This month we’re planning our Grande tour de mangue – the big mango tour. West Africa is up-and-coming as a mango-producing region and we’re looking at sourcing from Mali, Burkina Fasso and Ghana. You might think that developing our sourcing network for these regions could fairly complicated and time consuming? It’s nothing compared with trying to get the visas to go there...
We already get supplies from Mali and Burkina Fasso; Ghana would be new. I’ll be traveling together with Adri Bakker, the mango specialist from Bakker. Bakker’s the fruit and vegetable company that supports Ahold in the Netherlands to get all those healthy, fresh products and Adri will be looking for new suppliers.
We’ll be joined by Louis Vorster from Westfalia, our South African mango and avocado supplier that specializes in fair trade and organic produce. They know everything there is to know about those two products. He tells me that the avocado is a vegetable: well, it’s green, so I’m prepared to believe him. And of course Mary Adzanyo will join us too, she is our West Africa Trade Development Manager based in Accra, Ghana. She created the program and of course has had to change it twice already.
So far though, the most time consuming program for any of us has been to get our visas. They drive you absolutely nuts with all those requirements. Burkina Fasso is a case in itself. Because they don’t have a representative in South Africa you have to go through the French Embassy. The things they ask for! Labor contract, original tickets, insurance papers, bank statements and on and on. It’s a bit like having teeth pulled - but a whole lot less fun.