Creating Good Jobs in Ethiopia

2022-11-24T08:46:24+00:00November 22nd, 2022|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

Export and Business Development for Ethiopian Agribusinesses The backbone of the Ethiopian economy is agriculture, which provides employment for approximately 68% of the working population and represents 30% of GDP. With over 40% of the Ethiopian population being under the age of 15, the Ethiopian government must facilitate the creation of millions of jobs a year to ensure the reduction in the labour surplus. Consequently, and for the past two decades, the Ethiopian government’s strategy for economic development is the structural transformation of the economy from low- to high-productivity agriculture, value-addition and industrialisation. In conjunction with the GIZ project, [Read more]

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Ethiopian honey value chains become stronger

2019-04-16T12:20:33+00:00August 2nd, 2017|Tags: , , , , |

ProFound and its partners SNV, Enclude and EAB are developing solutions together with processors in Ethiopia to improve the quality of their honey. Some solutions only require strict application of Standard Operating Procedures within the processing facility. Other solutions require intense cooperation with beekeepers. See our story on organic honey from Ethiopia to learn more about our work with beekeepers in Ethiopia. During a training by ProFound's consultant Kasper Kerver, processors and supporting institutions such as the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries and the Agricultural Transformation Agency learned how honey exporters can set and meet quality expectations of their (international) buyers. [Read more]

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Eleven Rural Finance Matchmaking Sessions for African entrepreneurs at BioFach 2017

2018-02-22T10:31:03+00:00February 28th, 2017|Tags: , , , |

African suppliers often cannot access the necessary financial services they need; their financial position makes them too large to be targeted by development aid interventions, but too small to qualify for loans from many private banks. This space is known as the ‘missing middle.’ At the same time, social lenders in Europe and North America cannot identify a sufficient number of viable projects to fund and face high risks catering to the needs of the missing middle. ProFound contributes towards bridging this financial gap through organising matchmaking sessions between suppliers and social lenders. “ProFound provides full value chain solutions from [Read more]

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BioFach 2017: The Organic Africa Pavilion celebrates African diversity

2019-04-12T15:11:43+00:00February 24th, 2017|Tags: , , , , |

In the second year of the Organic Africa Pavilion at BioFach, ProFound brought a mix of African culture and professionalism. The pavilion’s 15 exhibitors from Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe and Mozambique displayed high-quality organic ingredients, including baobab, honey, cocoa, coffee, fresh papaya, desert date oil, neem oil and dried mango. Our authentic Ethiopian coffee ceremony, organised with the Ethiopian consulate, attracted visitors and energised business-making. The participants of the Organic Africa Pavilion had excellent visibility at BioFach, and the response from visitors was inspiring. We reached more than 750 business contacts during the 4 days, of which 65% [Read more]

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Ethiopian organic honey & beeswax enter European market

2018-02-22T10:31:26+00:00February 21st, 2017|Tags: , , , , , |

With support of ProFound, Ethiopian honey processors in the ASPIRE programme made great progress over the past three years. They set up organic certified supply chains, installed processing equipment, imported drums for packaging and tackled other export and quality problems in the challenging Ethiopian business environment. COMEL, Yerkisho and Zembaba Union managed to export their first containers of organic certified honey to Europe. These exports are good news for their beekeepers who benefit tremendously from the honey trade. From February 12 to 19, four Ethiopian honey processors and several government representatives visited Germany for a trade mission organised by ProFound. [Read more]

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ProFound at BioFach: bringing organic suppliers from Africa and Pakistan

2018-02-22T10:31:37+00:00January 26th, 2017|Tags: , , , , |

From 15 to 18 February, ProFound will manage the Organic Africa Pavilion with 15 organic suppliers. We will also launch an innovative integrated certification tool with the FairWild Foundation and support three Pakistani suppliers at the CBI stand. Going to BioFach? Read on to see where to find us. 15 suppliers at Organic Africa Pavilion – stand 4-269 The Organic Africa Pavilion is back at BioFach 2017. This year we present 15 suppliers from Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The exhibitors will bring high quality products from all over the continent. From exciting and innovative products such as baobab, [Read more]

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Stakeholders meeting results in 18 action points to develop the Ethiopian Honey sector

2019-04-12T15:33:42+00:00October 25th, 2016|Tags: , , , , |

The main stakeholders in the Ethiopian honey sector committed to an action plan for the sector in a meeting organised by ProFound and SNV. The resulting 18 action points address issues ranging from problems with out-grower schemes to opportunities for quality improvement. This type of sector action planning is a huge improvement from the independent, fragmented actions of the stakeholders in previous years. It has the potential to transform the honey sector into one of the most profitable agribusiness sectors of the country. The stakeholders have taken responsibility for their tasks and agreed to commit their resources for timely delivery of [Read more]

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PF brokerage service delivers steel drum packaging for Ethiopian honey suppliers

2016-11-01T16:27:56+00:00August 4th, 2016|Tags: , , |

After ProFound brokered a deal for the supply of steel drums to Ethiopia, the first container with drums for honey packaging arrived at the processing company Babichi. The empty drums came from ProFound’s partner in Europe who is interested in supplying drums in return for quality honey. The drums are crucial for Babichi and other Ethiopian honey suppliers to successfully export to Europe, because many European buyers only accept honey packed in steel drums. The use of plastic drums poses a higher risk of quality deterioration during transport and storage and they may collapse when stacked. ProFound studied various options [Read more]

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Making high quality products for Europe

2016-11-01T16:27:56+00:00June 9th, 2016|Tags: , , , , , , |

ProFound consultant Kasper Kerver prepared ten Ethiopian entrepreneurs for their exports to international markets. He coached honey, pulses and seeds producers on quality and Food Safety Management and what international buyers expect from them. During the training, Kasper Kerver explained international buyers’ specific requirements for high quality products and Food Safety Management. The participants exercised with HACCP planning and received recommendations on their options for certification. Food Safety Management is a critical bottleneck to export honey, pulses and seeds to international markets. Many Ethiopian producers understand that international buyers want ‘high quality’ products, but don’t know exactly what they mean by that. [Read more]

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Celebrating the success of the Organic Africa Pavilion

2018-02-22T10:31:49+00:00February 18th, 2016|Tags: , , , , , |

We are back to the office after a successful week at Biofach where we organised the Organic Africa Pavilion for nine exhibitors from Ghana, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Senegal. The African companies took great strides at starting or even expanding their exports to Europe. Several companies received fixed orders at Biofach. In total, the exhibitors landed over 500 business leads, of which 70% represent concrete follow-ups! They presented value-added and speciality products to Biofach visitors, including baobab, honey, cocoa, desert date, neem and coffee. In the coming weeks, the exhibitors will be busy sending product and company information, quotations and samples to the potential [Read more]

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