Entry: Bill Guyton
I just returned this morning from the Corporate Council on Africa’s (CCA) US - Africa Agribusiness Forum in Chicago, Illinois. For those of you who are not familiar with CCA, it is a business association which works closely with governments, multilateral groups and business to improve the African continent's trade and investment climate, and to raise the profile of Africa in the US business community. World Cocoa Foundation has been a member for over 5 years, and I currently participate as a board member.
One the first day of the event, I joined the morning workshop on “Tree Crops – Industries Improving Supply-Chains”. It was interesting to hear some of the pioneering work of Seald Sweet Growers in South Africa, as explained by their CEO, Bruce McEvoy. Lindsey Bolger of Green Mountain Coffee gave a case study of their public-private partnership in Rwanda with small scale coffee producers. This was followed by Mr. Mongwe Christopher Mbah, General Manager of North West Cooperative Association in Cameroon. I gave the last presentation on the World Cocoa Foundation programs in West Africa and our unique model of working collectively with 68 chocolate companies and public partners, to support West and Central African cocoa farmers in five countries.The other presentations will be posted in the CCA website in the next couple of weeks.
During the final session of the day, I had the pleasure to moderate a session on “New Investments to Build Markets”. Two notable speakers, Ambassador John Danilovich, CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and Mr. Franklin Moore, Assistant Administrator for the US Agency for International Development http://www.usaid.gov/, spoke of their agencies’ plans to help address the food crisis situation in developing countries.