The role of companies in poverty alleviation

HANOI – During the 10th anniversary of the PSOM progam, Minister Koenders for Development Cooperation gave a speech titled: “The role of companies in poverty alleviation”.

During this speech Minister Koenders stated that he was one of the biggest fans of the PSOM program, as he had observed all over the world the enormous impact it had on poverty alleviation. One of the successful PSOM project examples he mentioned was the vegetable value chain project of Metro Cash & Carry International Holding bv and METRO Cash & Carry Vietnam Ltd. The minister stated: “There is a wonderful project in Vietnam that is training local farmers and enabling them to supply supermarkets by setting up a distribution chain. As a result, farmers’ profit margins are higher”.

This project was designed and implemented in Dalat by a team of METRO and Fresh Studio. We are honored that out of the 500 launched PSOM projects, that our project was one of the highlighted examples.

The minister’s full speech can be viewed though this website: www.minbuza.nlAlso interesting to read:

Alex van Andel: Market research on seed sector of Dalat, Vietnam

DALAT – As part of the MSc Management, Economics and Consumer Studies at Wageningen University, I conducted an internship at Fresh Studio in Dalat, Vietnam. 

My assignment for this internship was to conduct a market research on the seed sector of Lam Dong Province, the province where Dalat is located.

Internship
The area of Dalat is well known for growing a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, thanks to the altitude and climate. As part of a project to introduce new vegetable varieties in Vietnam for one of Fresh Studio’s clients, I conducted a survey on the nursery sector in Lam Dong. Nurseries are greenhouses where seeds are grown into seedlings after which the seedlings are sold and transported to farmers.


My internship was a nice combination of field and office work. I conducted a survey and follow-up in-depth interviews with the owners of the nurseries and combined the insights into a final report on the seed/nursery sector of Lam Dong Province and the potential for seed sales per vegetable type for one of Fresh Studio’s clients.

About Fresh Studio
Fresh Studio is a young and developing company with passionate, professional, and committed people. I had the opportunity to not only learn from my own project, but also from the projects on which my colleagues were working. Activities ranged from the sourcing of vegetables for a large modern retailer, R&D for agriculture input providers and marketing of avocados in the traditional and modern retail outlets of Vietnam. The open and positive working atmosphere at Fresh Studio made me feel ‘at home’ very quickly.

Choice for Fresh Studio
Multinational companies always appealed to me and so it was an atypical choice for me to undertake my internship within a relatively small company as Fresh Studio. However, I have not regretted this choice, as Fresh Studio is a professional and well-organized company which provided a great learning environment.

Preparation
Before my departure to Vietnam, I arranged the visa, flight ticket and required vaccinations. Next to providing work-related facilities, Fresh Studio arranged my accommodation and covered my expenses.

Looking back
My four month period in Vietnam enriched my life. I experienced the Fresh Studio way of doing business, worked in a professional organization, in a sector which appeals to me very much, in a country that is not only beautiful, but is also economically booming.

Moreover, being part of the Fresh Studio ‘family’, experiencing the Vietnamese culture and traveling in Vietnam and Cambodia after my internship made it an experience I will never forget.Also interesting to read:

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