Caribbean: Business management training on market access

COLEACP’s latest Business Management and Development training in the Caribbean will focus on “Market access: How to make an informed business decision regarding the market to target”. The four-week training is intended for managers/directors of companies or farmers’ organisations operating in the local informal market, or in an informal way, who want to expand their activities to more formal, high-end (international) markets. Professional associations providing advice on this to their members can also participate. The current group of participants are based in Barbados, Dominican Republic, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname.

Participants will focus on the different economic models of local, regional and export markets; their risks and rewards for growers and companies; and the respective requirements (regulatory, commercial, etc.) of each market. The training also covers the steps needed to reach the desired market, and the technical and financial implications for the company. Based on these steps, participants consider how to make informed decisions on moving into new markets.

The first session began on 12 April, in the presence of Mrs Yvonne CHILESHE, Expert in Commodities and Value Chain Development, Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), with a speech by M. Escipión OLIVEIRA GÓMEZ, Assistant Secretary-General, Department of Structural Economic Transformation and Trade, OACPS.

M. Oliveira Gómez told participants:

“The OACPS wants to link to all 16 countries of CARICOM/CARIFORUM, link you to the Pacific that has similar challenges, and also with Africa that also has some of the challenges we have in the developing countries. We will try to work together as a team on CARICOM/CARIFORUM, working with the European Union and COLEACP, trying to build up national markets, and hopefully we can build a strong regional market together, collaborate with brothers and sisters in the OACPS – and I hope that we can conquer the world together.”

This activity is supported by the Fit For Market programme, implemented by COLEACP within the Framework of Development Cooperation between the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the European Union, and co-funded by the French Development Agency (AFD).

Related stories:

Group training on Crop Protection and Safe Use of Pesticides in the Caribbean (Suriname)

Training-of-trainers: How to use Moodle for creating and animating an online training course for Bahamas Agriculture & Marine Science Institute (BAMSI).