The South African Whole Grain Bread Project is a business developed by entrepreneurs Dan Leader of Bread Alone, a European style bakery chain nestled in the Catskill Mountains of New York State, retired physician Neil Ratner and his wife, Leann Ratner.

Daniel Leader, a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America, has worked in the food service business for more than 30 years as a chef, food service manager, and bakery owner. In addition, he has taught baking and bakery management for more than 10 years at The Culinary Institute of America, The French Culinary Institute, and The Institute for Culinary Education where he is on the Chef's Advisory Board. Mr. Leader's consulting experience includes Wegman's Supermarkets, H.E.B., Stew Leonard's, and Pick 'n Pay, South Africa's largest retailer.

The Ratners, recent arrivals in the Catskills, had a long history of lending their talents to the African continent. They had done everything from running bush clinics for the Samburu people of Northern Kenya to helping raise money for the Nelson Mandela's childrens fund in South Africa. In addition Dr Ratner a retired Anesthesiologist, was an integral part of a team which went to Kenya after the American Embassy bombing and operated on over 300 injured Kenyan's.

During Mr. Leader's consulting work in South Africa, he was asked to teach a bread baking class by Gail Johnson the founder of Nkosi's Haven in Johannesburg, a clinic named after Nkosi Johnson, a 12-year-old who became internationally known as a spokesperson for South African children infected by the HIV virus. It was this experience that produced the idea for the South African Whole Grain Bread Project (SAWGBP)

The two connected when Ratner read an article on Leader's international efforts in a local publication. Both were inspired by the tale of Nkosi Johnson. With a few of his South African contacts coming to town, the Ratners contacted Leader and the SAWGBP quickly became a reality.

Bid Challenge

The South African Whole Grain Bread Project (SAWGBP) was one of 16 new businesses awarded prizes in the 2006 Business in Development (BID) Challenge held in Holland. The 16 winners came from a pool of 1600 worldwide business proposals. Leader and the Ratners are the first Americans ever to receive the award.

The BID Challenge, founded in the Netherlands in 2005, stimulates small and medium enterprise development in developing countries through an international Business Plan competition for poverty reduction and profit. Its stated mission is "to reduce poverty by stimulating Small and Medium sized Enterprise (SME) development in developing countries, with the active support of the private sector and NGOs. The BiD Challenge aims to inspire people that poverty reduction and genuine business can go hand-in-hand."

BiD is a project of the Dutch National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development, which was founded to help meet the UN benchmarks for the eradication of poverty known as the Millenium Goals. Winning projects, which get a nominal award and much publicity that helps fuel further funding on a worldwide basis, especially via Europe, included the creation of sheep dairies in Brazil, potato processing plants in Tanzania, evolutionary power systems in Papua New Guinea, and hydroponic vegetable farms in the Philippines.