a high concern for sustainability.
Finally, the speculative business model was also for large scale that focused more on profits
as compared to sustainability. Waseem had to make an appropriate choice on these criteria
keeping the national socio-economic factors into consideration. Given his limited finance,
he had the option to start small-scale venture and the target market was middle income
people so a higher concern for profit by charging high prices was not possible, in this
regard, he had the most feasible choice to adopt the subsistence model where the

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business could be small in operations with a compromise in sustainability and profits
(Figure 2).
For deciding the characteristics of this business venture, the following main questions were
to be answered for developing subsistence Ecopreneurial model:
䊏 Who will be the target consumers and how the value will be created?
䊏 How internal competitive advantage and external positioning of the venture will be
shaped?
䊏 How the economic objectives will be attained in relation to business scope and size?

The target consumer and method of value creation

The first decision Waseem had to make regarding the business idea was to decide for
whom the business will create products and how the value will be created. For him the
target consumers were the white collar workers whom seek to have hygienic food in lunch
time. As most of the middle and lower middle class workers in Sargodha, a medium-scaled
city in Pakistan were, unable to afford healthier food options due to lack of purchasing
power and conveyance issues, he decided to focus on the middle class segment. The
value created for target consumers was the prime determinant of consumer behaviour and
purchase decision. He thought of all the factors that are possibly valued by his target
market. After brainstorming, internet search, discussion sessions with the potential
consumers and input of his peers he charted out the value creating as well as non-value
creating factors for his business product. He simply thought to develop a set of benefits and
communicate it to the target consumers. He said:
I believe that communicating the advantages I offer to the target market would create a positive
image of D ‘n’ D in their mind.

Following the basic notion behind ecopreneurial venture the business needed to create a
product that not only added the value creating features in their product but also reduce the
factors that consumers do not value. The consumers that are concerned with environment in
food sector devalue the use of pesticides, waste creation, less emphasis on protection of
environment in the use of production procedures (Lockie et al., 2002). This class of
consumes also have concerns regarding healthy consumption, social problems and welfare
(Schaltegger and Wagner, 2011). After all these considerations he reached at the conclusion
of incorporating the values of waste reduction, affordability, hygiene, societal protection and
well-being in his value creation vision that was a moderate focus on sustainability based on
subsistence notion.

Figure 2 Alternative sustainable business models

Income Model Growth Model

(Size: Small, Profit orientation: (Size: Large, Profit orientation:
High, Focus on sustainability: High) High, Focus on sustainability: High)

Subsistence Model Speculative Model

(Size: Small, Profit orientation: (Size: Large, Profit orientation:
Moderate-low, Focus on High, Focus on sustainability: High)
sustainability: Moderate-low)

Source: Adapted from Jolink and Niesten (2015)

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 Product decision
After deciding the target consumers and the basic value proposition, Waseem had to
decide the exact product and its features that would match with his consumers’ needs. As
the basic concept was to deliver lunch for the white collar workers, he had to decide what
food items will be on the menu. He either had the option to offer multiple dishes or start with
a single dish. This was a relatively new business idea, so in case of initiating a multiple dish
menu, there was a higher risk of failure. So, acting in somewhat risk aversive manner
Waseem decided to focus on a single dish menu in the beginning and to expand the
product line on the basis of market response. He decided to offer packaged rice as his first
product. The underlying idea was its convenience in eating as compared to typical gravy
based Pakistani food. He said, “I thought rice box to be a complete meal set to be
consumed in office settings. It is lighter to eat and does not create much mess”.
Subsequently, his second task was to decide about the recipe, multiple rice recipes were
made and tested. Instead of the typical Chinese rice, ‘pulao’ or ‘biryani’, he decided a
contemporary combination of fast food restaurant rice mixed with Pakistani taste. Finally, a
unique recipe of light spiced rice having smoky tasted was made with BBQ pieces on the
top named as “Dhuaan Rice”. The packing was differentiated and the sophisticated
aluminium boxes were used with a cardboard lid coupled with brown paper lid as
compared to the traditional plastic based packing. A small batch was tested pre-launch to
determine market reaction in local white collar workers along with the development of
mobile application. Given the nature of product, the venture was named as ‘Dhuaan ‘n’
Dukhan’ (D ‘n’ D).

Internal competitive advantage and market positioning

The next dilemma for Waseem was to decide how the firm will develop its competitive
advantage in a market of non-eco-friendly economic food options and how this will be
communicated to the target consumers. An ecopreneur is always concerned about profit
and sustainability as both sides of the coin (Kirkwood and Walton, 2010). So, his main
challenge was to position the venture as being sustainable as well as being a comparable
competitor to the non-eco-friendly options. Here, he leveraged the rule of meeting the local
needs as a source of business differentiation that is more applicable notion in successful
business in South Asia rather being radically innovative. Nonetheless, in light of his initial
vision, the source of internal advantages was to be the provision of healthy and affordable
food option for the white collar workers as compared to the non-healthy food options that
were available in their locality. Being sustainable and environmental friendly always results
in initial higher business costs (Pacheco et al., 2010). Using high-quality packing, good
quality food materials and showing a concern for environment had the possibility of
increasing the business start-up and operational cost. He was surely not opening a social or
charity based business with the sole aim to benefit the society, so he decided that his
internal advantage to be rooted in efficient resource usage and using uniqueness to get the
desired market position. He wanted to inculcate the image of his product as hygienic,
healthy, innovative and having concern for environment. Although he aimed for price
affordability, but all these factors raised the product pricing comparatively above the local
rice options. He said:
As our target consumers were educated white collar class, so I thought of also stirring a touch of
uniqueness along with the core business idea of sustainability so that the consumers could
realize the value for additional units of money they are paying as compared to any local rice
option.

But keeping in view the concern for affordability as well as profitability, he decided to have a
moderate focus on profits as well as on sustainability and kept the prices almost
comparable to local rice options.

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The value proposition of ecopreneurs largely depended on the market in which they
operate. In case of a market where other ecopreneurial ventures constitute the competition,
mere focus on environmental concerns was not enough to create a distinctive position.
Luckily, in the present situation, Waseem had to face competition from non-eco-friendly
producers, and so the prime value creating factor for his venture was his concern for
environment throughout the business processes.
To achieve this, he had to take steps for creation of a “sustainable market position” built on
his strong commitment for having concern for wider environmental and sustainable
concerns along with the aim of earning profit. He wanted to create a good and credible
image to occupy the distinct place in market. For this, he started working to include the
supply chain partners that have similar values. In this regard as already mentioned he had
the focus on following the criteria laid down by UN SDGs. It was not possible to focus
equally on all the 17 goals, so he prioritized to emphasize on nine SDGs (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9,
11, 12 and15) according to the activities throughout the value chain.
Being a food business, the focus was defined on elimination of poverty, reduction of
starvation, healthy lifestyle, water and sanitation, sustainable economic growth, productive
and decent work, innovation, sustainable consumption and production patterns along with
promotion of terrestrial ecosystems. He read the entire agenda of UN SGDs in detail to have
a clear understanding of how in actual terms a small business can be sustainable and
environmental friendly. To translate the SDGs into his business operations, he developed an
actionable plan where he clearly mentioned the business activities that contributed towards
an ecopreneurial venture (Table I).
Every business has two ways to have contributed towards SDGs, first by improving the
positive impact on economic, social and environmental aspects and second by reducing
the negative impact of their operations on the on economic, social and environmental
factors. D ‘n’ D was planned to work both ways, in the attainment of SDG 1, where the aim
was elimination of poverty, Waseem aimed to have a positive impact by offering decent
employment. Furthermore, he decided to engage in charity and donations. He developed
partnership with Eidhi foundation where 1 PKR on each box was donated for the needy.
Free grocery items distribution plan and the program of giving away start-up amounts to the
jobless people to become self-employed through collaboration with “Waseela” foundation
were developed. Free cloth distribution partnership was initiated with “Libaas’’ charity
foundation. In compliance with SDG 2, the positive contribution was chosen to be made
towards ending hunger and delivering safe food with good nutritional value. Free food
distribution plan for the poor was incorporated in business plan (D ‘n’ D food donation).
Waseem ensured that Hygiene would be kept as the foremost priority in business
operations. He planned out the quality assurance measures, i.e. daily checking on quality
checklist. The instruction outline was made for the staff, which included the use of head
bands, gloves and hand washing before and after entering the cooking area. In line with the
business objectives, Waseem had to choose right suppliers that supported his business
idea. So, 9,001 approved suppliers were contacted (Table II), and the nutritional contents
were carefully decoded with the help of his friend who was a nutritional expert (Table III).
Waseem took the initiative of mentioning the nutritional value on each of the product so that
the people knew what they were eating. He stated:
People in our region don’t know what they are eating and mostly the local food business lacks
the hygienic and safe preparation of food items.

In helping to meet the SDG 3, good quality food with safe packaging in affordable price
range was offered. The owner had the view that by having the right and safe food to eat, he
was closing one hospital in locality by reducing the diseases caused by unhygienic food.
Waseem decided to completely avoid using plastic shopping bags, which he believed not
only reduce pollution but also save form multiple diseases including cancer. In compliance

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 Table I Five action steps in attainment of SDGs for Dhuaan ‘n’ Dukhaan
Steps Description Goals

Understanding Understanding of SDGs and the Meeting the need of untapped market of white collar workers for having
SDGs baseline responsibilities that hygienic and decently packed lunch boxes
each business has Lifting people out of poverty by offering food in affordable prices, engaging
in charity and food distribution and offering decent employment
Operating business in way that it does not lead the world towards resource
scarcity
Defining Prioritized SDGs along the value The business is focused on nine SDGs at present (1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15)
priorities chain
Setting goals Types of goals and KPIs 2019 start operations in Lahore by end of 2020.
To open dine-in facility in Sargodha till December 2018
Following goals are set for the baseline period till end of 2020
Offering employment to 150 workers
To capture 20% market share in office areas and 35% in households
To increase the sales of 200 packages per day to 2500 packages per day
Expand in Khushab, Bhalwal and Bhera by end of
Offer food to 100,000 hungry people
To give start-up donations of 5 lac PKR for 10 small businesses.
Offer clothing to 20,000 needy people.
Donate 500,000 PKR to Eidhi foundation by end of 2020
To eliminate plastic usage completely by incorporation of alternative
materials.
To reduce water and food wastage ratio to 50%.
Increase the wage level for employees by 20% as compared to industry
average along with provision of stock options
Reduce the road accident incidents by 50%
Saving of paper usage by 80%
Have 1,000 trees planted
Integrating Sustainability goals are Partnership with charity organizations of “Waseela”, ‘‘Eidhi” and “Libaas”
embedded across business Production (Reduction in wastage, recycling, hygiene)
and partnerships are developed Operations (sustainable business growth in all practices)
Human resource management (Decent work, living wage, respect,
employment opportunities)
Corporate social responsibility (Charity, reduction in environmental impact)
Sales and distribution (Road safety, increase in sales of hygienic food)
Pricing (More value for less price)
Communication Reporting The sustainability initiatives will be reported on facebook, displayed in outlet
and verbally communicated in events
Source: Dhuaan ‘n’ Dukhaan and SDG compass

Table II Suppliers of Dhuaan ‘n’ Dukhaan

Raw materials Suppliers

Oil Kashmir
Raw and frozen chicken items Protein mart
Rice Super Basmati/Basmati Long grain, non-glutinous, slender and very aromatic)
Spices Freshly produced
Source: Dhuaan ‘n’ Dukhaan

with SDG 6, he had strict instructions for conserving the use of water in cooking, washing
and cleaning.
Every business owner has the prime objective of contributing toward economy, and
Waseem was no exception. In contrast to having profit earning as the sole objective he

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 Table III Nutritional contents of Dhuaan ‘n’ Dukhaan’s products
Nutritional factors Rice Magohlta (Yogurt)

Net weight 800 grams 500 grams 260 grams 50 grams

Total calories 145 calories per 100 grams 132 calories per 100 grams 85 calories per 100 grams 32
Fats (%) 19 19 19 22
Carbohydrates (%) 45 45 45 43
Protein (%) 36 36 36 35
Source: Dhuaan ‘n’ Dukhaan

aimed to promote sustainable economic growth, such as his business not only moves
beyond the bottom line but also promotes resource conservation and social good. He
mentioned:
I envision a business that is not only beneficial economically but also makes a difference in lives
of people and society.

He introduced recycling, reduced wastage and used environmental-friendly packaging.

The green aspects were incorporated in packaging by using easily dilatable food-graded
plastic, and the parcels were delivered in paper bags instead of plastic shoppers. Waseem
noticed that multiple napkins that were given with each package of food items, and they
were usually thrown away or wasted. The napkin size was reduced (8  8 inches) as
compared to the standard size (12  12 inches) that lead to 100,000 inches less paper use
per 25,000 pieces. Additionally, he offered employees with good working conditions and
improved living wage. Waseem gave paramount importance to treat the employees with
respect and dignity that is not a usual practice in small-scale businesses in the locality. For
him, employees were his partners, and they were given the right of having business stocks
and business expansion. He said:
I not only give my employees the right to become business partners by small investments but
also train them to become future business owners.

In complying with SDG 9, fostering innovation was the aim of Waseem, he developed a
secret rice recipe, using the prestige packing and amalgamated technology into Pakistani
local small scale food venture. The orders could be placed through mobile application and
call and the advertisement was done mainly through mobile phone and social media. He
believed that D ‘n’ D did not compete in the local rice market; rather he considered fast food
chains as their competing business. They have incorporated high quality into local Pakistani
food that is comparable to the international hygiene and packing standards. He expressed
his ambition:
I want to see people eating Pakistani food instead of the typical fast food and I want to position
the Pakistani cuisine on comparable standards. So, I don’t see the local rice sellers as my
competitors, rather I consider the fast food chains to be.

Waseem had special focus on the sustainability of community and city where he promoted
safe distribution by having licensed drivers, imposing the speed limit of 40 kmph, special
instructions for riders to wear helmets and follow the traffic signals. He initiated the unique
idea of printing “How am I driving?” tag on the back of food carrying bag, so that the
incidents of rash driving and violation of traffic rules by the riders can be notified by others.
This policy was created to develop a sense of safe riding in the community and employees.
The food was decided to be kept in waterproof and airtight bags that keep its safe.
He had a vision to reduce negative impact in line with SDG 12 in the area of promoting
sustainable consumption and production. Wasting food is a common dilemma in the region,
as one-third of the produced food is wasted annually on global scale (fao.org, 2018). Mr.
Waseem wanted his business to develop awareness regarding food wastage, with the

VOL. 9 NO. 1 2019 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 9

 slogan of “Love food, hate waste”. This was an initiative to enhance public consciousness to
reduce food wastage. Food wastage was considered a serious concern by him that he
believed should be stopped to conserve resources for the generations to come.
Lastly, he aimed at contributing to SDG 15 by reducing the negative impact on life on earth
by protecting the terrestrial ecosystem. The major focus was on saving paper use by
replacing technology with paper work, reducing excessively large napkin sizes and
recycling of material. To reduce pollution brown paper bags were used instead of plastic
shopping bags and grey font colour was used instead of black to reduce the use of ink. He
said:
I want to create a paper-less environment that has a minimal toll on our terrestrial ecosystem.

He decided to start a tree plantation campaign in the locality and a free meal box was
offered in lieu of each tree plantation with the slogan “give one more chance to this earth”. In
this way, he aimed to operate his business in a way that was friendly for the planet and the
people on it. The summary of contribution of D ‘n’ D towards the prioritized SDGs are shown
in Table IV. The mapping of SDGs along the value chain activities is shown in Figure 3 as
per the guidelines of SDG Compass.

Profit earning, scope and size of business

Until now, Waseem had decided his target consumers, value proposition and market
positioning. Now he had to decide how he will make his business earn profit and how he
will limit the business operations’ size and scope. The money generation capacity of the
venture was dependent on the value the target consumers would give to the eco-friendly
products, business operational scale and the profit-sustainability trade-off. Having an
ecopreneurial venture based on subsistence approach, was a balanced act between
having sustainable actions and operating a viable venture on small scale. So, Waseem
had two options:
䊏 to compromise the short-run costs in pursuit of fully sustainable operations;
䊏 to be moderately profit oriented with the possible sustainable operations; and
䊏 to be more profit oriented with some sustainable operations.

To decide on this matter, he took each and every business aspect into consideration. First,
he had to determine from where he could arrange the finance. Among the options of taking
a bank loan, family finances and his own funds he picked the second option. The strong
family boding in Pakistani context was the prime reason behind most of the small-scale
entrepreneurs relying on family funding. This was the most suitable choice as he did not
possess considerable savings and taking a bank loan required reasonable financial
standing and long procedural delays. His business was new and had limited finance in the
beginning of business. In addition, he was not sure about its market response to the
sustainable production. He said,
It’s impossible for any business to be hundred percent sustainable and also financially viable; so
I have same profit intentions as of any other entrepreneur but I aim to keep the negative impacts
of my business operations to be minimum.

In the face of all the prevailing circumstances, he took the decision to run a business where
sustainability was ensured to the level financial viability is not sacrificed. Second, given his
resources he was capable of initiating a small scale venture so focus on environmental and
sustainable concern at the cost of profit loss was not a feasible option. He believes that a
smaller scale focussed business had less risk of start-up failure, so he remained focused in
all aspects of his business mode. In his words:

PAGE 10 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 9 NO. 1 2019

 Table IV Summary of contribution of D ‘n’ D towards the prioritized SDGs
Improve positive Impact/
Goal no. Description Reduce negative impact Response of D ‘n’ D

Goal 1 End poverty Improve positive Impact 1 PKR charity on each box
Offering decent employment
Waseela (Food items and business start-up donations)
Libaas (Free clothing for poor)
Goal 2 End hunger Improve positive Impact Free food distribution for the poor (D ‘n’ D food donation)
Secure food Hygiene
Improved nutrition Quality assurance (Daily checking on quality checklist)
Use of head bands and gloves
Hand washing before and after entering the cooking area
ISO 9001 approved suppliers
Balanced nutritional contents (Mentioned on the packing)
Goal 3 Healthy life style Improve positive Impact Good quality food with safe packaging at an affordable price
Good quality food – reduced diseases
Goal 6 Water and Reduce negative impact Minimization of water usage in operations and food preparation
sanitation
Goal 8 Sustainable Improve positive Impact Business model incorporates recycling, reduced wastage, use
economic growth of environmental friendly packaging
Productive and Offer employees with good working conditions and incentives for
decent work employees
Improved living wage
Respect of workers
Employees are given first right to expand business
Treating employees like partners
Goal 9 Foster innovation Improve positive Impact Secret Recipe (Rice with BBQ)
Unique packaging (Fast food packaging in local food)
Traditional food delivered through mobile application and
advertised on social media
Goal 11 Sustainable city Reduce negative Impact Improvement of divers’ road safety in in-bound and out-bound
and community logistics
“How am I driving tag”
Speed limit of 40 kmph for riders
helmet
license holders
Strict instructions to follow signals
Water proof carrying bags
Goal 12 Sustainable Reduce negative impact The package contains rice that are according to one meal
consumption portion to avoid wastage
and production The packing is recyclable
patterns They have mission of promoting the “love for food but hate for
waste”
The excess food its donated on daily basis
Goal 15 Promote terrestrial Reduce negative impact Saving paper use
ecosystems Use of brown paper bags instead of plastic shopping bags
Using grey font color instead of black to reduce the use of ink
Replacing technology with paper work
Recycling
“Give one more chance to this earth” tree plantation campaign
Source: Dhuaan ‘n’ Dukhaan and SDG compass

I didn’t want my business to be a bubble of sustainability that immediately bursts because of

higher initial cost, larger scale or focusing on all consumer segments. I want to remain very clear
in my business vision in terms of consumers, product, market and positioning.

In his idea, being a smaller scale player that had economic gains comparable to a non-eco-
friendly counterpart was a better option rather being fully sustainable and just survive the
basic business needs. It was a safer start as his target audience was educated and he
planned to fully communicate the product features and idea, so that they could recognize

VOL. 9 NO. 1 2019 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 11

 Figure 3 The mapping of SDGs along value chain

the difference in his offerings and those of non-eco-friendly and unhealthy providers of food.
For marketing and promotional purposes, he developed a Facebook page (www.facebook.
com/dhuaanndukhaan/). This was an economic opportunity to give a strong footing to his
venture as he aimed to persuade the target consumers about eating healthy and bring a
positive contribution to society. He used his Facebook page to communicate about the
product offerings as well as he posted the pictures and stories depicting his concern for
sustainability, i.e. food wastage awareness videos, importance of safe environment and
hygienic food. He thought it was a convincing idea to persuade target consumers about the
sustainable business positioning that will make them willing to buy his product even if the
future prices were increased and it acted as an ample expansion chance for the venture in
future. He set the pricing to be comparatively higher than the local providers of unhealthy
and non-sustainable suppliers but the value delivered by product was more in comparison
to the set price. The pricing was based on the concept of “More for less”; where people are
delivered more value for fewer prices (Figure 4).
He had to hire employees to run the business operations, as finance was his constraint so
he had to think economically in this aspect as well. It was not possible to hire professional
chefs and trained staff at the moment so he asked his brother – who had prior good
experience in cooking at commercial scale abroad – to hold the duty of chef with family
members acting as helping hand. He contacted two of his MBA students to perform
managerial function in the business as an internship opportunity on a stipend of PKR 7,000
per month and hired four riders who already had bikes. He said, “It was the most cost
effective and quality team that I could afford to hire at that time”.
Lastly, the choice of delivery method was made. He had option of making a small café that
had both options of dine-in and take away or solely rely on take away business. Given small
business size and scope and constrained capital, he took a rented place in quite far area
from the main city. He said it was the lowest cost place that I could afford in my given

PAGE 12 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 9 NO. 1 2019

 Figure 4 Menu and rate list of Dhuaan ‘n’ Dukhaan

resources. He set up a small kitchen and office and instead of initiating dine-in facility he
focused on take away business carried via telephone and mobile application orders. For
this a group of IT students were contacted from his previous institute who agreed to
develop mobile software application for his company on economical rates. So, he created
another value creating facture for his target consumers by offering them meal at their offices
and saved them from going out during lunch breaks to eat unhealthy local rice and meal
options. He decided to remain a small scale and profit oriented and decided to incorporate
the sustainability to the level that was affordable in given finance rather than being fully
sustainable.

A green start-up
A small business venture was opened in Sargodha, the 11th largest city of Pakistan. A
home kitchen named as “Dhuaan ‘n’ Dukhaan” (D ‘n’ D) started on October 22, 2017 with an
initial capital of three lac PKR with a workforce of 14 employees. The aim was to provide
healthy lunch for while collar workers having sustainability at the core of business model.
The mission was to resolve the issue of offering healthy meal boxes at affordable prices to
the working class of city.
Waseem expressed his vision:
Our sole aim is not only profit earning but also to use resources in a way that does not lead
towards their scarcity for the generations to come.

The data and insights were combined with the theoretical business knowledge, and the
market opportunity was grabbed by translating his idea of a sustainable home kitchen – that
offered hygienic food at affordable prices with minimal impact on environment and maximum
contribution to the society – into reality. His avidness leaded him to create a venture that not
only made commercial business sense, but also brings a positive difference in lives of
people, environment and society in line with the concept of 3BL in developing nation of
Pakistan.

VOL. 9 NO. 1 2019 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 13

 The endeavour started as take away business that initiated home deliveries as the
consumer demands grew. At present, both offices and households are being served, with
the target market mainly from lower middle to upper middle class.

Challenges and self-sustenance steps

Now, Waseem had implemented his idea into reality and actual business operations started.
He said that in any business venture a lot of this go against the expectations and posed a
threat to the business existence and survival. In start of business launch, he had quite good
market response and he got orders of nearly 25-35 packages each day. But, he got
surprised and he hardly received one or two orders on weekends. He was quite
disappointed and thought it would derive his newly developed business into loss.
After one month of business operations, the number of orders began to improve as
compared to its initial days and usually the riders were stuck in traffic jams and at times no
one was available to deliver orders and he himself had to go and deliver those orders. This
situation was quite disturbing as it annoyed the consumers and he started receiving the
complaints on call. To calm down the customers he had to offer them some additional
package or discount on their next purchase.
One day, on sending a ten boxes order of rice to a bank situated nearby, the rider came
back with the returned boxes as the consumer had made a complain regarding the poorly
cooked rice. On that day he did not take any other order due to fear of complaint.
Despite these matters, these were the issues that business faced in its initial months of
operations, although, Waseem took on the spot steps to overcome these challenges, but it
raised a great point of concern for him regarding the implementation of his ideal business
model. He actively started thinking and working to reduce these day to day issues, until he
got another setback. Consumers were also somehow fed up with eating a single food item
daily. Moreover, the delays in delivery time and the complaints regarding taste also
impacted the business working.
Right after three months of operations, a new venture surged as the competitor of D ‘n’ D.
The business model was somewhat copied and the new entrant named as “Koila Dum” that
also targeted the working class with a wider range of items and at lower costs as compared
to Waseem’s venture. A mass of target consumer shifted to “Koila Dum” who preferred more
food items as compared to rice and were more price conscious. Although, it was a non-eco-
friendly competitor, yet the consumers who didn’t realize the underlying sustainable
proposition of D ‘n’ D shifted towards it. It was one of the biggest setbacks Waseem had to
face since his business start-up. The downhill sales were a point to ponder for him.
He decided to take some steps to regain his position. He realized that to keep the cost
minimum, he was sacrificing his business value proposition. He requested the family to give
him more finance to support his business. He hired two professional cooks to help his
brother in making rice. He had to hire five more riders to ensure the timely delivery of food.
In contrast to the previous focus only on the white collar workers, he expanded the delivery
option to homes as well. His biggest issue was the entry of “Koila Dum”; he had the
opportunity to combat this by either reducing the price rates or adding other items in the
menu. For Waseem reducing price was not a feasible option, because his material quality,
packing and the sustainable supply chain activities were far more expensive then the
mediocre quality of “Koila Dum”. Second, if he introduced similar food items as offered by
“Koila Dum”, he would be regarded as a second mover in market. He did not want to lose
his uniqueness and copy the idea, so he decided to add more variants in his rice options
and package sizes. Therefore, a rice box with kebabs and large chicken piece was
introduced. Chicken pieces and kebabs were also offered separately to expand the
product line.

PAGE 14 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 9 NO. 1 2019

In addition to all these activities, he started more community initiatives, i.e. wall painting,
tree plantation initiatives and participating in funfair events. By this Waseem aimed to
improve the public awareness of his products and showed a sustainable image of his
business to people in Sargodha. After hard work, sleepless nights, and restless days, D ‘n’
D attained a break-even point within in five months of its operations and had a turnover of 16
million PKR in its one year of successful operations.

Conclusion and way ahead

Waseem was able to resolve the issue of unavailability of affordable hygienic food options
for white collar workers through his sustainable business model in Sargodha, keeping in
view the unique socio-economic needs and dynamics of Pakistan. Through extensive
research on sustainable business models, market surveys and meetings with experts, he
had chosen the adoption of some sustainable operations along with ensuring financial
viability by building on subsistence business model. In an emerging economy like Pakistan,
Waseem offered a key to survival of sustainable operations by initiating a small scale
business that had economic gains comparable to a non-eco-friendly counterparts, rather
being fully sustainable and just surviving the basic business needs. The one year of
successful business operations opened up new avenues for D ‘n’ D where Waseem had the
option to expand in other cities as well as open dine in facility using this business model.
Now he had to proactively plan the future to face the challenges of new entrants, sustaining
the consumer base, deciding on the strategies of business expansion and changing
consumer demands. Waseem had to take decision on the future product line, i.e. whether to
Keywords:
diversify horizontally or vertically. In the longer run, this business would expand and the
Entrepreneurship,
family financing may not be sufficient to meet the business needs. The story of this new Entrepreneurial skills,
venture did not over here but took a new beginning with ongoing challenges ahead. Sustainable development

Notes
1. https://sdgcompass.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/01910sz4_SDG_Compass_Guide_2015.pdf
2. https://tribune.com.pk/story/949575/food-hygiene/
3. The case data were collected by series of interviews with Rana Waseem, the owner of D ‘n’ D, two
key employees, company Facebook page and archives.

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About the authors

Tehreem Fatima is PhD researcher at Superior University Lahore. Currently, she teaches in
University of Lahore as a Lecturer. She has research interests in the areas of entrepreneurial
modelling, financial and psychological trainings of entrepreneurs, organizational behaviour,
qualitative exploration of enterprises issues. She is the author of various social science
journals, i.e. Abasyn Journal of Social Sciences (AJSS), Academy of Management (AoM),
Management Decision (MD) and Pakistan Business Review (PBR). Tehreem Fatima can be
contacted at: [email protected]

Dr Ahmad Raza Bilal is PhD (management) from UTM, Malaysia. He is currently an

Associate Professor at Sohar University Oman. He has vast experience of research in the
areas of strategic management, entrepreneurial trainings, growth modelling, corporate
governance and strategy and policy. Dr Bilal is authored of various journal articles in

PAGE 16 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 9 NO. 1 2019

renowned social science journals, such as Chinese Management Studies (CMS), Career
Development International (CDI), Organizational Change Management (OCM), Journal of
Enterprise Information Management (JEIM), Academy of Management (AOM), Journal of
Risk Finance (JRF), Studies in Economics and Finance (SEF) and Journal of Islamic
Accounting and Business Research (JIABR). Dr Bilal’s research interest areas include
entrepreneurial longitudinal trainings, enterprise survival policies to avoid failure,
innovation, and strategic modelling for long-term entrepreneurial growth.

Muhammad Kashif Imran is PhD researcher at The Islamia University of Bahawalpur

(Pakistan). His research interests are in the areas of innovation management, human
psychology, organizational behaviour, quantitative modelling and qualitative exploration of
enterprises empirical problem. He is authored of various social science journals, i.e.
Organizational Change Management (OCM), Management Decision (MD), Abasyn Journal
of Social Sciences (AJSS Journal of Enterprise Information Management (JEIM) and
Pakistan Business Review (PBR).

VOL. 9 NO. 1 2019 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 17