Advocate of Philippine Fair Trade, Inc. (APFTI)

New opportunities by professionalising the marketing for the Fair Trade organisation

Thanks to a SWOT analysis and some thorough marketing training, The Advocate of Philippine Fair Trade, Inc. (APFTI) is able to professionalise the marketing of Fair Trade products. APFTI has used the marketing plan concept as a discussion tool to reach agreements among all the Fair Trade players involved.

About the organisation

The Advocate of Philippine Fair Trade, Inc. (APFTI) is a non-government organisation (NGO) seeking to end poverty through Fair Trade in the Philippines. APFTI supports and upholds producers, workers and communities struggling to find their way out of underdevelopment through trade, business, co-operatives, income-generation projects, entrepreneurship and other socio-economic community-based initiatives. APFTI is responsible for fair trade awareness, technical design and business training with producers and sales to the domestic market. Within AFPTI, there is also an international trading organisation for fair trade products called FFTV, which partnered with SharePeople in Developing Countries, Developing Leaders 2007. APFTI employs 20 members of staff and has supported more than 1,000 households over the last 10 years.

The business case

On the basis of a SWOT analysis, APFTI would like to be advised about the possible launch of Fair Trade shops in strategic cities in the Philippines. How to match the existing Fair Trade product supply with existing local demand? And how to increase local demand into a more sustainable customer base?

Results

The exchange programme caused APFTI ‘s focus to switch from ‘Buy Fair Trade' to ‘Fair Trade is Good'. This new focus was used when setting up the plan of action that was to lead to the definition of the Fair Trade market.

A training course on the creation of a marketing plan was given to the management of APFTI and resulted in the following:

Step 1. Define the customer.

Step 2. Define an overall product base. Choose a number of champion products (max. 5). These champion products will feature as the main representatives of the Fair Trade brand.

Step 3. Define the brand. Start thinking about USPs.

Step 4. Define the channel. Target groups, products and brand will define the sales channels to be used.

In addition, the team came up with several recommendations, such as the opening of a pilot store in Manila and bringing a limited number of Fair Trade basic products onto the market.

Impact on the overseas partners

As APFTI is the leader for several Fair Trade organisations, an agreement first needs to be reached on the overall endorsement base that is required for Fair Trade locally, regionally and nationally. To attain this, APFTI used the marketing plan concept as a discussion tool in order to reach an agreement among all the Fair Trade players.

'There are still many NGOs that are wary of business. ( ... ) I encourage NGOs to take a closer look at the current crop of business people and explore partnerships with them. Involvement of local businesses in the next exchange would be much more effective in fostering and promoting partnerships between civil society and business.' Mr. Arnilo M. Astillero, Programme Development Manager APFTI

Impact on the professionals

• More insights into group dynamics/teamwork 
• Active listening and more patience  
• Better understanding of the local environment, decision making process and consultation process  
• Gain leadership skills 
• To communicate in their own individual style, however, bearing in mind that the recipients of the messages were not always accustomed to the (Dutch) way of communication.  

'The team helped us clarify many of the complicated and interlocking issues and agendas that the stakeholders have in relation to the case studies. The team was able to provide us with a concrete framework on how to go about our efforts in developing the local fair trade market.' Arnilo M. Astillero, Programme Development Manager APFTI

Follow up

In 2007, the board of APFTI requested SharePeople for a team of experts in management & organisation and marketing for FFTV, a spin off NGO of APFTI. Managing Director of FFTV, Mrs. Ramona Ramos asked the team of experts for advice on how to make her business self sustainable. This resulted in a new FFTV-case. As a follow up, in 2008 the board asked SharePeople for an expert in interim management to consolidate the organisations APFTI and FFTV into one. This lead to another successful business case.