Market Matters Inc

“Making Markets Matter” featured in Farming SA.

krisztina — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 17:04:04 +0000

In May 2011, Farming SA, one of South Africa’s leading agriculture/agribusiness magazines published a feature article on Making Markets Matter, MM Inc.’s business training program. The article features Intaba, an emerging agribusiness, whose management staff participated in the MMM training program in 2010. Click here to read the full article.

Maureen Bandama

krisztina — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:00:40 +0000

Maureen Bandama holds a B.Sc. degree in Agriculture and Natural Resources with a major in Agribusiness from Africa University, Zimbabwe. She is currently finishing her MS degree in Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University. Before joining Stellenbosch University, Maureen spent two years as a Compliance Monitor (Agricultural and Financial Services sector) at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Maureen joined Market Matters Inc. in January 2011 as Regional Agribusiness Program Coordinator – Southern Africa. In this capacity, her responsibilities include developing and coordinating MM Inc.’s capacity building program in Africa. In addition to facilitating MM Inc.’s training activities, Maureen is currently involved in a survey of emerging farms and agribusinesses in South Africa, carried out jointly by the National Agricultural Marketing Council and Market Matters Inc.

Making Markets Matter 2011

krisztina — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 20:14:32 +0000

Program Report

MMM11 general photos on Flickr

Photos of the Closing Banquet on Flickr

African Agribusiness Forum 2010

krisztina — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:52:20 +0000

Conquering Challenges and Harnessing Opportunities in 21st Century Africa

The African Agribusiness Forum took place on May 13, 2010 at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West, South Africa. Sponsored by Novus International, the Forum was opened by a keynote address entitled “Climate Change: Distribution and Market Opportunities” by Dr. Joyce Cacho (photo on the right), Chief Sustainability Officer for Novus International. (Read the full address here.) The opening was followed by two panel discussions. The first focused on the task of creating an enabling business environment for African enterprises, especially those in the SME (small and medium-size) category. Panelists included Lentswe Bhengu (portfolio manager of the Agribusiness Sector at WesGro; photo below), Michael Brown (International Agribusiness Consultant), Rian Coetzee (Head of Agribusiness at Industrial Development Corporation, South Africa), and development economist Emelly Mutambatsere (African Development Bank). The panel was moderated by Professor Johan van Rooyen from Stellenbosch University.

The afternoon panel focused on another key challenge facing the Continent’s agribusiness sector: environmental problems such as global warming and its consequences. The panel included researcher Hugh Campbell of the South African Deciduous Fruit Producer Trust, climate researcher Peter Johnston (U. of Cape Town), renowned expert on drought-resistant crop breeding Professor Jennifer Thomson (U. of Cape Town), and Bombiti Nzanza of ZZ2. The panel was moderated by Lulama Ndibongo-Traub from Stellenbosch University. Click here to view photos of this event.

Dr. Johan van Deventer

krisztina — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 12:16:45 +0000

Dr. Johan van Deventer has extensive knowledge and experience of the Fresh Produce Markets and the Fresh Produce Industry. In 1987 he was appointed a full time member of the Commission for Fresh Produce Markets in South Africa. Thereafter he became the Deputy Director of the Johannesburg Market. He completed his doctorate at the University of Pretoria on “The Marketing of Fresh Produce in the Republic of South Africa”. Moving into the private sector, he was appointed Manager of the Johannesburg Branch of Freshmark. He later started the Procurement Department at Freshmark. In 2000 he became the Managing Director of Freshmark and today also serves on the Board of Directors of the Shoprite Group. He is a member of the Fresh Produce Marketing Association in South Africa and the Produce Marketing Association in the United States of America.

Mr. Shepherd Shoniwa

krisztina — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 12:13:27 +0000

Mr. Shepherd Shoniwa started his working career as an Industrial Relations Officer in the sugar industry in mid 1970s. Thereafter he rose rapidly through the HR function ranks to hold directorships in large firms in Zimbabwe in sectors including petroleum, agro-industry and diversified manufacturing as well as senior marketing and general management posts in the motor industry. In 1992 he moved to become General manager of Ford motors Swaziland.

He emigrated to South Africa in 1994 where he was in the pioneer team which set up the Minerals and Energy Policy Centre. In 1995 he was amongst the first executive team of McDonald’s in South Africa, where he actively contributed to the establishment of the company and the opening of the first 40 restaurants in its first three years. In 1998 he became Chief Operating Officer of Times Media group (now Johnnic publishing), with oversight over the Sunday Times, Financial mail, Business Day, Sunday World, EP Herald, Daily Despatch and over 30 consumer, trade and medical magazines. Summit TV was launched during his stewardship of the Group.

In 2001, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Tepco Petroleum (Pty) Ltd and in 2003 transferred to Easigas Pty Ltd as Managing Director, both of which are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Shell SA Marketing (Pty) Ltd. SSAM is jointly owned by Royal Dutch Shell and Thebe Investment Corporation, its BEE partner. Easigas has operations in South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho and Namibia.He was the first black chairman of the Institute of Directors Southern Africa from 2003 to 2005 and 2007/8. He is a director and chair of the Remuneration & Nominations committee of Metcash Trading Africa as well as Jaggers Trading Zimbabwe. He is also director of MetBee investments and chairman of TransAfrica Investment Holdings.

Apart from being a keen golfer, Shepherd is also a published author in service excellence, change management and cross-cultural African leadership. He is a true African citizen who avidly promotes African socio-economic revival and democracy. He holds a MBA degree, Honours in Industrial Psychology, B Admin degree, diplomas in Social Science and HR development.

Dr. Rosa Rolle

krisztina — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 12:07:34 +0000

Dr. Rosa Rolle is an Agricultural Industries Officer in the Rural Infrastructure and Agro-Industries Division of the Food and Agriculture Organisation. Since joining FAO in 1995, she has worked internationally in the areas of food processing, coconut water preservation, post-harvest systems development and food packaging. Rosa is currently actively involved with the development, design and implementation of training programs on horticultural chain management in Asia and in Africa. Prior to joining FAO, Rosa conducted post-doctoral work at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA and worked as a consultant to the Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica. Rosa holds MSc and Ph.D degrees in food science and a Higher National Diploma in applied chemistry. In 2003, she was recognized as an outstanding international alumnus of The Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

Mr. Pete Ondeng

krisztina — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 12:04:18 +0000

Mr. Pete Ondeng is an economic development specialist with twenty five years of professional experience in the fields of financial services, small and medium enterprise (SME) development and organizational leadership. He qualified as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in 1984 in the U.S. where he began his career as an internal auditor for McDonalds Corporation. Since then, he has served in leadership positions for a number of private and public sector organizations in over 15 countries. At present, he heads the Africa operations of MYC4, a web-based market platform linking global investors with business opportunities in Africa, focusing on small and medium enterprises. He has held positions with the Africa Regional Director for Millennium Promise and NEPAD, and Oikocredit. Pete is widely known as a motivational speaker, trainer, and writer. He is the author of two books: How to Start Your Own Small Business (1989) and Africa’s Moment (2004).

Mr. Christo Nel

krisztina — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 11:58:04 +0000

Mr. Christo Nel has been active in the fields of strategy, organisational transformation, leadership development, and change management since the mid – 1980’s. He has been involved in various national and organisational initiatives during this period, including:

Project Free – Enterprise: He was project leader of this national initiative which involved more than 3000 managers from more than 100 leading South African organisations. It culminated in a framework for facilitating political and economical transformation in South Africa.
Vrye Weekblad: Together with Max du Preez, Christo was a co-founder of this Afrikaans Weekly Newspaper.
Consultative Business Movement (CBM): Christo was founder of CBM, a nation-wide business movement supporting the goal of business in South Africa’s transformation into a market-based democracy. CBM became the secretariat for South Africa’s national negotiations.

Christo has authored several local and international articles. He is the author and co-author of several books including Economic Participation in South Africa – Strategies for Survival and Success, The Broederstroom Encounter, which describes the processes that led to the formation of the Consultative Business Movement, and The Age of Participation. His most recent work is (R)evolution – How to Create a High Performance Organisation explores how to drive integrated transformation in organisations. He has also published a volume of poetry called In the Image of Africa.

Christo led the Centre for Leadership Studies at the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) and continues to be the USB’s lead lecturer in the field of leadership development and Organization Development. He is the founder of The Village Leadership Consulting, a firm specialising in leadership development and organisational change.

Mr. Zhann Meyer

krisztina — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 11:52:34 +0000

Mr. Zhann Meyer is the Regional Head for Commodity Traders and Agriculture for Africa with a mandate to promote and expand the Bank’s Agricultural Strategy on the continent. Zhann joined the Bank in 2006 as Director of Agriculture for Standard Chartered Bank’s Wholesale Banking Division. Zhann brings invaluable knowledge and experience to this critical sector, having structured financial products for participants across the supply chain in the agricultural and soft commodity arena, for over 13 years. Zhann was instrumental in structuring and implementing an innovative Agricultural Input Finance Model during his employment with Absa Bank in 1997. Zhann has presented and introduced the model to agricultural producers and cooperatives as far afield as Sao Paulo, Panama and Alabama in the USA. Since joining Standard Chartered, Zhann has successfully implemented and exponentially expanded this model for cereals, fruit and even livestock in a number of African countries, with over 400,000 hectares of commercial farmland now being cultivated through this innovative structure. Zhann is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has served his articles as an Audit Manager at KPMG in South Africa. He is registered with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.