Value chain development in South Africa

2016-10-11T12:44:32+00:00December 7th, 2014|Tags: , |

While South African natural ingredient producers can boast strong unique selling points, such as an incredible biodiversity, a strong entrepreneurial spirit and access to technical skills, South Africa plays a relatively modest role on the international market for ingredients. Robbie Hogervorst supports CBI with a programme of strategic conferences in 2014 and 2015 to counter some of the root causes: cooperation and association at all levels of the value chain. First in this series, a conference on export development needs was held in Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town, bringing stakeholders together at a regional level. During this conference, critical bottlenecks [Read more]

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CBI’s Natural Ingredients programme in Afghanistan and Pakistan

2016-11-01T16:28:08+00:00November 15th, 2014|Tags: , , , , |

Together with its consortium partner Klaus Dürbeck Consulting (KDC), ProFound has won the tender for the CBI Export Development and Promotion Programmes for Natural Ingredients in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Covering a period of 4 years, the programmes aim to improve the export competitiveness of SMEs in developing countries, through tailored interventions at company and institutional level. The programmes affect the full value chain of the natural ingredients sector. To optimally improve export promotion, CBI integrates different services in the framework of its programmes. The integrated programmes are focused on the key actors, influencers and supporters of the export value chain. Services [Read more]

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EXPRO Food Ingredients Asia

2016-10-11T12:48:43+00:00November 12th, 2014|Tags: , , , |

In the context of CBI's Food Ingredients Programme in Asia, ProFound supported companies from the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Pakistan during the EXPRO in France and Germany. The participants of the EXPRO focused on a wide range of food ingedients, including processed fruits, coconut oil, tea, coffee, cocoa, honey, spices and herbs, edible nuts and rice. Together with local experts, CBI experts Joost Pierrot and Jeroen Kruft, as well as trainer Julian Lawson Hill, ProFound consultants were responsible for guiding the companies through their market entry strategies. Gustavo Ferro focused on the companies handling processed fruits (incl. cashew nuts and coconut oil), while Kasper Kerver [Read more]

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Competitiveness of West African cashews

2016-11-01T16:28:08+00:00November 11th, 2014|Tags: , , |

Almost half of the world’s cashew supply is produced in Africa, yet most processing takes place in Vietnam and India. This means that raw cashew nuts are shipped to Asia, shelled in Vietnam or India and then shipped to Europe. Not a very sustainable route to Europe. With the help of European actors, some local processing in Africa has been developed. But there still is a long way to go. For the CBI programme on Natural Ingredients West Africa, ProFound has dived into the European market for cashews and how West African countries can access this market. This Tailored Intelligence research has identified [Read more]

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Natural Ingredients mission to Egypt

2014-09-18T15:42:30+00:00September 18th, 2014|Tags: , , , , |

The Egyptian natural ingredients sector finds itself at a crossroads. On the one hand, increasing quality requirements in the health and cosmetics sector put pressure on producers to step up; adding value to their products through quality improvement processing, documentation and certification. On the other hand, the weak organisation of the sector and the lack of awareness of value addition opportunities and market trends limits innovation. Ground water and soil contamination with pesticides and plastics adds to their difficulties. Within this context, ProFound natural ingredient consultant Robbie Hogervorst organised and facilitated a mission to Egypt for CBI in close coordination [Read more]

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ProFound searching for alternative materials at Maison&Objet

2016-11-01T16:28:08+00:00September 10th, 2014|Tags: , |

As part of the new market research on alternative materials, Jesse Bloemendaal of ProFound visited the Maison&Objet in Paris to find interesting new materials on the EU market. The visit is part of a new market research on alternative materials for a variety of sectors. Alternative materials are materials for textiles or apparel products which are more sustainably produced compared to conventional materials such as cotton and leather. The first alternative materials that will be researched are organic cotton, hemp, jute, banana fibre, recycled leather and organic wool. This market research is a start by CBI to inform exporters in [Read more]

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Natural Ingredients for Food & SME Development in Afghanistan

2016-10-11T12:53:11+00:00June 1st, 2014|Tags: , , , , |

From 7-9 May 2014, ProFound organised and conducted a strategic Stakeholder Conference in Abu Dhabi: ‘Natural Ingredients for Food & SME Development in Afghanistan’. The Conference was organised in close collaboration with representatives of CBI and UNITAR, as well as with other relevant Afghan stakeholders from a previous natural ingredients project. Aim of the Stakeholder Conference was to discuss the opportunities and constraints of the Afghan Natural Ingredients sector, and seek opportunities to address these through joint initiatives. Key-outcome of the Conference will be a framework of a programme of support activities to Afghan SMEs in the Natural Ingredients sector, [Read more]

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South Africa: fact-finding and acquisition mission

2016-11-01T16:28:09+00:00March 26th, 2014|Tags: , , |

South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot, offering a wealth of indigenous plants to produce natural ingredients. Next to these raw materials, South Africa also has a large food and wine industry; its waste materials, such as kernels, peel, seeds and low-grade materials can be used to produce a variety of extracts, essential oils and vegetable oils. Only a few companies in South Africa bank on these opportunities to supply export markets with innovative ingredients. Moreover, only recently are some public institutions becoming aware of the opportunities the sector offers for rural development and value addition. In this context, CBI is [Read more]

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Palestinian potential for Natural Ingredients

2019-03-28T11:45:18+00:00March 26th, 2014|Tags: , , , |

Palestinian companies face many bottlenecks when targeting export markets. Especially pressing are limited access to water and land and a weak enabling environment. Natural ingredients producers are particularly affected. Exporters rely on domestic raw materials which are not available according to consistent volumes and quality. Moreover, companies lack information and entrepreneurial skills for production, business and export planning. In a joint effort, the Netherlands Representative Office and CBI agreed to investigate the possibilities of a CBI intervention in the natural ingredients sector. ProFound worked on the first step in this process: an in-depth Value Chain Analysis (VCA). Together with Klaus [Read more]

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Supporting CBI in Egypt

2016-10-11T12:57:04+00:00December 17th, 2013|Tags: , , , , , |

In 2013, ProFound developed a business case for the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) which encompasses three sectors: natural ingredients, crafts and engineering products. This business case will be the basis for CBI’s Export Coaching Programme (ECP) in the next 5 years. In this contex, a first fact-finding and acquisition mission took place in December 2013, where consultant Robbie Hogervorst promoted the programme to local producers and exporters. He also had several meetings with key local counterparts to identify synergies and means of cooperation, as well as to broaden the local support base for the [Read more]

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