Producers of Essential Oils in Africa go live!

As part of the support to strengthen industry associations, a website of the Southern African Essential Oil Producers’ Association (SAEOPA) was launched in March 2020. UNIDO supported the development of this website through its SECO-funded project, “Strengthening the Quality of Essential and Vegetable Oils from Exports from South Africa”, which is a project under the Global Quality and Standards Programme (GQSP).

An objective of the project is to strengthen SAEOPA across 4 key pillars: 1) Governance – effective governance and an established legal status; 2) Sustainability – development of a business plan to become a resilient producer association; 3) Marketing and Visibility – corporate identity development and services promotion; and, 4) Service Offerings – packaging  technical support such as trainings, seminars, workshops and conferences into fit-for-purpose service units for its members, to ensure that SAEOPA can continue providing services after the project ends.

A resilient, needs-based and demand-driven producer association will ensure that SME capacity to comply with international market requirements (standards and technical regulations) is enhanced, resulting in facilitated, successful entry into export markets. 

Through the website, SAEOPA can showcase its service offerings to stakeholders active in the essential and vegetable oils sector. It offers crucial information for exporters, from the application process for bioprospecting and biotrade permits across the value chain for oils produced from indigenous species, to shipping and packaging requirements. It further showcases the essential and vegetable oils industry in South Africa and in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Member States.

Click here to visit the website.

Click here to read about GQSP South Africa. 

For more information, please contact: Juan Pablo Davila (J.Davila [at] unido.org)