Business Organizations adopt export marketing training for South African Natural Ingredient exporters

2016-11-01T16:27:56+00:00August 16th, 2016|Tags: , , , , |

Within the scope of the CBI natural ingredients project in South Africa, ProFound developed a training with CECOSA, the Cosmetic Export Council of South Africa, for companies to develop an export marketing plan. This plan helps companies to decide which product to export to which market, and what actions, people and investments are needed to get there. Also, the export marketing plan is suitable to request subsidies for market entry from DTI, the South African Department of Trade and Investment. Food South Africa / The Western Cape Fine Food Initiative, identified new services for their members – such as a market [Read more]

ProFound and Sandra Kruger and Associates help save endangered rooibos

2016-11-01T16:27:56+00:00August 16th, 2016|Tags: , , , |

The rooibos sector is under pressure. Volumes are going down because of drought and a lack of investment in production, value addition in South Africa remains low, and incomes for workers and small farmers in the sector are insufficient to support their families and communities. To make the sector more sustainable ProFound and Sandra Kruger Associates are developing an intervention to tackle these issues in an integrated way: increasing production, achieving CSR compliance and adding value through certification and CSR marketing. To support this effort, the team visited Carmien, a rooibos farm and processor in South Africa, to identify and [Read more]

Market Orientation Training at Vitafoods

2016-11-01T16:28:02+00:00May 30th, 2016|Tags: , , , |

ProFound consultants Bert-Jan Ottens and Jesse Bloemendaal visited Vitafoods 2016 to give a Market Orientation Training to Pakistani and South African producers of natural ingredients. In classroom trainings, the companies drafted their market entry strategy. They learned to make an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses. The companies also received training on obtaining market information so they can identify opportunities and threats on the European market. ProFound also showed the participants how natural ingredients are used and sold on the European market by visiting retail outlets. In the last days of the training, participants visited the trade fair Vitafoods to validate their market entry strategies. At the fair, they met with potential [Read more]

Successful participation at in-cosmetics

2016-11-01T16:28:02+00:00May 6th, 2016|Tags: , , , , , , |

ProFound consultant Robbie Hogervorst travelled to Paris for a very successful in-cosmetics trade fair. Together with CBI expert Andrew Jones, he supported 19 companies from South Africa, Colombia, Peru and Indonesia. They are part of the CBI export coaching programme for SMEs from developing countries. These companies offer a wide range of cosmetic ingredients, from luxurious oils and fragrances to innovative botanical extracts. The in-cosmetics team considered the 2016 edition the best attended ever, and the CBI stand was no exception. The number of business contacts the CBI participants collected exceeded expectations. All nineteen exhibitors were very happy with the quality of their new contacts and will follow [Read more]

CSR improvement in South Africa

2016-11-01T16:28:03+00:00December 17th, 2015|Tags: , , |

ProFound helped develop company action plans for participants in the South African export coaching programme, as well as a sector strategy to improve sustainability in the country’s natural ingredients sector. We supported a sector analysis and company audits focusing on corporate social responsibility. Together with CBI’s CSR manager, experts and Sandra Kruger and Associates in South Africa, ProFound adjusted existing CSR tools to cater to realities on the ground in South African natural ingredients – particularly for wild-collected ingredients. These tools will also prove useful in other natural ingredient programmes. The outcomes of the analysis were quite clear: although awareness [Read more]

Training South African health ingredients companies

2016-11-01T16:28:08+00:00December 3rd, 2015|Tags: , , |

Effective export marketing requires planning: knowing how you are going to position yourself on the market and what that involves in terms of product development, distribution, pricing and promotion. This requires that you understand both your company and the market, and that you can connect the two. It also involves making choices on corporate social responsibility: what are the commitments your company wants to make and how should that be reflected in export marketing? Once this is done, companies need to make an action plan and consider which financial and human resources they need to put it into practice. IN2NI [Read more]

Supporting South Africa’s National Conference

2016-11-01T16:28:08+00:00December 2nd, 2015|Tags: , |

The Department of Trade Industry in South Africa, with support from CBI and ProFound, organised the first National Conference on Natural Ingredients on the 17th and 18th of November in Pretoria. The conference brought together companies operating in the sector, including raw material producers, processors, exporters and final product manufacturers with representatives from the public sector and academia. In sessions with key speakers and panel discussions, the 180 participants discussed opportunities and actions at different levels of the value chain and looked at the business enabling environment. Together with CBI institutional development consultant Jim Tersteeg, ProFound consultant Robbie Hogervorst provided [Read more]

Unlocking the potential of South Africa

2019-04-16T14:50:31+00:00November 30th, 2015|Tags: , , , |

South Africa is known for its unique biodiversity and natural resources. ProFound looked into the opportunities on the European market for these products, to support our sector development activities in South Africa, together with CBI. We analysed the potential of South African MAPs (medicinal and aromatic plants) and their extracts, essential oils and vegetable oils as natural ingredients in cosmetic and health products. Moreover, we developed a profile of the sector, looking into the potential to produce and export natural ingredients, South Africa's image on the international market and marketing strategies. The analysis was commissioned by CBI and can be found on [Read more]

Market orientation: EU health ingredients

2016-10-11T13:27:03+00:00May 12th, 2015|Tags: , , , |

Robbie Hogervorst and CBI health ingredient expert Klaus Dürbeck travelled to Vitafoods in the beginning of May for a Market Orientation mission with South African producers of natural ingredients. During this mission, companies verified their market entry strategy with classroom trainings. They met with potential buyers and came to a better understanding what they need to enter the EU market.  Not only did the trade fair show them potential customers, but also their competitors. Key in this work was to acquaint the companies with documentation: using company contact forms for effective decision making and follow up. Visiting retail outlets showed [Read more]

Market Orientation at In-Cosmetics

2016-11-01T16:28:08+00:00April 28th, 2015|Tags: , , , |

At the In-Cosmetics trade fair in Barcelona, Robbie Hogervorst and CBI cosmetic ingredient export Andrew Jones organised a market orientation mission, to help SME exporters of natural ingredients get ready to export to Europe. Over 30 companies and business support organisations from South Africa and Latin America took part in this mission. The mission in Barcelona helped companies verify their market entry strategy. The companies met with potential buyers and came to a better understanding of what they need to enter the European market. What’s more, the trade fair introduced them to their competitors from Europe, as well as from [Read more]

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