Market and Trade Information - Belgium

This 2-year project, worth a total of €2.5 million, aims to support the restructuring and operation of the insti¬tutions responsible for activities in the agricultural, fishing and animal husbandry sectors. The project’s overall objective is to include Congolese farmers in economic activities through the provision of market information and thus facilitate their access to consumer markets. The project intends to set up a new, decentralized partnership between the public and private sectors by reforming the Ministry of

Agriculture − it will give farmers access to tools, information and appropriate technology that will enable them to make their choices and take their place in civil society.

This programme is supported by the Trade for Development Centre (TDC). TDC’s marketing coaching program aims at transferring simple, structured and professional marketing, sales & communication know-how to the producers. It is built on a tailor-made marketing coaching program covering all marketing phases: (i) internal & external marketing analysis; (ii) definition of a strategy, target, and positioning; (iii) formulation of the marketing mix; and (iv) facilitation of promotion & communication; facilitation of prospection of new customers and follow-up of implementation. The support is unbias and neutral. The producer’s best benefit is the starting point of the reflection. The support is not oriented to particular markets. It focuses on preparing producers to face the markets that they target.

By the end of the program, producers:

• understand their business (SWOT), their competitors and the markets in which they operate

• are able to position their organization against competitors and know their competitive advantages;

• know how to identify new commercial opportunities, detect potential targets and consider the target’s needs and requirements;

• have chosen their best strategic marketing options, decided upon their business strategy and the related marketing mix;

• have prioritized their promotional and communication tools and know how to brief a communication agency; and

• know how to approach a new customer.

If it appears that more market information is needed as to draw a strategy, the program needs to fit in with the needed market research.

In 2016, the TDC coached 22 SME’s in marketing and business management.

Have a look at the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1taX6OuzkY

In developing countries, TDC aims at economically and socially empowering MSMEs (micro, small and medium-sized enterprises/organizations) by enhancing their business and marketing knowledge and improving their access to markets.

This is done by conducting market researches allowing these MSMEs to better understand and capture market opportunities, be it nationally or internationally. These market studies are either used directly by MSMEs or by partner organizations (business support organizations, certification bodies, producer networks,...) in their day-to-day work to strengthen these MSMEs.

Within this framework, TDC has published market studies on Ethical products trends in South Africa, Wild-collected botanicals, and the EU market...

Lastly, TDC carefully observes the evolution of sustainable markets to inform authorities, civil society, consumers and other economic actors as objectively as possible on the relevance and potential of sustainable trade in Europe and in the South.