Market Matters Inc. Highlights of Accomplishments - 2001-2014

Dear Friends of Market Matters Inc.

Greetings from Ithaca and from all of us at Market Matters Inc.!

We know that some of you keep up with the activities of MM Inc. on a regular basis, while with others we connect only once or twice a year. This year we thought we’d try something different and have put together a retrospective of some of the highlights of our programs since our very first agribusiness training program in 2001, thriteen years ago. We were looking to provide you with a quick and color-ful overview that gives a sense of what we’ve accomplished over the years - and, hopefully, of the pos-sibilities that lie ahead for MM Inc. The document also contains links to information on our website, so please click on those if you’d like to read more.

We say it each year, and each year it is true - our work would not be possible without your generous contributions. We do hope you will add MM Inc. to the list of organizations and causes you will suport this year. As always, we welcome your questions or comments and hope to hear from you soon.

With gratitude and best wishes:

Ralph D. Christy, CEO Krisztina Tihanyi, COO

Faces of the Businesses We Work With

What participants have to say...

“What I can say about the Making Markets Matter workshop is that it really opened my eyes to a lot of things. The lectures were very informative and spot on. We were given a chance to interact and participate. What I have learnt has not only helped me in business, it has also made an impact on my life skills as I am now applying the same principles on a daily basis. The opportunity to net-work with people from different backgrounds, businesses, cultures and countries brought insight and understanding on how other businesses operate, survive, and prosper in the agribusiness world.”

“I hope each of us can go to our home countries and affect some-one, somewhere, a business, a colleague, positively. Opportunities are not so many in this world, we need to help others so that many more through us are given hope – you gave me hope, I will give hope to others.”

“Powerful. Informative. Empowering.”

“I want more. What is the next level from here? Where will MMM take us next?”

Making Markets Matter - Capacity Building with a Difference Since 2001

In 2001 Market Matters Inc. recognized the need for a high-quality and comprehensive agribusiness training program for small and medium agroenterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets. This recognition led to the creation of Making Markets Matter (MMM) - an agribusiness training program that provides an introduction to the building blocks of business management, along with opportunities to network with industry stakeholders, fellow business leaders, and other agribusiness practitioners. To date, MMM has been offered in Africa, and the program has trained nearly 1,900 businesses in its 14 years of operation. What started as a small initiative with 30 participants has grown into a well-known and respected agribusiness training program in Africa. Plans are under way to expand the success of MMM to other emerging markets in Asia.

The success of the program is best captured through feedback from participants and the success of our alumni. Below are comments from our recent programs; see “A Profile in Success on page 6 to read about an alumna of the program.

MMM by numbers: 2001-2014

Number of participants trained: 1884

Number of women trained: 713

African countries represented: 24

Read more about our training programs online.

A profile in success: Jacky Goliath and DeFynne Nursery

In 2001, a young horticulturalist name Jacqueline “Jacky” Goliath par-ticipated in the inaugural Making Markets Matter program. Fast for-ward 13 years, and Jacky is the co-owner and Managing Director of De Fynne Nursery, a wholesale nursery located in South Africa’s Western Cape that produces indigenous pot plants, fruit trees and other orna-mentals for the local horticultural and agricultural industry.

By Jacky’s own admission, when she started in 2001 with 1,000 plants in the small back-yard nursery, she never dreamed that it would grow into a 600,000 plant production nursery that employs twenty-five employees and exhibits at tradeshows in Japan, the USA, and South Africa. Nor did she see that, in 2012, the nursery would relocate to a large farm and expand its operations to include plums and other fruits, destined for export.

What Jacky did see was a need in the marketplace that matched her training and passion - thirteen years - and much hard work - later, this MMM alumna is the proud owner of a vibrant company with an excit-ing future.

Jacky showing her company’s products during a recent MMM company tour.

DeFynne’s products being prepared for sale at Woolworth’s, one of South Africa’s high-end supermarkets.

Click here to view a video portrait of De

Fynne online.

Our Growing Footprint

Although a small organization in size, MM Inc. has quite an impressive - and growing - footprint on the African conti-nent and beyond. Below is a sampling of the range of work our organization has done since its founding in 2001.

Publications Research Contributions

MM Inc. has authored, edited, and co-authorednumerous case studies of agribusinesses in emerg-ing markets, plenary papers for international meet-ings, research publications, and two edited volumes of case studies of South Africa and Innovative Insti-tutions in Private Enterprise Development. We have recently begun work a set of case studies from Asia.

We have lent our research expertise to numerous proj-ects, including:• A pilot study of a new Seed Access Index for Africa

(with Agri-Experience - Kenya).• A market analysis of cereal fortification in

Botswana (with the University of Botswana)• A feasibility study of Africa’s seed industry (with the

Gates Foundation)• A survey of tertiary agribusiness training programs

in Africa (with ANAFE)• A literature survey of women in agribusiness in

Africa (with ANAFE)• A needs assessment of WASAA (an organization of

women-owned enterprises in Africa) (with AGRA)• Market feasibility of morama-based products (con-

sortium with the Swedish Agricultural Univeriaty and the U. of Botswana)

Over the ten-year span of the program, we have provided business management training to SME agribusiness owners and top management as well as representatives of governmental and nongovernmental organizations working in the area of SME development from across the African continent. We have worked with individuals along the agribusiness supply-chain, from farmers to business owners producing value-added food products. Every year we strive to increase the participation of women business owners, still underrepresented in the African agribusiness sectors.

www.marketmattersinc.orginfo@marketmattersinc.org

How to get in touch with us:

By e-mail: kriszta@marketmattersinc.orgBy phone: 1 607 280 0176By mail: 401 S. Albany Street Ithaca, NY 14850