The International Trade Centre (ITC) has started a series of awareness raising trainings for the Ukrainian berry producing and processing sector focused on export opportunities to EU markets and participation in international food exhibitions.
ITC in partnership with the Ukrainian Berries Association (UBA) held the training “How to get the best out of a trade fair: A one-day training for Ukrainian Berries Producers” on 1 October 2018 in Kyiv, Ukraine within the framework of the EU-funded project ‘Eastern Partnership: Ready to Trade – an EU4Business initiative’.
The main objective of the training was to provide practical recommendations on how Ukrainian berry companies could benefit from participating in international exhibitions/trade fairs.
The speaker was ITC international expert Hendrik (Boy) Stuijfzand, who has more than 20 years’ experience in business development, strategic management, marketing and sales.
Stuijfzand presented on how to prepare to an exhibition, to be effectively presented at the exhibition and analyze post-exhibition outcome on the company’s efficiency.
The participants were actively involved in discussions on practical questions presented: own company and product SWOT analysis for export purposes, analysis of the most relevant market, awareness raising communication and PR strategy on the company and products, target market requirements and competitor analysis, the top world’s food exhibitions review, product and company identification at the exhibition, trade fair budget and so on.
The event was structured as a presentation with live discussion and Q&A session.
From 21-25 October, the ITC and the UBA will be organising the participation of a selected group of Ukrainian berry SMEs in the Salon International de l'Agroalimentaire (SIAL) in Paris, the largest food innovation exhibition in the world.
The Eastern Partnership: Ready to Trade project helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access new markets with a focus on the EU, helping SMEs identify and comply with quality and standards to meet international requirements, linking them with buyers along the value chain, and providing cluster support.