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Towards Fairwild certified Jatamansi; ProFound’s participation in the project

2021-11-25T07:13:40+00:00February 6th, 2020|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

ProFound’s consultant Jolanda van Hal just returned from a mission to Nepal for the project “Succeeding with CITES: Sustainable and equitable Jatamansi trade from Nepal”. A good time to reflect on activities and developments in the past months. As a reminder: In this project funded by the Darwin Initiative, we are working with ANSAB, the Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources and TRAFFIC International. One of the project aims is to produce FairWild certified Jatamansi by the end of 2020.  Pre-audit assessment for the Jatamansi harvesting In order to see how far the project still has to go [Read more]

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Green Rhino in motion 2019!

2020-03-04T09:21:53+00:00January 17th, 2020|Tags: , , , , , |

ProFound’s sister company in Kenya Green Rhino  witnessed much progress in 2019. Training of the Jarine team on value of HGC to aggregators (Green Rhino 2019) Kenyan food safety: the core of Green Rhino activities We finalised activities under SNV’s ‘Kenya Market-led Horticulture Programme (HortIMPACT)’. Working hard on demand and supply side factors to improve food safety issues in Kenya. We organised Producer-Farmer and Consumer Focus Group discussions concerning our focus products tomatoes and leafy vegetables. Moreover, the 3 pilots on food safety protocols with a producer group, a processor, a supermarket and restaurant chain continued. SNV [Read more]

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Biodiversity coffee from Myanmar

2020-07-23T07:40:28+00:00January 17th, 2020|Tags: , , |

In November and December 2019, ProFound experts Geertje Otten and Bert-Jan Ottens travelled to Myanmar for a range of activities. They visited actors in sustainable business development, such as SNV, World Bank, Helvetas, ZOA, Solidaridad, WHH and FCA. In Taungoo, they had an exciting 2-day training with a team of SNV and ZOA. The training was geared to a multi-stakeholder platform of farmers and relevant actors working towards the sustainable and value-added supply of cardamom and curcumin.  Another focus of the trip to Myanmar was a project on biodiversity coffee. Nathalie Manac’h from Nat Coffee and Bert-Jan Otten [Read more]

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Building capacities of business support organisations in Southeast Asia

2020-01-17T12:58:50+00:00January 16th, 2020|Tags: , , , , , , |

Last year, in our work for the Regional BioTrade programme from Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation we focused on building capacities of business support organisations in Southeast Asia. Our consultant Jolanda van Hal travelled to Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam in October and December last year. She worked with these business support organisations to develop their market access service portfolio. They have strong ambitions and ProFound is helping them to reach those. Myanmar Tea Association's ambitions: Take the example of the buisness support organisation such as the Myanmar Tea Association. Their aim is to put Myanmar on the map as a quality [Read more]

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Essential oils, medicinal plants & herbal teas: meet the entrepreneurs of the Organic Africa Pavilion 2020

2020-06-26T10:28:29+00:00January 14th, 2020|Tags: , , |

Come to smell and experience the rich biodiversity of the African continent at the Organic Africa Pavilion 2020 (BioFach*, Hall 3A - 320 & 322). Our exhibitors offer many types of products ranging from botanical raw materials and extracts to essential oils and teas. Essential oils and botanicals at the Organic Africa Pavilion provide opportunities to respond to consumer needs for natural cosmetics and foods and beverages with a powerful story on their origin. Essential oils at the pavilion: The essential oils at the pavilion give a unique fragrance to many perfumes, soaps, creams and other cosmetics. To name [Read more]

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Spices & other food ingredients: meet the entrepreneurs on the Organic Africa Pavilion 2020

2020-06-26T10:25:09+00:00January 14th, 2020|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

Come taste the rich biodiversity of the African continent at the Organic Africa Pavilion 2020 (BioFach*, Hall 3A - 320 & 322). The pavilion will host exhibitors with a wide variety of ingredients such as; Gum Acacia (Instant Powder and 100% spray), Honey, Bourbon Vanilla pods, Vanilla for industrial use, cocoa beans, cassava and chia seeds. Some of the products at the pavilion: Vanilla is one of the most popular spices in the world and an important ingredient in many products. The exotic Comoros Islands east of Africa have traditionally been an important source of high-quality vanilla to satisfy [Read more]

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Fruits and vegetables: meet the suppliers of the Organic Africa Pavilion 2020

2020-06-26T10:29:10+00:00January 14th, 2020|Tags: , , , , , , |

They come in all shapes and colours, as fresh, dried or juiced! The Organic Africa Pavilion (BioFach*, Hall 3A - 320 & 322) will host exhibitors with a variety of premium exotic fruits, juices and veggies from sustainable and socially inclusive companies. Pay us a visit to find an assortment of dried pineapple and mango, pineapple juice, beans, avocado and chillies. Different companies joining the pavilion this year aim to develop inclusive and sustainable trade for the fruit & vegetable sector. COLEACP (active in ACP countries and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa), OM4D (active in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Togo and [Read more]

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Organic Africa Pavilion 2020 – vegetable oils and beeswax : meet the companies

2020-06-26T10:29:55+00:00January 14th, 2020|Tags: , , , , |

The Organic Africa Pavilion 2020 (BioFach*, Hall 3A - 320 & 322) will host many exhibitors specialised in different types of vegetable oils, as well as one exporter of beeswax. These African exhibitors worked hard to set up sustainable and certified supply chains in order to create high quality products. Discover more about their products below! Vegetable oils at the Organic Africa Pavilion: The vegetable oils at the pavilion are extracted from various types of fruits, seeds, grains, and nuts. Here is a sneak peak of the different types of vegetable oils you will encounter if you drop by [Read more]

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Workshop in Myanmar to develop market access for cardamom and turmeric

2020-01-14T08:18:02+00:00January 14th, 2020|Tags: , , , , , , |

A project to fight rural poverty through selected value chains End of November ProFound's team members Bert-Jan and Geertje visited Myanmar to train the Multistakeholder platform (MSP) for cardamom and turmeric. This MSP has been established by SNV under the project “Improving the incomes and nutrition outcomes of rural poor in Northern Kayin State”. That project was implemented by a consortium of CDN-ZOA, World Concern Myanmar, CORDAID and local partners since 2016 in Thandaunggyi township in Kayin State. The project is amongst others helping the rural poor to “step-up”. It aims at improving their position in selected value chains, [Read more]

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Meetings in Bosnia and Herzegovina to support Foreign Trade Chamber

2019-12-10T13:19:40+00:00December 5th, 2019|Tags: , , , , , |

Supporting the Foreign Trade Chamber to develop market intelligence This week, our senior consultant Kasper Kerver is in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) for a meeting organised by the Foreign Trade Chamber (FTC) for the medicinal and aromatic plants sector. This meeting is part of a bigger project in which ProFound is active; training and supporting the Foreign Trade Chamber in BiH to improve its services to its members. During the meeting, FTC presented results of the market research on the essential oils market in the United States that they have worked on since May with ProFound's support. The research [Read more]

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