HOW DO WE DECIDE WHO IS THE RIGHT PARTNER FOR US?
BY DR. NIMROD
“If you do not know where you are heading, how will you reach your destination?”
Farming is a complicated business, requiring vision, commitment, hard work, trust, mutual respect, and long-term investment. It requires even more of the above when it comes to international trade of fresh agri-produce.
It may be surprising, but these elements are precisely the elements, which make a good partnership.
Now Biofeed is opening up opportunities for additional business partners, to share our journey toward global success.
If you follow my articles, you probably noted the complex concepts that Biofeed is dealing with, such as the Fruit Fly Certified Trade Zone (FFCTZ), and the Green Valley model.
Such challenging activities, call for partnership with highly competent and focused parties.
I thought of using this opportunity to share some of the inside processes we do to understand ourselves better, our needs, and the kind of partners we would love to enter into our lives.
I hope it will clear up some things for those who struggle to understand IF and HOW cooperation with us is possible.
In my view, business is about cooperation with the right partners. And I love business!
Here are the quick three steps view, to how Biofeed is choosing a partner.
GET TO KNOW YOURSELF
Biofeed is 16 years old company, with roots that go 26 years back, when still as a farmer, I first started to deal with the topic of crop protection.
During these years, I have changed, the company changed, and so did the business and the social environment.
As you see, change is the only constant in an energized sound business environment.
Hence, Biofeed started its journey of changing the world by asking questions about itself, “who are we and what we want to do when we grow up?”
In peruse of digging our true inner self and discovering our DNA, we asked ourselves many more questions.
Here is an example of some of the questions and the answers we gave. From this, we later draw our Road-Map to fulfill our Vision and Mission.
EXAMPLE – BIOFEED, WHO ARE WE?
• Our Passion – to deal with agriculture’s issues and their potential to have a positive impact on the lives of as many people as possible.
• Our Target – to serve Consumers with healthier produce of the highest quality, cultivated in a sustainable, eco-friendly manner. For that end, to help farmers dealing better with pests, quarantine regulations, and export challenges.
• Our Goal – to help farmers make a better living while preserving the environment and producing safer and healthier food for all.
• Our Vision – to see a growing number of farmers having better livelihood while operating in alliance with global goals of providing healthy food and preserving the environment.
• Our Values – we respect agriculture, farmers’ livelihood, public health, environment, and sustainability.
• Our aspiration – to ensure that our goals are embraced by many.
• The things we want to share – knowledge, experience, technology, models, and business tools.
• Our Road-Map targets are:
◊ Technology – to have an effective non-spraying technology for crop protection, safe for the user, the consumers, and the environment. DONE. [>><<]
◊ Introduction – of technology to the industry. IN PROCESS.
◊ Business model – supports the value chain in its transit from agriculture to agri-business, and from a focus on local markets to export markets. IN PROCESS.
◊ Partners – choosing out of numerous partnership offers the appropriate partners and making sure it is mutually suitable. IN PROCESS.
First insight – A good partnership doesn’t start with the partner, but with you, when you get to know yourself. This is a critical element of success in life, as it is for business.
CHARACTERIZING YOUR PARTNER
Once we knew ourselves better, we found ourselves asking another question: “what is the right partner for us?”
To be specific, we articulated our question so that we focused NOT on the type/size of a company, organization or person, but rather on who can facilitate our path toward the fulfillment and realization of our goal.
The notion of looking for a ‘facilitator’, instead of looking for a ‘company’ enables us a higher level of flexibility when choosing a partner.
You see, we know that we have ‘a job to do in this world,’ to make it a better place for all. So we asked, “who is the most appropriate to take part in getting the job done?”
We keep in mind that our goal is not to sign a cooperation contract but to create a long-lasting partnership based on trust and mutual respect.
Here is an example of some of the questions and answers we gave regarding our potential partner.
AN EXAMPLE – BIOFEED’S CHARACTERISTICS OF A POTENTIAL PARTNER
• Virtues – Integrity, honesty, trustworthiness, diligence, self-awareness, passion, focused, results-oriented, compassionate, and empathy.
• Values – an entity or someone we share common values. Maybe not all, but at least the main ones concerning farmers, the environment, and public health.
• Partners – thanks to our involvement in several stages along the agri-value chain, and depending on the country and market, there are numerous profiles of business partners that we would gladly consider –
◊ Fresh produce marketing/export companies.
◊ Input companies with an orientation to sell services, ‘green’ products, and a holistic view of the value chain.
◊ Governments that are wishing to promote their export of fresh food and attract investments in Agriculture.
◊ Phytosanitary regulators seek new protocols to unleash bottlenecks in international trade associated with quarantine pests and MRL issues.
◊ Organization of growers who can aggregate a sufficient production area to source produce for export.
◊ A network of traders, importers, wholesalers, and retailers of fresh produce.
◊ Large producers and fruit processors that are seeking to develop their fresh fruit export business further.
◊ Other organizations with similar values, missions, and vision, including investors and NGOs, caring about UN SDGs.
• General – we are pleased to do what we do, and we want to do business with people who enjoy it as much as we do.
• Unacceptable partners – anyone who does not act per our code of ethics. Including, no bribery, no drugs, no drunkenness, no racism or gender preferences, no exploitation of people (especially children).
Activity Focus – helping farmers who wish to export mangoes from regions heavily infested by fruit flies, such as sub-Sahara and Asian countries, to the high-value international markets.
In such countries, our first activity would be to establish a Fruit Fly Certified Trade Zone (FFCTZ) [>><<]. We hope to see our local partner taking part in advancing that activity.
Farmers
IF you read this article, it means that you are Professional. As much as Biofeed would love working with you, we can only do it through the FFCTZ protocol, which requires the co-investment and the leadership of a local partner, as described above.
You can help yourself and all farmers in your country, by connecting a potential partner with us.
Second insight – You need to know what you want to get it and get there
WHY CHOOSING US?
In a partnership, there is always more than one. To have a long-lasting relationship, you need mutual trust and respect.
To that end, WE need to understand much better our potential partner.
We said to ourselves, “We need to understand why he (the potential partner) would like to partner with Biofeed? What makes us unique in his eyes?”
For that, we try to put ourselves in our partner’s position and try to understand –
(1) how they view us, and the kind of questions they would ask, and
(2) what makes us unique in their eyes.
To better understand ‘the other side,’ with every new prospect, we ask many questions, and we try to look at the entire situation through their perspective.
• What is the other side looking to achieve?
• Why would our prospects choose us versus others?
• What is our role in fulfilling their vision and goal?
• What can we bring ‘to the table’ that others cannot?
• What can we do to outperform all others?
• Are we unique and a suitable match for our prospects?
At the same time, we know, and we keep in mind the uniqueness we bring to the table.
EXAMPLE, BIOFEED – UNIQUENESS
• Leadership – Biofeed always makes sure to keep ahead when it comes to breakthrough technologies and novel protocols and business models.
• Management – it is not common to have a professional farmer as the founder and the CEO of a high-tech solution and trading company – especially one who brings a lot of experience in the research (academic and industrial), distribution, fruit trading, working with consumers, and branding.
Hence, when I talk with farmers, distributors, project managers, traders, and other parties involved in the value chain, I genuinely understand their point of view. I have the required expertise and empathy to bridge challenges whenever they occur.
• Dream makers – we want to affect as many lives as possible positively. We are confident in our professionalism, abilities, and the results the farmers we assist will get.
Hence, we choose to work where the situation may seem hopeless.
• Holistic approach– we choose to work in the less developed countries, and so we understand that “a bandage” for a deep wound wouldn’t be enough.
Hence, we bring for the farmers a complete End-to-End Solution Package.
• Long-term partnership – we are not interested in short-term business opportunities. Part of our commitment is taking risks for the long-term. Remember that in my soul, I’m a farmer planting a tree and taking care of it for many years.
Our partners should know that our futures are intermingled for the years to come. We make sure to keep the alliance of interests with our partners, the farmers, and the consumers.
• Modesty – we always remember that it is not about us but about how we improve other peoples’ lives, and how we make them feel.
Third insight – A successful partnership is the result of mutual trust and respect. To establish that, we see it as our responsibility to understand the other side as well as possible.
COLLABORATION CREATES WINNERS
If you managed to get all the way here, especially if you read previous articles, you probably already know a lot about Biofeed, and about me as well [>><<].
You know that we have the technology, the models, and the power of will to pull through the change that you need so desperately and which will finally give you a good reason to feel secure and smile.
So what is stopping you now from partnering with us and taking your agri-industry and economy into the 21st century?
In my opinion – nothing is stopping you.
There is no reason you will not start cooperation now, prepare, and get yourself ready to enter the Agri export industry in 2021.
Otherwise – as they say, IF you decide to do nothing and change nothing, you will get nothing.
At the same time, if you decide to act, to peruse your passion, your target, to make a difference, and to make sure the tomorrow will be different, then it will be different, and the tomorrow will be the first day of the change you were waiting for.
Don’t wait for Tomorrow; make the Tomorrow come today.
Contact me if you wish to kick-start your economy or national scale operation using advanced economic models, protocols, and field-tested agricultural technologies.
Let’s see how together we can take a GIANT step forward and bring high-value business and market results.
