Developing an agent network for dairy products in Africa

Part of my mandate for Lactopur, Inc. a small but well known Canadian dairy trading house, is to develop a network of representative agents in Africa. Finding a dairy rep requires the following:

- a trust worthy person
- good work ethics
- knowledgeable about the industry

It is possible to fulfill two out of three requirement, but it is difficult to fill all three of them.

However, our knowledge of the industry in this region of the world, the Canadian Embassies' trade commissioners and other personal contacts have yielded a few leads that we are pursuing.

In West and Central Africa it is possible to have an agent for a whole region, however, as we are moving towards North Africa, it is more difficult, due to irreconcilable cultural differences. Thus, one agent per country becomes a necessity, which is fine, because the markets are larger and more sophisticated.

On the Eastern coast it is more difficult to sell because they can buy from Europe, Australia and New Zealand for historic and cultural reasons, but the Latin American prodcts are starting to make an inroad in these teritories as well, especially due to the push of traders like Lactopur.

If you need an agent in Africa for the food industry:
- Make sure he/she respects the three requirements mentioned above
- Make sure you work hand in hand with the Embassies
- Understand the requirements for each market - make sure your agent is accepted culturally in these other countries
- Assess the size of the market before assigning it to one agent in order to make sure whether it can be one single territory or whether it has to be part of a composed teritory. If culturally it cannot be part of a composed teritory and it is not big enough, just serve it by yourself, without an agent.
- Make sure you have an inside man/woman, who can decipher the business culture and give you access to the business and political leaders
- Make sure your margins are well padded