News items

Biofach 2019 – Organic Africa Pavilion breaks records again

2020-03-04T10:31:03+00:00February 27th, 2019|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

From 13-16 February, the 22 exhibitors at our largest Organic Africa Pavilion yet met with almost 1,100 business leads. The pavilion included exhibitors from Madagascar, South Africa, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Namibia and Mozambique. Both Botswana and the Comoros made their debut at BioFach.  "The added value is huge. It's helping us as a platform to showcase our products to this incredible market, where people are coming from all around the world." - Serge Rajaobelina, Sahanala, exhibitor from Madagascar  The companies displayed natural ingredients for food, cosmetics and health including baobab, honey, fresh papaya, African vegetable oils, spices, medicinal plants, [Read more]

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Organic Africa Pavilion doubles in size: 24 exhibitors at stands 4-359 and 4-571

2020-03-04T11:40:44+00:00January 18th, 2019|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Back to popular demand, our Organic Africa Pavilion 2019 at the BioFach trade fair is bigger than ever. On two Organic Africa Pavilions which total nearly 180m2, we will host 24 exhibitors from 10 countries. The steep increase in market access needs from African suppliers shows the continent's readiness for export.  From 13 - 16 February 2019,  these exhibitors will be ready to meet potential business partners. You can find them at stands 4-359 and 4-571. Stand 4-359 Companies from Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa and the Comoros, offering various herbs & spices, citrus peels, cocoa beans, fresh papaya, tiger [Read more]

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South East Asian producers getting ready for BioTrade exports

2019-02-07T14:16:57+00:00December 21st, 2018|Tags: , , , , , , , |

ProFound experts Robbie Hogervorst and Aafke van Sprundel conducted a series of market entry strategy trainings in Kuala Lumpur, Yangon and Mandalay for the Helvetas Regional BioTrade Project South East Asia. More than 20 Vietnamese, Lao and Myanmar companies were trained and supported to develop their first market entry strategy. A second objective was to build capacities of business associations to start developing market entry services to their members.    During the workshop, the participants were guided to define how they wanted to position themselves on the market. Do they want to be a high end, a sustainable, ethical, unique [Read more]

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Tunisian and Balkan BSOs’ steep learning curve at HI/NI trade fair Frankfurt

2019-04-12T14:15:56+00:00December 5th, 2018|Tags: , , , , , , |

ProFound’s senior consultant Gustavo Ferro attended the Health Ingredients / Natural Ingredients trade fair in Frankfurt. He was supporting SIPPO in a series of capacity-building activities for Business Support Organisations from Tunisia and the Balkans. For example learning from orientation meetings with European buyers as well as competing suppliers and support organisations such as CBI. In addition to visiting the trade fair itself, the BSOs met with the European Spice Association (ESA) in Bonn and with the European Federation of Essential Oils to explore synergies and channels for future collaboration. Gustavo is working together with SIPPO’s external experts Teresa Hüttenhofer and Andrew [Read more]

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Developing a Story for Pakistan

2020-09-14T15:26:09+00:00November 22nd, 2018|Tags: , , |

Founder of ProFound Bert-Jan Ottens visited natural ingredient companies near Lahore, Pakistan, for CBI technical assistance. He evaluated the companies' obtained practices in sustainable sourcing, value added processing, CSR, certification and marketing strategies. "Again invigorated by so many positive encounters and dialogues these 2 weeks of training. Entrepreneurs and service providers/institutions such as Ministry of Commerce/TDAP, Inspector General of Forests, Forestry Service, FAO, Control Union; all actively participated to design strategies for sustainable sourcing & biodiversity, quality and compliance/certification. Companies are making good progress to access European markets.  I am very proud of company achievements!" - Bert-Jan Ottens Our [Read more]

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ProFound matches suppliers from Indonesia, Tunisia and Peru to buyers at SIAL

2019-03-01T14:24:46+00:00October 26th, 2018|Tags: , , , , , , |

7,020 companies from more than 109 countries presented their products to food manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and foodservice professionals at SIAL in Paris this week. All manner of food products, from ingredients to final private label and branded products, were shown, across 21 exhibition sectors. ProFound supported SIPPO (Swiss Import Promotion Programme) with matchmaking for Indonesian, Tunisian and Peruvian companies. The Indonesian pavilion alone made more than 500 business contacts.  At the fair, our expert Gustavo Ferro worked specifically with Tunisian harissa producers – engaging with European retailers and final product wholesalers to promote the product and suppliers. Robbie Hogervorst mostly worked with Indonesian producers of coconut [Read more]

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Launch of South Africa’s Natural Ingredients Export Strategy

2020-03-02T17:22:37+00:00October 25th, 2018|Tags: , , , , |

ProFound is proud to have been part of the launch of the South African natural ingredients export strategy 16-17 October 2018. The natural ingredients sector is a key segment of the government's re-industrialisation drive, with vital links to key economic policies such as the National Development Plan, Industrial Policy Action Plan and the New Growth Path. Economic growth needs to accelerate in a more inclusive manner and the natural ingredients sector is one sector that can achieve this. This sector holds great potential for South Africa because the global cosmetics, health and food markets are growing, in particular for [Read more]

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2 ethical organic buyers, 8 suppliers, 3 countries: Buyer mission shows Biotrade potential in South East Asia

2019-04-12T12:59:42+00:00October 23rd, 2018|Tags: , , , , , |

ProFound senior consultant Robbie Hogervorst joined the Helvetas buyer mission to South East Asia to identify business opportunities for Biotrade products and actions needed to make business happen. Organic buyers Traditional Medicinals (USA) and Organic Herb Trading Company (UK) met with companies from Vietnam and Laos. Organic Herb Trading company also visited suppliers in Myanmar. BioTrade products in Southeast Asia  The main focus of the mission was on suppliers producing indigenous spices and organically produced local varieties of commodity spices, such as turmeric and ginger. The buyers also explored options for medicinal and aromatic plants and local herbal medicine traditions. In general, there [Read more]

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Re-enforcing Jatamansi trade in Nepal

2021-11-25T07:13:43+00:00October 18th, 2018|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

The project “Succeeding with CITES: Sustainable and equitable Jatamansi trade from Nepal” was just launched in Kathmandu, Nepal. This project address the sustainability and legality of international trade of the medicinal plant Nardostachys grandiflora (Jatamansi). ProFound consultant Jolanda van Hal attended the launch: Great to see the strong support in Nepal from private sector companies and governmental organisations such as the Department of Plant and Resources and Ministry of Forests and Environment. This bodes well for our aim to develop equitable and sustainable Jatamansi trade from Nepal. At the launch, Dr. Bishwa Nath Oli, Secretary of the Ministry of Forests and Environment, [Read more]

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Paving Colombia’s way to the international cocoa market

2019-03-01T15:08:51+00:00September 19th, 2018|Tags: , , , , , |

ProFound’s senior consultant Gustavo Ferro spent the last few weeks in Colombia, where he has worked in different activities of Swisscontact’s Colombia + Competitiva (C+C) programme. Gustavo is part of Swisscontact’s Swiss Expert Network (SEN), and has been advising on C+C’s specialty cocoa projects. The specialty cocoa sector in Colombia has an enormous potential to thrive. The country has a pallet of around 9 cocoa-producing regions with diverse agro-climatic and social characteristics. Colombia’s cocoa bean production reached new records in 2017, at over 60 thousand tonnes. Challenges in Colombia's cocoa bean exports  At the moment, only around 20% of Colombia’s [Read more]

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