| About Us |
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| Written by Patrick Gasparro | |
| Monday, 11 August 2008 | |
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The vast inequity in the ability to create wealth must be balanced in order to achieve a sustainable future for our planet. Nature’s Cradle Foods (NCF) endeavors to enable wealth creation among the poorest peoples by providing accessibility to the world’s richest market. Our mission at NCF is to locate, brand, and import naturally delicious and healthy foods in an effort to alleviate poverty through sustainable market development. NCF currently works with Honey Care Africa (HCA) to import their Kenyan honey into the United States. Irfan Keshavjee, a prominent board member of Honey Care Africa (HCA), and Patrick Gasparro, president of Nature’s Cradle Foods (NCF), were classmates and roommates at Oxford business school in 1999. Dr. Jeffrey D. Sachs has met with Irfan in Nairobi, and Patrick in NY at the Fancy Foods Trade show. He has shown interest in the product and the concept. He has personally encouraged Patrick by talking about the strong early mover advantage present especially regarding products from Africa. NCF has signed a contract with Jim Thaller, CEO of Talier Trading Group Inc., to broker our honey through his connections to national and regional distributors. “I am familiar with the Honey Care Africa team, having visited them in Nairobi. HCA is helping subsistence farmers in rural Kenya participate in sustainable commercial bee keeping. With minimal labor and start-up capital the farmers can harvest honey for cash and pull themselves out of poverty, while still tending to their small farms. The ability to access the US market is critical if HCA is to continue its exciting growth. I understand the goal of Nature’s Cradle Foods through my association with Jim Thaller and through having spoken with Patrick Gasparro during the African Pavilion seminar at the International Fancy Foods trade show in NYC. The assistance that NCF can offer HCA in entering the US market is important, necessary, and likely to be successful. Once NCF succeeds in bringing HCA honey to American consumers, other fairly traded food products, such as those being produced in some UN Millennium Villages, will flow over the market bridge NCF creates. This bridge between poor farmers and rich consumers will enable life-saving wealth creation in under-developed regions that have unfortunately been untouched by the free market’s “invisible hand”. -Dr. Jeffrey D. Sachs, Author of “The End of Poverty”, Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University.
HCA is working on a line of dried fruit for export to the US through NCF. Initial orders from our broker suggest that within the first year we will sell 100,000 jars of honey. Once this success enables NCF to fully establish itself with distributors and retailers in the US, we will import additional products from other socially conscious companies with competitive natural food products.
The Idea & Unique Selling Point (USP) While there are many fairly traded food products and many natural/organic food products in the US marketplace, there is no single umbrella brand for fairly traded natural food products. NCF will add value in two ways; 1) by vetting products and selecting only the best the developing world producers have to offer, we will create a strong brand and allow the socially conscious food companies from which we import to extract a price premium, 2) by importing in quantities large enough to achieve economies of scale in terms of shipping and warehousing, NCF will allow undeveloped export markets to access the US consumer in a cost effective manner. There are two key benefits that NCF provides to consumers here in the US. Firstly, we provide them the ability to purchase high quality goods produced in regions of the world which typically do not have a developed export market. And secondly, we provide them with the choice to spend their dollars in ways which will assist the poorest people in the world pull themselves out of poverty. Product and ServicesNCF is a market enabler that will more efficiently bridge the gap between poor producers and rich consumers thereby benefiting the entire supply chain. NCF adds value to the supply chain by bridging a gap between the US market’s demand for fairly traded natural food products and the supply present in developing nations. Currently, individual retailers who wish to vend such products must undertake three costly steps. First they must identify suitable projects and products in economically remote regions of the world that are often far from the information super-highway. Then they must ensure that the product meets all of the standards required for re-sale in the US. And finally individual retailers must air-freight small shipments incurring disproportionately large transportation and customs clearing costs. NCF reduces the costs to individual retailers through efficiency of scale. NCF identifies food products produced in a socially responsible and economically sustainable manner in under-developed regions. Then NCF assists producers in meeting requirements for re-sale in the US. For example, we registered and purchased the UPC codes for HCA honey. NCF also assumes the risk of importing and warehousing large quantities of these products by sea-freight, thereby reducing the overall landed cost of the goods. NCF will then supply distributors and retailers with the products they desire at significantly reduced costs because all of the products they want will be stored in our own warehouse in Atlanta, Georgia. Competitive Advantage NCF’s competitive advantage derives from our ability to differentiate ourselves and our first mover advantage in this burgeoning fairly traded natural food industry. NCF differentiates itself through superior resources and capabilities. Our physical resources include Mr. Schoenbaecler’s ownership of a state-of-the art logistics company and warehouse. Specifically, Mr. Schoenbaechler has developed a website that manages and processes customer orders more efficiently than his competitors. Among NCF’s less tangible resources are the international connections that Mr. Gasparro has established during his time at Oxford, and Mr. Thaller’s connections in the food industry. For example, NCF has a direct pipeline from Kenya, vis a vis Mr. Keshavjee and HCA to supermarket customers here in the US. The Market Opportunity U.S. Organic/Natural Food MarketThe $13.8 billion in consumer sales of organic foods in 2005 represented 2.5% of total U.S. food sales, a ‘penetration rate’ that has grown from 0.8% in 1997. Organic foods have shown fairly consistent annual growth rates of 15% to 21% since 1997, when fairly comprehensive data was first available. Anecdotal data based on historical surveys and interviews with long-time participants in the organic foods business place growth estimates in a similar range of nearly 20% annually since 1990. Refer to Appendix C for details. U.S. Fairly Traded Product MarketMore than ever, Fair Trade is becoming a market and commercial phenomenon to be reckoned with by all players — the large, the very, very large, and the small alike — The market is growing very significantly. Total Fair Trade sales in 2003 reached $291.75 million — a 52 percent increase over 2002. With $358.91 million in Fair Trade sales for 2004, the trend appears to be continuing, if not accelerating. The Fair Trade market grew by approximately 22%. The findings of the 2005 Fair Trade Trends Report clearly demonstrate that the Fair Trade movement has continued to grow rapidly over the past years. The sheer increase in market sales and volumes of Fair Trade products and the deepening commitment of organizations and individuals to the cause are testimony to Fair Trade’s continued success. Honey MarketUS domestic honey production is decreasing due to the increasing impact of the colony collapse disorder now occurring. Argentine honey, currently the country from which the US imports the most honey, is subject to an ever increasing tariff, from which Kenya is exempt because of its protected status. These two factors, in addition to the immensely popular response to the honey at the Fancy Foods Trade show in NYC promises NCF a rapid entry into the honey market. Mr. Thaller has already received orders for 20,000 jars of honey for the fourth quarter of 2007. Additionally, the early mover advantage with respect to these socially responsible projects originating in Africa will be tremendous. African products will reap the benefit of the political good will developed for Africa recently by celebrities and prominent economists.
The Management Team
Patrick Gasparro is the President and co-founder of Nature’s Cradle Foods, Inc. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and Said Business School at Oxford. Mr. Gasparro holds a Bachelors of Science in mathematical economics, and an MBA. He and Mr. Schoenbaechler served in the US Army together stationed in Bosnia. Mr. Gasparro currently owns and operates a successful garden center and landscape design company in NY. His roommate and classmate at Oxford’s Said Business School was Mr. Keshavjee a native Kenyan entrepreneur who is currently a prominent board member of Honey Care Africa. Patrick will focus on new product discovery and development as well as sales and marketing. Patrick attended the NYC International Fancy Foods trade show at which he successfully established the connections through which NCF products will be distributed nationally. Brian Schoenbaechler is the operational expert behind the concept of Nature’s Cradle Foods. He will oversee the warehousing and order processing of all Nature’s Cradle Food products at his warehouse in Atlanta, GA. Brian attended the United States Military Academy and was stationed in Germany and the former Yugoslavia. Brian has an extensive background in logistics, both as a Military Officer and running his own Third Party Logistics Company, Southern Book Company. Brian obtained an MBA from Georgia State University in 2006. He and his classmates chose to write a complete business plan for Nature’s Cradle Foods to fulfill their graduation requirement. Mr. Thaller is the President, CEO and co-founder of Talier Trading Group, Inc.; a socially-conscious corporation, focused on representing international specialty food manufacturers looking to gain access to the US market. Talier Trading Group has been representing foreign manufacturers, ranging from very large corporations to small start-up companies, for the past four years. Prior to founding Talier Trading Group, Mr. Thaller was the Vice President of Sales & Marketing for a European specialty food import company. During his five years in this position, he represented over thirty-five brands from some of Europe’s most prominent manufacturers. Mr. Thaller was responsible for establishing nation-wide distribution opportunities, managing broker relationships, developing strategic pricing and promotional activities and managing an extensive sales force. A native of New Jersey, Mr. Thaller holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology, and has several advanced education certificates in international business, organizational development and strategic development. Mr. Thaller serves as Chairman of the Board for Talier Trading Group Inc., and holds several advisory positions with private companies in the specialty food industry. Mr. Thaller will broker HCA honey and other NCF products that we introduce. We have already signed a contract with Talier Trading Group Inc. to represent HCA honey. Mr. Thaller will utilize his established distribution network to retail our honey to major chains throughout the United States. VolumeOur broker has orders from some of the largest distributors on the nation, such as DPI, Kehe Foods, Tree of Life, and Chex Fine Foods. Individual stores such as Whole Foods, Food Emporium, Stop and Shop and other major retailers have already signed off on selling the honey as part of an African Foods section. Within the first year NCF expects to sell 100,000 jars of honey. Our honey will be included in a set of African food products that is rolling out to super markets nationwide this fall. By the end of the third year we will be selling over 100,000 jars of honey per quarter. Additionally, by year three we will have added other products to our offering which will be producing revenue streams similar to that of the honey.
The Environment and Social Benefits
One of NCF’s strongest partners, Honey Care Africa, is an incredibly successful model of a sustainable business that aids farmers not through donation or creating artificial markets, but rather by finding profitable, untapped opportunities for these farmers to earn a reliable income. Honey Care Africa starts by training beekeepers and selling them equipment (which the farmers will pay for through loans as they produce their honey). Bee keeping is ideal for small-scale farmers because it takes very little land, labor, knowledge, and capital to operate. By tending to his or her hives for just 30 minutes, once every two weeks, a farmer can reliably make around US$ 200 to 250 a year. This can be enough to lift this farmer out of poverty and give him the power not only to increase his hives but also his small farms. Through Honey Care Africa, over two-thousand small-scale farmers have gotten involved in beekeeping in the last 2 and a half years, and the organization forecasts that when all hives are in full production and loans have been fully repaid, there will be a total US$ 400,000 - $450,000 increase in annual income for these rural communities. The most important feature of Honey Care Africa’s operations is its honey extraction and payment system. With their portable honey extraction units, Honey Care Africa sets up at the most convenient site for honey collection—one that is closest to the farmers it serves. Farmers bring their super boxes of unrefined honey to the site where it is extracted and filtered into 20-liter plastic containers. Meanwhile, the super boxes are weighed before and after the extraction, and farmers are paid a fair and fixed price for their honey. By harvesting the honey directly at the site, Honey Care Africa eliminates unnecessary costs of transporting super boxes to a major city and then back to the farmers, and is also able to pay the farmers directly in cash at the time of extraction. As far as loans are concerned, Honey Care Africa deducts around 25% of the cost of the honey from its payments to the individual farmers until the farmer’s loans are repaid (eliminating the possibility of defaulting on these loans). These deductions are paid back to the NGO or donor organization that helped fund the project, along with a record of the farmers from which this money was recovered. Depending on the wishes of the donor, this repayment system has the opportunity to become a revolving fund that can be used to help expand the project further. Because of its efforts in reducing poverty and conserving the environment, Honey Care Africa has already received numerous international awards, such as the UNDP Equator Initiative Prize, the Prince of Wales World Business Award, and the World Bank International Development Marketplace Award. It was additionally honored in 2005 at the World Economic Forum in Davos for being among the world’s “most outstanding social enterprises”. Refer to Appendix B for details. As a private organization, as opposed to a donor agency, Honey Care Africa operates in a real market that can be sustained and is less likely to collapse in the near future than ventures started by development organizations. HCA farmers are increasing their production as their hives become more established and they become more familiar with their equipment. This means that HCA is seeking new markets in which to sell their honey. NCF can step in and expand the reach of Honey Care Africa’s products by importing them to the US market. Once NCF more fully establishes itself with distributors and retailers with one successful product launch, we will import additional products from other socially conscious companies with competitive natural food products. |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 11 August 2008 ) |