Eric de Wit supported Vava Coffee in business strategy

About the organisation
Vava Coffee is a small, privately owned company in Kenya dedicated to produce high quality fair-trade Arabica coffee. They roast their coffee on order in small batches to ensure the coffee's fullest expression of flavor and aroma. The production process is very efficient from farm to cup. Vava Coffee is devoted to provide coffee farmers the opportunity for sustainable livelihoods. Vava Coffee has been nominated for the BBC World Challenge 2011, because of her best practice in being a social entrepreneur.
Vote for Vava Coffee at:
http://theworldchallenge.co.uk/finalists/11/Cafe-Society

Business case
Vava Coffee could use help in getting the business from start up phase into growth. Vava asked for an expert with knowledge about management and organisation with a focus on markets. Eric de Wit was found very suitable to support Vava with this business case. He has gained a lot of experience in strategy and management as a director of a shipping division and owner of a marketing company. Eric was asked to develop a long term business plan and a roadmap for 2011/2012.

Results

Analysis
Eric has worked intensively with Vava Angwenyi , Managing Director of Vava Coffee. They have made a start by analyzing the organisation, the production process and the customer market.

Major conclusions
On the short term Vava should focus on a financial stable position on the Kenyan market. On the mid- and long term Vava could extend their business to the international coffee market.

Advice
Due to the fact that Vava works on her own she got too involved in day-to-day running of the business and she lost focus on growing the sales and marketing activity. Therefore Eric de Wit recommended to keep focus. The business plan, export strategy and investor profile gave Vava a practical guide to work with in the immediate future. Together with a financial analysis, SWOT analysis and brand potential they were able to define a short term, mid-term and long-term strategy advice. The strategy has been extended with a action plan and time table, Key Performance Indicators and alternative strategies.

Impact on the partners
Eric de Wit: "It has been great to work with such an incredibly ambitious and energetic person as Vava. It has been inspiring to learn from each other and I enjoyed every minute of my stay. Now, it helps me to put priorities in life in a better perspective. After I met so many energetic Kenyan people who are full of faith for a better future, it is unbelievable how spoiled we are in the rich countries."

Follow up
Vava and Eric will stay in contact every week. Eric as a SharePeople Ambassador will look for private investors and will connect Vava with potential clients in Holland and the UK for setting up an the export relation.