At the end of last year, EWW-assisted cashew processors in the Casamance region of Senegal found themselves in an unexpected situation. While they had worked hard to increase their processing activities, the market demand had been slow to follow and they were eventually left with an increased stock of cashew kernels. Recognizing that the processors had not anticipated this challenge and were uncertain about how to overcome it, EWW jumped in and worked with the processors to create and implement a more robust market development campaign. The campaign has delivered remarkable results in just a matter of months – not only have the processors continued to increase their processing activities, but they’ve also succeeded in developing a market that now meets their production.

One activity that has played a major role in developing new market linkages for the processors has been their participation in regional and international trade fairs. Last month, the processors shipped 700 Kg of cashews to the International Trade Fair in Milan, which represented their first export to Europe. Since regional demand for the Casamance cashews has become so strong, the Casamance processors contributed 350 Kg and EWW-assisted processors in Guinea-Bissau supplied the remaining 350 Kg. As both cashew processing projects continue to grow, collaboration between the two projects will sometimes be necessary to meet the quantity demands of the export market.

“We met distributors from Italy and from other countries,” said Elimane Dramé, a Casamance processor who attended the fair. “The fair showed us how the cashew market is growing in Italy and it appears that we’ll be able to increase our shipments to the country.”

Participating in the trade fair also enabled the processors to “size-up” the competition on the international market. “Attending a trade fair outside of our country gave us the opportunity to see how other suppliers pack their products,” said Dramé. “We’ll be able to prepare very well for the next international fair in Dakar.”

The Milan trade fair was an especially big opportunity for the processors because it is the only trade fair in Italy that specializes in “fair trade” products. The fair trade market typically offers better prices than the conventional international market, so making contacts in this sector can be very lucrative for the processors.

In addition to their recent trade fair activity, the Casamance processors have begun to reach out to food distributors, import/export businesses, grocery stores and hotels in the region. The processors have come to appreciate that the market for quality cashew kernels in Dakar remains under-exploited and that aggressive marketing can lead to many solid business relationships, such as the relationship they now have with a grocery store owner in nearby Ngor.

In January, the processors convinced the grocery store owner to make a small order of 20 Kg just to test customer interest. Well, the cashews were a hit and now the grocery store owner is ordering 60-75 Kg kernels every two weeks.

The processors’ success in forming new distribution channels also has been helped by adjustments they’ve made to their business plan. Prior to initiating the market development campaign in December 2003, EWW encouraged the processors to make themselves more attractive as business partners by adapting the following three policies: a standardized price sheet, lower prices to wholesale distributors, and more flexibility to distributors in terms of using their own brand and logo. These changes have benefited their business negotiations, and now the processors understand that delivering a quality product is only part of the equation; distributors want convenience and competitive prices as well.

Given the success of the past six months, the processors are feeling good about the future. ”I’m quite confident,” said Dramé. “I now know how much the consumers appreciate our product.”

Certainly many challenges still lie ahead for the processors, but with help from EWW they’ve learned a valuable lesson about being a successful entrepreneur: challenges can become opportunities if you approach them with creativity, flexibility and persistence.