Download Mali Seed Potato Marketing Plan

Mali Seed Potato Marketing Plan Project
Project Sponsor: Belco Tamboura
Professor
Team Project Managers:
Marcela Vallejos: [email protected]
Loren Chapel: [email protected]
Sarah Martinson: [email protected]
Selena Schmidt: [email protected]
Jessie Peterson: [email protected]
Instructor: Dr. E.L. Owens, Jr. MBA, CPPM, PMP, Six Sigma Black Belt
Department of Management
MGMT—Project Management
University of St. Thomas
December 11, 2008
Mali Seed Potato Project
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Executive Summary
In the beginning of our Project Management class we were given a choice. We either had the
opportunity to choose our own project, to work on throughout the semester, or take the
opportunity to help the New Paradigm for Discovery-Based Learning international program by
completing our class projects on the seed potato market in Mali. After deciding to participate in
the seed potato project, the class was broken into five specific groups, governance, storage,
transportation, marketing and quality. Our group consisting of Marcela, Sarah, Selena, Loren
and Jessie chose marketing as an interest we also have outside of our Project Management
class.
Throughout the process of completing a project management plan for a marketing plan for seed
potatoes in Mali, the marketing group had the opportunity to not only learn the deliverables of
project management but also how a real project can be ambiguous, difficult and completely
uncertain.
The marketing group worked through all five stages of project management from initiating to
closure, completing several templates and a plan within Microsoft Project. As a group we have
completed the following deliverables, which were agreed to by our project sponsor, Belco
Tamboura.
A) A project notebook containing the various elements and charts of a project plan and a
word document of the project outline. To be delivered to Dr. Owens and project
sponsor on December 11, 2008.
B) A project plan outline for the creation of a marketing plan listing all the elements,
details and steps that are necessary to create, write and implement a marketing plan for
the seed potatoes. To be delivered to Dr. Owens and project sponsor via Microsoft
Project.
C) Research and analysis that the Marketing team has performed that may be helpful to
create the marketing plan. To be delivered to Dr. Owens and project sponsor through
the project outline and works cited page.
The project management plan took us into many different directions. However, the marketing
group has completed all three deliverables and has also created a recommendations section in
our project outline for consideration by our sponsor and the Mali Agribusiness Entrepreneurial
Incubator Center.
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Project Outline
The PMI Project Phases PMBOX 2003 graphic above summarizes the project outline. The outline
organizes a project plan into five specific phases: the initiating phase, planning phase, executing
phase, monitoring and control phase and final closing phase. Each phase is explained below
using the Gray and Larson guide in Project Management (p 7):
Initiating phase: The beginning phase of a project is the opportunity to target goals and project
specifications. It is also the opportunity to create tasks and responsibilities for the individuals
who will be working specifically on the project and tasks within it.
Planning phase: The level of effort increases during this phase as schedules are determined,
budgets are identified, resources are identified (people, systems or research) and risks are
reviewed.
Executing phase: The execution phase is where the work is being completed for the project. It is
also where status reports to sponsor and stakeholders take place and changes are identified
reviewed and approved.
Monitoring and Control: Quality is reviewed by metrics in this stage and forecasts are created to
help sponsors determine how and if the project is on task and budget.
Final Closing Phase: The final closing phase is where the project sponsor approves the project
and deliverables of the project. It is also the opportunity to train the sponsor, transfer
documentation, release resources and create lessons learned for other future projects.
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Typically, project planning follows this cycle sequentially, however, as we found out while
approaching the marketing project plan, we often believed we had completed a phase and later
in the process have to go back and adjust something that was in an earlier phase. Overall, we
found that the process of project management was a continuous system of learning, adjusting
and approving.
After the marketing group’s first status report presentation, we believed we were ready to go on
to the planning phase. Soon we realized that there were missing details, ideas we hadn’t
considered and opportunity to discuss before moving on. Therefore, we adjusted many of our
initiation documents as discussed further in the initiation phase of this document. This was not
the only time in which this occurred. Later in the execution phase, we determined there was
another marketing target we had not considered, which changed how we would have originally
approached the initiation phase.
As we progressed further in the process, we also realized that we were not able to get all the
way through each phase. Monitoring and control were things we had worked on throughout
the class session; however, due to the amount of time our class had to create a project plan and
go through the process; there were things we inevitably missed. We would have also done
closure very differently if there was more time available. For example, we would have met with
our sponsor one last time to review the Microsoft Project document and additional ideas we
had regarding how they may want to review their future marketing plans. Time only allowed for
so much within our Project Management class setting and therefore we did the best with what
time we did have.
The chance to complete a project plan within a classroom setting also allowed for different
opportunities that perhaps we would not have had in a traditional work setting. Not only was
time an issue, we certainly could not ask for another month or were we able to set our schedule
for our sponsor based upon the time we felt we needed. In addition, other opportunities
presented themselves along the way. We had the ability to go back and adjust as needed. Often
in real life settings, this opportunity may not exist due to time or money. We did not have to
worry about budget or resources. We did not get paid for working on this project and we had a
set group of individuals to work on our particular project, outsourcing wasn’t an option.
Therefore, we had the perfect opportunity to learn more about the process and the actual
ambiguous nature of project management without having to worry about many of the other
issues—time and budget—that would have been part of our process had chosen to do a project
from a career paradigm versus a classroom setting.
Initiation Phase
Project Definition
The project definition was our initial pass at what our project entailed so that we could move
forward with deliverables. What we thought was going to be an easy task—defining our topic
and project—became more complex when we had difficulty getting our arms around how to
create a project proposal for a marketing plan rather than creating an actual marketing plan for
the Mali Agribusiness Entrepreneurial Incubator Center (referred to further as the Center). As
we began to discuss how to accomplish this unfamiliar mission, we also lost one of our
classmates who transferred to another class. Unfortunately, he was already assigned some key
roles as part of our original plan. So after a slight deviation from where we thought we were
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headed and several discussions later, both as a group and with Dr. Owens, we discovered that
our project definition was to develop a marketing plan to market seed potatoes to a new market
segment with the intention to be seed potato growers or multipliers. This plan will guide the
user on how to develop a complete marketing plan that will effectively target the defined
market segments and how to implement marketing plan initiatives. We were ultimately
teaching the Center how to create and implement its own planning process.
While the project definition was defined within a few weeks of receiving our assignment, the
definition was refined over the next several weeks of class when we began to identify what seed
potatoes were, how they were grown and what exactly the Center was looking for. After several
weeks of research on the seed potato topic, we came up with several resources to help us
identify the market and potential options for the Center. A compilation of these resources can
be found within our works cited page. Though we were only creating a project plan for the
marketing plan, it was important for us to understand the complete nature of the seed potato
process. Several factors played into this definition adjustment including the following:
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October 11, 2008, phone conversation with our Sponsor, Belco Tamboura
October 23, 2008, class discussion with Sidy Ba
October 28, 2008, interview with Sidy Ba
November 3, 2008, phone conversation with our Sponsor, Belco Tamboura
November 11, 2008, email from Aissata Traore
November 20, 2008, class discussion with our Sponsor, Belco Tamboura
November 23, 2008, interview with Belco Tamboura
Weekly conference calls, every Thursday afternoon
Online research
Documents presented to our Project Management class via Blackboard
One of the most difficult parts of the assignment was to understand African agriculture,
economics and business. Our group consisted of several individuals from different backgrounds,
but none from the agricultural field. We also had a very narrow view of how business was done
in Africa, since many of us do not work in the global marketplace. These factors led us in
different directions, many times because our stakeholders defined information regarding the
process further. While it as necessary to make careful choices about which information to us
when making our adjustments, all of these conversations help us refine our definition and
provided a direction in developing the process for the Center to create a marketing plan.
Project Checklist/Archive List
The project checklist was created to give us an idea of what templates and tasks needed to be
completed for each project deliverable. While this checklist should have been completed early
in the class semester, we did not complete this documentation until nearly the end of our
process. We used this more as an archive checklist rather than a checklist for completing our
tasks; instead we used class documentation such as the project outline and project
requirements to determine our next steps in the process. This document could have been
useful to us in order to create a timeframe in which to complete our tasks. Looking back, it
would have been helpful to complete this small piece of documentation to help with our quality
metrics as well.
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Stakeholder Analysis
No one in the marketing group had put much thought into an extensive list of stakeholders. In
most cases, in past projects our teams have had their own bias and influence on the project
outcome, and then justify their decisions to management. Time and cost tend to drive fast
decisions, and the tendency is to ask for an apology later, rather than gain permission prior.
However, in hindsight, it is understandable that some project implementations do not always go
smoothly because stakeholder’s’ needs were not considered earlier in the project planning.
With regards to the marketing project plan, we were surprised at how large the stakeholder list
became. By completing this analysis as part of the initiating phase, we were able to go back and
consider who might be affected by a decision or who might influence a decision. Identifying the
stakeholders who have an interest in the project is a good start, but really understanding what
they need and want from the project was an ongoing learning experience that defined our
communication and project plan suggestions. It was evident through the weekly conference
calls and was reinforced with Sidy Ba and Belco Tamboura’s visits that even the stakeholders
with heavy influence in the seed potato project had differing ideas as to the scope and direction
of the project. All we could accomplish as a team was to actively listen, understand the
differences, and make sure to address them when appropriate in the various phases of the
project.
An example of a significant change occurring at the mid-point of the project was the
identification and realization that each of the major stakeholders, such as Dr. Dunkel – Portfolio
Manager, Dr. Owens – Program Manager, and the Center members – Sponsors and Performing
Organization, had a different idea of how the Center should be organized and its goal. Instead
of a virtual network of professionals, the Center members believed they needed to clarify their
goal to the US stakeholders. This included referring back to this group as the original name of
the Mali Agribusiness Entrepreneurial Incubator Center rather then the Network. Along with
the name change, there was a need to establish an office where business could be conducted,
so that a team environment is created, and members can collaborate and make decisions on
how best to establish the agricultural initiatives within Mali. It creates unity within the group,
and as well as helps establish a sense of legitimacy within Mali to gain support from external
stakeholders including their employers, entrepreneurs and students, US Universities, Mali
government and international relief organizations (S. Ba, class discussion, October 23, 2008).
The various forms of power each of the stakeholders had also played a role in their influence of
others and the project. Dr. Dunkel has expert power, as she is the grant owner and leader for
the various projects working towards one goal. She influences with her credibility as a scholastic
and social leader by her evident dedication to the cause with her leadership of the New
Paradigm for Discovery-Based Learning international program. Dr. Owens has legitimate power
through his role as a UST professor. This allows him to direct the path of these project plans in
a way that satisfies his and the school’s needs for the semester’s deliverables from his students.
The power of the sponsor is also important because the project team strives to satisfy their
needs. As the sponsor of the marketing team, Belco displayed both expert and legitimate
power because he knows more about the immediate needs and capabilities of the Mali market
than many of us in the United States; but he is also a member of the performing organization,
the Center, that will actually manage these various projects to achieve its goal of a selfsustaining business in Mali.
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As a group, it was our goal to listen to the various viewpoints, understand the differences
between them, and make sure to address them when appropriate during all phases of the
project. This was a learning experience that allowed us to realize the importance of different
stakeholders and how important their ideas are to the end project deliverables.
Feasibility Analysis
As we started to work on the marketing project plan we were unclear if we were responsible for
determining the viability of the development of the plan or the practicality to market seed
potatoes. After several class discussions we concluded that both aspects should be addressed
because they are essential for the success of the project. The feasibility analysis was probably
one of the most interesting tasks to do. It required the team to conduct secondary research,
and a large amount of time was spent on the completion of this preliminary feasibility analysis.
The development of a marketing plan requires a certain amount of market research. In the U.S.,
it is done fairly quickly through the use of Internet and market research agencies. However, in
Mali the research strategy will be different. Due to the lack of telecommunications, most
research will need to be done through informal meetings and visits to town halls with current
farmers, associations and co-operatives in order to understand the market’s needs and wants.
(S. Ba, personal communication October 28, 2008). The process of creating a marketing plan is
reasonably feasible but it will require commitment and determination to carry out the project
plan as proposed. The estimated first year budget to develop and implement a marketing plan is
just over $4K USD or $2.1M CFA with majority of the costs coming from the plan
implementation. Most of these expenses consist of costs to attract and retain seed potato
growers and advertise to final customers. Funding to carry out the plan is uncertain but the
Center could try foreign grants or sponsorships from private companies. According to report
Mali Beyond Cotton, Searching for “Green Gold” prepared by the OECD/OCDE in 2007, agrobased private sector development programs have attracted a variety of donors who are
intervening in areas including production, marketing, transportation and governance to support
private sector development. To overcome the lack of trained resources, the Center could
approach UST business students skilled in performing market analysis and strategies.
Considering these factors, the preparation and implementation of the marketing plan is viable.
As to the feasibility of marketing seed potatoes in Mali, our team performed secondary research
to gain a better understanding of the market potential for seed potatoes and other sociocultural, environmental and political aspects that could influence the project. The research
indicates that demand for potatoes in Mali is buoyant and annual consumption level was
estimated to be about 16kgs per capita (Strategic Evaluation of the Agro-Industrial Sector – Mali,
Sofreco, 1999). According to the USAID Trade Mali Semi-Annual Report of June 2006, the
number of supported potato organizations increased which improves the assistance to farmers.
As of April 30, 2006, a total of 723 tons were exported from the cooperatives located in Sikasso
to Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Togo, and 2,109 tons were sold locally with total sales
valued at $250 million FCFA. Graph 1 details the domestic sales data.
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Graph 1: Source – USAID TradeMali, Semmi-Annual Progress Report, June 2006
Domestic sales have targeted only the cities of Bamako, Mopti, Segou, Diolia and Tombouctou.
Interestingly, only two of the nine cooperatives located in Sikasso sold potatoes domestically
with the average price at purchase and sales of 98.5 and 131 respectivel leaving a large margin
for profits (currency and unit metric was not indicated and the assumption is that it is the FCFA
price per ton). Graph 2 details the domestic sales of the two cooperatives in Sikasso.
Graph 2: Source – USAID TradeMali, Semmi-Annual Progress Report, June 2006
The information from Graph 2 suggests that there is an existing opportunity for the
development of domestic seed potato production. According to information obtained from
Aissata’s Certification design for Mali’s seed potato production in September 2006, the
estimated cost for the imported seed potatoes is 20,000 to 30,000 FCFA per 25 to 30kgs. It
suggests an average of 893 FCFA per kilo. If farmers have the opportunity to purchase seed
potatoes at a price below 893 FCFA/kg/average, they are able to increase their margins.
Additionally, domestic seed potato production could not only bring price advantages to farmers
but also the ability to obtain good quality and adapted variety of seeds at any time. This would
extend their production period throughout the year since the seeds imported from Europe are
only available in October.
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As a part of the feasibility study, we also tried to gather some information about to the social
and cultural enviroment. One of the most significant challenges that our team predicts the
Center will encounter is to attract people who are committed to growing seed potatoes for the
initial two years needed to get their crop started. West African culture is characterized by a
short-term vision, and this could challenge the marketers based on the neccessary two year
commitment before the seed potatoes are ready to be sold. Furthermore, collectivism and social
orientation are key elements of the Malian culture and seed potatoes will need to be marketed
as a business that brings prosperity to the community as a whole and not to a specific group of
individuals. We could not find any particular concerns regarding safety and the environment,
but it is important that the Center is aware of any risk that could arise from production, storage
and transportation especially if it could harm the community. The success of the seed potato
marketing campaign is directly related to the benefits that the business brings to society. Finally,
in the political arena, Mali is considered a stable country and the government’s policy toward
the privatization of the agriculture sector leads to more opportunities to attract domestic and
foreign investments for the seed potato business.
With this preliminary feasibility analysis, we learned a great deal about the country of Mali. This
exercise was ideally placed in the initiation phase because it forced the team to do research and
ask questions early in the process. Many of the opportunities and threats were identified during
this process as well.
Requirements Analysis
The first challenge we encountered while developing our requirements document was
determining the user. Initially, we assumed the user was our team. However, after looking into
the purpose of the requirements template, we knew to focus on what the user of a marketing
plan would need. Therefore, the user of this marketing plan is the Center. The other elements
of the requirements template were fairly straightforward except for the functional
requirements, which required numerous revisions as we solidified exactly what the marketing
process would entail. For this section, we originally listed the elements of a marketing plan and
the various purposes of a marketing plan.
During our first class status update, it was suggested that we put our functional requirements
into a flow diagram. It was difficult to visualize a flow diagram of a marketing plan at first, but
as we walked through each step of the process it became clear that we had five distinct process
phases. We produced a flow diagram that included planning, approval, action, evaluation and
results stages. This diagram was an extremely useful tool for creating our Work Breakdown
Structure (WBS).
Our original functional diagram began with a basic outline of the marketing process; it was then
updated once the team received further documentation on an example from the Shea Butter
Supply chain. After our second project review presentation, we concluded that the flow
diagram needed to be revised for the third time. It was important not only to illustrate the flow
of a marketing plan but also link the marketing activities with the proposed production plan
because it could imply sales of seed potatoes at different stages of the process. The final
diagram is explained further below.
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Functional Chart 1
It is important to conduct some initial market research prior to identifying strategies and tactics
to understand what the opportunities are within the market space. The beginning of the
diagram starts with market research to identify external opportunities and threats through a
macro environment and competitive analysis. Next one would conduct a SWOT analysis to
consider the strengths and weaknesses of the organization and compile the opportunities and
threats previously discovered from the market research. Based on this analysis, the Center can
evaluate their core competencies. These competencies are important to know so that they can
be leveraged and maximized to their potential. After market research, a financial forecast can
be put together to understand the market sales potential. Forecasting the demand is important
to understand what type of return on investment is even possible. Next, the Center will identify
the target market segments it wants to target and direct is communication to. Defining the
marketing vision and objectives provides a clear goal to all that read the plan and will help
measure if the plan was successful. Identifying the core positioning statement based on the
target market will narrow the customer segments more concisely so that marketing strategies
and tactics will be more effective and efficient at generating a return. An action or
implementation plan should then be developed for the period of time that the plan is developed
for, as well as, a control plan to keep the schedule and costs within scope. Once some
governing body or consensus of team members approves the plan, it can be implemented. It is
a good idea to evaluate the success of the plan mid-year to check quality and control. Strategies
or tactics can be redefined to put the plan back on schedule. Once the year, or period of time is
up, the team should evaluate the success of the plan against the goals and objectives previously
set for the marketing plan. Document lessons learned and tasks that worked are important for
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the next year’s planning process and will help drive each subsequent year’s plan to be more
successful.
Functional Chart 2
Lastly, the second functional chart illustrates the proposed production plan that has been
indicated by Aissata Traore and points out where sales of seed potatoes could potentially
happen. According to Aissata the vitro plants produced in the lab could be sold to seed potato
growers if they have greenhouse to produce the first generation, otherwise the vitro plants
would be kept in the lab greenhouse. The lab would produce the minitubers that could be sold
to seed potato growers to be planted in the field as a second generation. The sales of minitubers
and vitro plants could require different marketing strategies especially if they require different
care, transportation and storage needs and the Center needs to be aware of these differences to
market the product properly. Therefore, it was extremely useful to create this flow diagram that
helped to point out the different stages where the seeds could be sold to seed potatoes growers
and the potential need for different marketing strategies (A. Traore, November 11, 2008).
Project Charter
Using the information provided by the stakeholder analysis, feasibility analysis and requirements
document, we began our project charter. As with our project definition this document began as
one set of ideas that led into several others.
We finalized the project charter early in our definition process and then sent it to our sponsor.
Soon we realized that we misunderstood some key areas of our project. The main market for
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the Center was a seed potato grower—either farmers in Borko or entrepreneurs interested in
becoming farmers—and not seed potato farmers. The difference being we were not marketing
the end product but rather the production of the actual seed potatoes to be sold to farmers
who would produce the final product. This market does not currently exist because seed
potatoes traditionally are purchased from traders importing from Europe (B. Tamboura,
personal communication, October 11, 2008, & November 23, 2008). We adjusted our project,
our methods for completing our deliverables and our recommended marketing tactics based on
this research.
As part of the project charter, we also had to determine our major assumptions, constraints and
risks. These too were adjusted as we learned more about the seed potato efforts in Mali. Much
of this section of the project charter was originally developed by research on other areas in
Africa, which already had seed potato production such as Niger and Kenya. The International
Potato Organization pointed out several areas which have begun a seed potato production
market on its website (Potato World, 2008). After this initial research, we further refined our
charter by further information learned from teleconferences, class discussions and interviews.
Our final step was to present the project charter to our sponsor and to get final feedback and
approval. We finalized this step on November 23, 2008, when we had the opportunity to
interview Belco Tamboura.
The most considerable learning experience in the initiation phase was how to deal with
ambiguity. Because we knew little about the seed potato market we needed to understand how
the Center would be able to market the opportunity to its target markets. Research and
communication between UST and the Center helped define these goals and our understanding
of the project as a whole, but often times we needed to make assumptions on particular items
and move on due to the limited time we could invest in the project itself. Stakeholders
themselves had different paradigms through which they looked at the project as well. We n
considered their opinions, but eventually decided for ourselves which direction to lead our
project in.
Planning
Scope Statement
After completion of the project charter, it was fairly easy to develop the scope statement
because we were certain of the deliverables and exclusions of our project. The problem was
understanding what deliverables our project sponsor and other stakeholders expected. As
mentioned in the project definition session, we were unsure if we were responsible for creating
a project plan for the creation and implementation of the marketing plan by the Center or the
marketing plan itself. After the first call to our project sponsor on October 11, we were not sure
he understood that our main deliverable was to create a project plan for him to develop a
marketing plan. The project scope was not finalized until November 3 when we were finally able
to connect with him again and ensure agreement of expectations. In addition to the project
plan for the creation and implementation of the marketing plan, we also committed to deliver
any research and analysis that we gathered during the process and that might be of further help
in creating the seed potato-marketing plan.
As we were completing the Scope Statement, we included in our project justification that a
marketing plan is essential to help the Center promote the seed potato business, attract and
retain seed potato growers and market at profit to finally create a sustainable market ending
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the dependence on imports from Europe. While this is true, as the weeks passed and we
became more acquainted with the entire seed potato project, we concluded that even though
the marketing plan is a tool to guide the Center to implement proper pricing, distribution and
promotion strategies, it is not the heart of the seed potato project. The success of this project is
dependent on quality, storage and transportation. We were also careful to state the exclusions
clearly to avoid later problems. Since our main deliverable is the project plan to create a
marketing plan, the success of our project depends mainly on the practicability, simplicity and
clarity of the marketing plan that we propose. Because one of the objectives was to teach the
Center to create a marketing plan, we not only indicated the steps and estimated time to create
the plan but also included a detailed description of what is required for each step. With this
extra piece of information on hand, the Center will be able to eliminate unnecessary steps to
save time and resources. These steps can be found in our Microsoft Project document.
By completing the scope document, we narrowed the deliverables of the project and identified
the aspects that should not be included in this project. The scope document was particularly
useful because it forced us to review and revise many aspects of our project. With the scope
statement clearly defined, we focused on the accomplishment of the deliverables.
Work Breakdown Structure
The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) was broken into two different parts. First, we identified
the WBS for our project process. Much of this was defined for us within the project templates
and Microsoft Project Manager templates. With this identified, we began our focus on the WBS
for the marketing plan process.
The second part of the WBS took several attempts to finalize. The first step to this process was
to create an outline and functional diagram of what a final marketing plan should look like.
These details and results were completed in the initiation phase. Since all of us have some
experience developing a marketing plan, via class or work experience, this was easily identified.
Taking this work, we created an outline of our marketing process WBS. After discussing
amongst our group, we decided to further define tasks and adjust the order in which we
presented to the Center. We did this for several reasons: to help identify areas in which they
weren’t as familiar, to help teach them how a marketing plan was created and to further define
the market for them. Once these were finalized, we deciphered which areas were precedents to
the others and how long they should take. We finalized the network schedule by adding the
final WBS to Microsoft Project.
One of the things we learned from this process was to review project elements more than once
and to do so from a paradigm that may not be your own. The original WBS we created might
have been sufficient; however, reviewing it again from the Center’s point of view allowed us to
structure it in a way that made sense for them rather then only us. This process marked the
beginning of pulling together the ideas and definitions that were specifically needed for the Mali
Seed Potato Marketing Plan.
Responsibility Matrix
At the time we began inputting our tasks into the responsibilities matrix, we had already started
the process of assigning responsibilities to our group members. The responsibilities matrix was
an excellent tool because in one condensed chart that matched our WBS we could see who was
assigned what tasks, what was left to be assigned, and what the workload was for each person.
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If gaps needed to be filled, it was easy to identify them. Our project sponsor was also included
in our matrix, which was a good visual for identifying segments of the project that we needed
his input or sign-off.
Initial Project Budget & Cost Estimate
While we gathered preliminary cost estimates during the initiation phase, we did not begin to
identify actual costs until the planning phase of our project. The cost estimates for the
marketing plan are intended to be fluid as new information, customers, and market conditions
present themselves. This plan is based on an estimated likely scenario, and is intended to be a
high-end estimate based on the information gathered. Though there will be costs (opportunity
& incremental) associated with creating the marketing plan itself, the bulk of the costs will likely
come from implementing the plan. This is using the assumption that the Center is planning on
seeing the project through not only the initial investments and round of crops, but through the
first three years or as long as it takes Borko or the co-op to become self-sufficient and can
minimize the use of outside funds (B. Tamboura, personal communication, November 23, 2008).
Because of this the majority of the cost estimates in this plan are to (1) recruit farmers and
entrepreneurs to want to grow and market Malian seed potatoes vs. European ones, and (2)
advertise to end consumers with the hope that the market can evolve from Borko, to nearby
villages and perhaps eventually internationally. The bulk of the costs of recruiting and
advertising will come from radio and documentary-style TV ads, and also traveling to nearby
villages and holding seminars, workshops, etc. We estimated that it would take about three
years for the business to evolve and become self-sufficient. It is clear that the intent of the
Center is to be run as a business and not just a network, which ensures there are enough
farmers and that they are properly educated. Education is an important part of the marketing
project (B. Tamboura, personal communication, November 23, 2008).
The first cost deliverable is a matrix or place to keep a list of resources available and needed to
carry out each task, and includes their estimated unit cost (our preliminary resource matrix
template is at the end of this section). After discussions with Belco, the actual amount of time
to be used on preparing the marketing plan and the human resources that will be helping will
not be fully determined until the entire business plan is finalized, so currently there are only
estimates and/or placeholders. The resource matrix is intended to be flexible, with much of the
actual costs and info to be inserted after the marketing project plan is handed off to the Center.
The second cost deliverable is the total estimated budget/forecast of the costs for the first year.
It is built using a combination of the WBS and the resource cost matrix. The assumption is that
each activity within the WBS will require the use of a resource that has a cost with it, which
could be incremental or otherwise. The estimated amount of time and quantity for each item
needs to be determined by the Center as the business plan is finalized. One other keynote is
that the cost estimates are only for the first year. Costs in subsequent years will be considerably
different as the marketing plan will not need to be re-created and most costs in years two &
three will be from continued recruiting and advertising as necessary. There will also be a shift
from advertising to farmers and entrepreneurs to advertising for end consumers and possibly
beginning to look at international exporting options. The estimated year one budget based on
our assumptions is just over $4k USD or 2.1M CFA. The budget was created in USD and
converted to CFA based on the Nov 21 conversion rate of 523 CFA/ dollar (Market Data Center,
2008).
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One of the other key assumptions based on information from both Aissata and Belco is that the
farmers themselves will be securing financing for the initial investment. Since the Center has a
strong vested interest in both generating demand by farmers and entrepreneurs and seeing the
co-op become self-sufficient in the first three years, they should be involved in helping the less
sophisticated farmers achieve this. The possibility that it would be more cost efficient for the
Center to secure funds and offer trade credit to farmers is another option worth researching.
There are risks involved in that scenario that need to be fully understood. Some of the risks
could be mitigated to some degree by utilizing less strict loan or grant options that may be
available through the World Bank or other international relief organizations (Mali Trade Brief,
2008). The political impact must also be considered when making the financing decision with
the mixed views in Mali about some of these financial organizations. Under either of the
scenarios, the financial institution involved will require periodic financial statements and project
updates (Development Credit Agreement between Republic of Mali and International
Development Association, 2001). This may require the additional costs if a financial expert is
needed or if audited reports are required and there are costs associated with the audit.
The final cost-related tasks for the Center to complete will be to track that the marketing project
actual spends remains on budget. Since the budget will be built using both cost and schedule
estimates, it will be important to determine whether deviations from the budget are caused by
time or cost estimates. If the plan does go over budget, it must be determined if there was a
change in strategy that called for the overage or determine where savings can be made.
Specifically, with the marketing plan this may mean less time spent on less critical components
of the plan, or cutting back and finding ways to save costs on advertising and workshops.
Finally, as year one nears an end, the advertising and resources that will likely be required needs
to be analyzed and a year two budget must be created. If the Center begins to look
internationally, that could also change costs drastically but also provide a potentially large
revenue opportunity. Companies seeking to diversify their supply chain may be drawn to Malian
seed potatoes (African Emergence, 2006).
Some remaining responsibilities of the marketing team that will have a cost impact for the total
project budget will be making pricing decisions. The marketing plan will educate those involved
with key information that will be needed for pricing the potatoes to the farmers. Part of this will
be monitoring the price and quality of competitors and proving the value that can be created
through the purchase of seed potatoes from the Center. Those involved in the marketing plan
should expect and prepare to be a key part of pricing discussions. This is especially important
for the overall marketing plan to be successful because pricing is the central marketing tool in
Mali, followed by financing and credit arrangements (Executive Report on Strategies in Mali,
2000). Understanding the quality advantage offered by the Center will be the next most critical
selling point. Communication with those involved with quality will be essential.
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Cost Resource Matrix
in USD$
Convert to CFA Franc multiply by:
523.00
wallstreetjournal.com, Nov 21 conversion rate
Human Resources
UST Marketing Team
Belco
Assistant 1
Annual Cost
$
$
25,000
$
7,000
Est Hourly Cost
$
$
13.02
$
3.65
Assistant 2
Travel Resources
Travel to Borko, banks, etc
Vehicle
Cost of Funding
Local bank, World Bank, Grants, etc
$
$
7,000
Fuel/litre
$
10.00
Cost/Mile
$
$
Annual Cost
0.50
0.05
Cost/Month
20 km/liter
Est maintenance, could include rental costs (would be much higher)
see supplemental info for some example costs associated with borrowed
funds if needed.
Materials
paper, computer usage, etc
Advertising Costs
Pay for co-op ads - Radio (Years 1-3)
approx usage/hour
$
2.00
Cost/Ad
$
19.12
Small documentary on televesion - Year 1
Consultants, etc
Agribusiness Center technician (ie Aissata/Adama)
Tracking of financial information
3.65
Source/Assumptions
No Cost to Agri-business Center
Est only
Ave salaries in W Africa - education. Per Belco actual assistants (and costs)
tbd as business plan finalized.
Ave salaries in W Africa - education
$
$
15,000
15,000
$
334.61
$
$
7.81
7.81
Per Belco a week of radio ads for approx 10k CFA, and is a great advertising
tool
Per Belco about 175k CFA, more for recruiting entrepreneurs in nearby areas
Per Belco, may need one available for farmers
Required by creditors per worldbank.com, will need experts to provide
statements and updates
Table 1: Cost Resource Matrix
Risk Assessment
Conducting a SWOT analysis is a good way to identify the unknown risks so plans can be put into
place to mitigate their impact on the business. For the development of this marketing plan,
there is still uncertainty about some key components needed for putting the plan together. This
includes the actual resources and funding available to put together a marketing plan and also
how the farmers are going to obtain credit to purchase and grow the seed potatoes the Center
is developing. Additionally, the success the Center is hoping to make with a marketing plan for
seed potatoes is dependent on the success of the quality, transportation, storage, and
governance project plans. Without a quality product that is desired by the target customer, a
marketing plan is worthless.
Risks were identified through the development of a SWOT analysis. Data was collected from in
class discussions between the project teams, through email and phone calls with the project
sponsor, the weekly conference call with Dr. Dunkel, as well as intensive secondary research
conducted by the project team. We asked ourselves various questions to complete the analysis.
For example: is there a market for seed potatoes, who is the target market, what does the
consumer want from a seed potato, what is the competitive environment, what can the Center
offer to the market, how will the Center communicate to the market, and what is the supply
chain for the consumer to get the seed potatoes?
With the completion of the SWOT analysis we were able to identify most of the risks that could
affect this project. Fromthe weaknesses and threats, we selected the most relevant risks to
present to our project sponsor. Our next step was to develop the risk categorization worksheet
where we grouped the risks by category (technical, project management, organizational and
external). The majority of the risks fell within the organizational and external classes. The third
step within the risk assessment task was to develop the risk management matrix, the purpose of
which is to indicate which risks deserve attention through the probability, impact and detection
difficulty analysis of each risk event. While the risk categorization worksheet consists of
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eighteen risks, the risk management matrix contains the top eleven risks that we consider the
priorities to be addressed. The RPNs (Risk Probability Numbers) were not easy to determine and
some might not be very realistic because we used our own assumptions and experiences to
determine the probability of occurrence, cost impact and detection capability. Nevertheless, it
can still provide our sponsor with an idea of which challenges he might encounter throughout
project execution.
As a part of the risk assessment, we also proposed a response to each of the top eleven risks
identified. It is fair to say that all of us in the marketing project team could think of only one
type of risk response: reducing risk. But we learned in class that several other strategies could
be used to respond to different types of risks including avoiding risk, transferring risk, sharing
risk and retaining risk. Thus, we believe that reducing and sharing are the most appropriate
strategies to address identified risks. The final step to complete the risk assessment
management matrix was to propose contingency plans in the event that risks arise. While we
are not certain that some of the contingency plans proposed are applicable, they can provide
some guidance for different alternatives to be pursued.
Lastly, some of the risks identified in the risk management matrix refer to the creation of the
marketing plan while others relate to potential challenges to marketing seed potatoes. We
identified the lack of marketing experience and funding and the infrastructure in Mali as some
of the challenges that could cause delays and extra costs for the project execution. Assistance
from other UST business students and non-profit organizations should definitely be considered if
our sponsor concludes that help is needed to create the marketing plan.
As to the challenges of marketing the seed potatoes, the biggest concern is to attract and retain
seed potato growers. Not only is an effective marketing campaign needed to reduce this risk but
also a good quality product needs to be delivered according to customers’ expectations (Some
suggestions to attract and retain seed potato growers and other marketing initiatives are
included in the recommendation section at the end of this paper). With few exceptions, most of
the risks identified require collaboration and synergy among members of the Center.
The completion of the risk management matrix was useful because we learned in depth about
the risks that could cause greater impact to this project. It required us to search for potential
alternative solutions to give to the Center in case those risks arise. Finally, we learned that the
RPN is an extremely useful tool that can be used by many of us going forward.
Project Notebook
The Project notebook network schedule breaks down the steps taken to complete this project
assignment. It follows the initiation, planning, execution, and control phases of project
management including the use of any respective project management tools and templates.
Below is a list of the templates that are embedded within the notes of the respective tasks in
the order they appear:





Document (What task it can be found, if named differently.)
Stakeholder Analysis
Feasibility Analysis
Requirements Analysis
Initial Cost Budget Analysis (High Level Cost Estimate)
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Mali Seed Potato Project











Marketing
Functional Diagram (Develop a Functional Diagram)
Project Charter (Develop a Project Charter)
High Level WBS Analysis (Develop High Level Work Breakdown Structure)
Project Scope (Develop Project Scope)
Detailed WBS Analysis (Build Work Breakdown Structure)
Responsibility Chart (Develop Resource Plans)
SWOT Analysis (Identify Risks)
Risk Ratings Analysis (Analyze Risks)
Risk Mitigation Plan (Document Risk Management Plan)
Team Notes Document (Manage communications and meetings)
Lessons Learned (Summarize Project Results and Lessons Learned)
The Project notebook also includes the marketing plan WBS as a guide for the Center to follow
in its efforts to construct an initial marketing plan for its seed potato endeavor. The marketing
plan WBS includes brief notes of how to complete the task or what to think about with
completing each task. The estimated timeline for the completion of this marketing plan is
roughly three months prior to implementation. The assumption is a plan will be created for a
one-year period with a mid-year evaluation to be conducted to monitor the plan’s actual
success. This includes reviewing any cost and schedule variance with the strategies
implemented year-to-date, and initiating mitigation plans if needed to put the plan back on
schedule to achieve the marketing plans objectives, which would have been previously
identified by the Center in the marketing plan process.
There is no resource cost inputs included in the project management WBS, as each of the UST
team members are non-charging participants. There are also no costs associated with
resources within the marketing plan WBS because it is highly dependant on the decisions the
Center makes regarding communication plans and how many resources are needed to conduct
the marketing plan. The initial project budget workbook is a good tool to use to input the costs
and resources once identified to determine a project estimate cost. This is included in the
notes within the High Level Cost Estimate task, under the Project Management WBS.
None of the team members are currently users of Microsoft Project, so we were faced with the
challenge to learn a new technology. This made it difficult to utilize the full capabilities of the
program. The task was divided by assigning the responsibility to one team member, to populate
the program and each team member was responsible for providing the data to be input into the
program. A template was used from the Microsoft website and modified by the team.
Frustration did occur when trying to align the project schedule to match the deliverables
throughout the semester, as the entire schedule does push and pull based on the time allotted
to a task or the amount of resources assigned to each task. Concessions were made due to time
constraints to deliver the project notebook and are noted above. Though the first experience
with this program was ad hoc, there is much potential for the team members with further
training to benefit from this initial exposure and to use it for project scheduling in our own
careers.
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Execution
Team Development
When we did the class activity in which we divided the room into the four team dimension
styles, we noticed that our group was the only group that was spread evenly over the different
styles. Each of the four styles was represented by at least one of our team members. It was a
strength that our group capitalized on because we all brought a variety of strengths,
weaknesses, and leadership styles to the group. It was also a great opportunity for us to see
how the four styles interact in a real group environment while working on an actual project.
Loren – Advancer/Executor
Key Skills: Streamline processes to accomplish objectives; Ensure that solutions are
implemented in an orderly manner
Sarah & Marcela – Creator/Refiner
Key Skills: Highly conceptual and analytical; idea generators
Jessie – Executor
Key Skills: Focused on achieving high-quality outcomes; attention to details and orderly
processes
Selena – Flexer
Key Skills: Flexible and able to fill gaps; contributes to the group in many ways
Since each of us ended up in different categories, we found that each of our dimensions
complimented each other. Loren, for example, had a tendency to relate very well to the budget
and numbers aspect of our project and had the foresight to review this information thoroughly
and implement our needs in an orderly fashion. Selena understood that none of us had
experience in Microsoft Project and as the flexer, took the lead to figure out the program so that
we can use it as effectively as possible. Sarah and Marcela, our creators/refiners, took on the
task of making sure our templates were pulled together and came up with ideas we hadn’t
considered originally. Finally, Jessie as the executer made sure that everything was
accomplished, on task and done on time.
Though there were diverse styles represented within our group, we had very few conflicts as we
worked to complete our project. As individuals, there were various times that we saw the need
or were forced to take on a different role to accomplish a task. It was an important lesson for us
that even though we have a style preference, it is necessary to have the flexibility to work
outside our preferences in order for the group to succeed.
Review Process
There are two ways in which we reviewed our process.
 In-class status reviews, twice during the semester
 Weekly conference calls
Two in-class status reviews took place throughout the semester allowing us to present our
project status to our program manager. It also provided us the opportunity to learn from other
project groups by seeing their status and issues as well as research for the seed potato market.
Our actual presentations can be found in the zip file with our Microsoft Project document. What
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Mali Seed Potato Project
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we learned from these opportunities was how we could improve upon our project, what things
we may have been missing as well as how other groups may or may not be affected by the
marketing aspect of the seed potato project.
We were fortunate enough to have two of our stakeholders at these in-class status reviews.
During our first review we were close to being done with our planning stage and had the
opportunity to answer questions from Sidy Ba. The second status report was completed during
the time our sponsor, Belco, was present which gave us the opportunity to show him how far we
had gone in the process and allowed him to ask specific questions on the process.
Our weekly conference calls offered weekly opportunities to provide our status to stakeholders
such as the portfolio manager, classmates, available sponsors and others involved in the New
Paradigm for Discovery-Based Learning international program. It provided the opportunity to
get feedback from these stakeholders and often provided new information on the project itself.
Much of our definitions on the seed potato project, new resources to review and ideas to
consider came directly from these conference calls. These calls were then documented for
future reference.
Quality Assurance Metrics
In order to create metrics around quality, as we assigned individual tasks, assignments and
templates to individual group members, we created a feedback loop, via email, that allowed us
to review each individual task or template or add further feedback towards these assignments.
By creating these feedback loops each team member felt comfortable with the final documents
created. We used this as our quality assurance measure to verify results and finalize
documentation.
Another quality metric used was assigning tasks according to group members’ strengths. By
taking this approach, we assured quality performance with the task being completed at high
quality levels and efficiently. With the feedback loop created, the outputs were always reviewed
by someone else in the group and the comments and suggestions received were thorough and
rich. All pieces produced in this project are the result of great discussions and interaction
between team members.
Communication Plan
A good communication plan is one of the key elements to ensure the success of a project.
Clifford F. Gray and Erik W. Larson suggest in their book called Project Management - The
Managerial Process that “many of the problems that plague a project can be traced back to
insufficient time devoted to establishing a well-grounded internal communication plan”. It is fair
to say that our team did not develop a formal communication plan in which all types of
communications; purpose, frequency, owner and recipients were listed. Nevertheless, the
communication among team members worked quite well. In our third week of class, one of the
team members suggested to keep a log to register the discussions and action items resulted
from our team meetings, calls and emails with our sponsor as well as information obtained from
the weekly stakeholders’ conference calls. The log not only served to maintain all the members’
updates but also to keep track of the action items. Prior to our meetings, one of the team
members would usually email the group with the topics to be discussed and the outstanding
action items. It helped us to keep focused and plan our weekly goals and priorities.
Responsibilities were divided among the members but everyone was highly committed to
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provide suggestions and comments to one another throughout the entire project, keeping the
communication as open as possible. A key element of the team’s successful communication was
the level of engagement and learning interest from all members. A considerable amount of
secondary research was performed throughout the project and every piece of information was
disseminated, mostly via email, and served as a great knowledge sharing method.
As to communications with other stakeholders, the team made a good effort to communicate
with our project sponsor, program manager, portfolio manager and project managers from
other teams. The purpose of these communications was not only to report our progress but also
to share learning challenges and opportunities with all involved in the seed potato project. We
devoted special efforts to communicate with our project sponsor to make sure we understood
his needs and challenges so we could address them properly. It is important to mention that
communication with the project sponsor was not easy due to the lack of Internet infrastructure
in Mali. It is fair to say that cultural differences could have been an obstacle too. The American
way of doing things mostly through emails and Internet was probably not the best option to
initiate first contact. We probably overwhelmed our sponsor with numerous questions sent by
email rather than try a phone call first. We rapidly learned that we needed to change our
communication strategy and realized that phone calls would be more effective at least for the
first contacts in which we needed to build a relationship. Lastly, we had the opportunity to meet
in person with Sidy and Belco to learn about the seed potato project in more detail, but it also
served to show us how the cultural differences play a fundamental role in the success of a
project.
Control
The control of our project was done very differently then we had first anticipated. Due to the
nature of our class assignment, we didn’t have time to go through each individual template
around control. We also struggled with getting templates such as the project charter and scope
document actually signed by our sponsor because we didn’t have the same viewpoint as to why
they needed to be signed-off on. By reviewing these documents and discussing them, we
believe he felt as though he had agreed to their readiness.
Our project and process also took us in many different directions. We had to reanalyze steps
nearly every week, making it impossible to track each different change in a change document.
One week we would learn that the Network was an organized group that was looking into seed
potatoes and the next week we would learn the Network didn’t really exist and that instead we
were to refer to the group of team members in Mali as the Malian Agribusiness Entrepreneurial
Incubator Center (S. Ba, personal communication, October 23, 2008). These changes were
constant and on a weekly basis causing us to reanalyze our project and make adjustments
moving forward.
As discussed in earlier parts of this document our strategy changed several times, however, we
sent two versions of our scope document to our sponsor. One in which we had one strategy,
and another in which it was adjusted. His final review was on the adjusted version.
Our final control was meeting with our sponsor, Belco, on November 23, 2008. During this final
interview we had the opportunity to review our documents, go over our deliverables and learn
more about his viewpoint on our project. At this time, we learned there were actually three
target markets vs. the one we had originally identified. We were not only marketing directly to
the Borko farmers, but also to other entrepreneurs who would be interested in moving to Borko
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Mali Seed Potato Project
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to farm or help the farmers sell the third generation seed potatoes to table potato farmers. The
third market would also be the table potato farmer. We had originally assumed the Center
would be involved in the final step of the process that allowed the seed potato farmers to easily
sell their crops to the table farmers, but until speaking with Belco, we didn’t have confirmation
that this is something that they would do or that we should suggest they do in the future. Our
conversation was very detailed and provided us the opportunity to not only discuss the project,
but also helped us provide further feedback to Belco on how we would market or create a
market for seed potatoes.
One way our group did maintain control was to maintain a meeting and conference call
notebook. The notebook contains the notes from each conference call, important emails, and
each week’s assignment for each team member. As you review the document, you can read
that the level of concern about the project’s ambiguity tends to dissipate through the semester
with each week. However, it is also easy to read from these notes that with each week’s
conference call and class discussion, the level of complexity increased because of the continued
needs and requirements gathered from the various stakeholders.
Closure
Lessons Learned &‘Take Aways”
The Lessons Learned grid was built from brainstorming amongst the group while reflecting on
the way we completed the project and the processes we went through. We thought of some
specific areas where we either ran into challenges or where we might do things differently if we
did it again. It is important that any future groups working on this or a similar project use this
section to avoid pitfalls, and be able to operate more efficiently. Some common themes we
came across while creating this were that communication is important, there is a need to be
open-minded, when dealing with other cultures, attempt to turn challenges into opportunities
and learning experiences, always be persistent and unafraid to make a decision and go with it,
and document what you learn.
Some of the specific lessons learned are described below:
 Learning is an ongoing process. While we thought we understood the seed potato
market, or at least how a seed potato was grown, we soon learned that this was not the
case. The more information we received the more we understood the market and
therefore our goals and place within this entire project.
 Working on process and not working for answers is an important concept to
understand. There were times in our project process where we thought we understood
what our stakeholders were looking for. The next day we would learn of a new
paradigm to consider. However, we learned that we couldn’t update and change our
goals solely based on a different idea or opinion. Often times it was the process we
needed to focus on—which was providing a marketing process plan—instead of learning
exactly what the right answer was in the situation.
 Become more comfortable with ambiguities. When you start a project you won’t know
all the answers at one time. There is a lot of uncertainty around how things should be
done and how to do them. This also means there isn’t just one answer. Dealing with
ambiguity was easier for some group members then others, but as we moved through
the project we learned to accept the uncertainties and move forward to accomplish our
goals.
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Mali Seed Potato Project

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



Marketing
Complete functional diagrams in the beginning of the project process. Not until our first
status report meeting did we really consider creating a functional diagram of what the
marketing plan should look like. Had we created this process and perhaps saw the other
functional diagrams from other groups; we may have understood the entire seed potato
process much quicker.
Making assumptions can be helpful in moving towards your deliverables. Not all
answers can be found. How much money will actually be needed to conduct the Mali
seed potato marketing plan isn’t really known. It would depend on how many people
are working on the project, how many people volunteered their time and what
resources ultimately become available. Yet, we could make assumptions to provide the
Center with an idea of what they can expect based on our assumptions. Many times we
believe that assumptions are wrong, but we’ve learned that they do have their place
and are often very helpful when moving forward.
Giving up isn’t an option. Persistence was incredibly important in our project. Had we
given up because we couldn’t find the right answers or because we couldn’t get a hold
of our sponsor right away, we would not have been able to move forward and complete
the deliverables in which we were tasked. Therefore, we all learned that persistence
was important.
Interconnectivity between project members and sponsors. Understanding your project
goals is one thing, while understanding your sponsor’s goals is an entirely different
situation. In order to complete a project that can be helpful and meet the expectations
you need to understand what your sponsor is looking for and how best to meet their
needs. It is just as important to understand your stakeholder’s perspectives as well as it
may provide you the opportunity to understand your particular project.
Understanding group dynamics will help you accomplish more and much more
effectively. Each group member brings something different to the team. Leveraging the
strengths of these members and creating tasks around these will help the dynamics of
your group. We learned this very early on in the process and therefore didn’t struggle
with accomplishing particular tasks as we had a very broad group of strengths to work
with.
Working with diverse cultures can be challenging. Since no one in the marketing group
had the opportunity to work in a global market before, we found that it was a learning
experience dealing with such a diverse culture. From the inability to reach our sponsor
immediately to having to phrase our needs differently, we learned to understand and
considerate of how other people do things.
The second part of this section was created for the Center to be aware of the importance of the
lessons learned documentation in order to continuously improve the operations of the Center.
We have added some things to keep in mind while creating and carrying out the marketing plan,
but the emphasis should be to document decisions and why they were made, along with other
items that either worked well or did not work as planned.
Suggestions to Network for Project Success
During conversations with Belco Tamboura, the team asked for the greatest marketing challenge
he has faced with the seed potato project. Belco clearly said that the biggest difficulty is to
attract seed potato growers to enter the business and kindly asked us to provide suggestions to
help with the marketing plan.
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Our team is not in a position where we can determine the marketing strategies that should be
adopted. First, because is it not within the scope of our project to create the marketing plan.
Second, because we don’t have enough information about the market. However, based on our
own experiences and limited knowledge about the seed potato market, we believe that we can
provide useful suggestions. These suggestions should be further analyzed and validated during
the development of the marketing plan by the project sponsor.
To prepare the marketing plan, we suggest the following:




In case of uncertainties, make assumptions the best you can and don’t let them stop you
from continuing the development of the marketing plan.
Don’t adopt a marketing strategy without knowing the real needs and expectations of
your target market. You do not want to promise what you cannot deliver.
Promote informal meetings with existing farmers, associations and co-operatives to
better understand their real needs and wants in order to deliver a product/service
according to their expectations.
Benchmark business models of similar organizations. In Ghana, there is a branch of the
Brazilian Agriculture Research Center called Embrapa. The mission is to provide feasible
solutions for the sustainable development of Brazilian agribusiness through knowledge
and technology generation and transfer. It provides several trainings, workshops and
researches (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, 2008).
As to potential marketing strategies, we suggest the following:





Promote town hall meetings and free seminars not only in Borko but also in nearby
cities. Have a good documentary to show and something to give away (it could be
anything that you think they would like to receive, benefit from and would make them
to remember the Agribusiness Center. – (i.e. food, hat, shirt, etc).
Promote the enrichment of the community, do charities and don’t forget to do press
releases about it.
Sponsor events such as Agricultural Exhibitions or Fairs and Farmers Markets.
Adopt different strategies for different markets. It was indicated that the Center is
looking for different target markets that could include existing farmers, associations, cooperatives and entrepreneurs. It is important to understand that these groups have
different needs and expectations when comes to price, trainings and post-sale
assistance.
o Create different price packages (product only, or product + training, or product
+ training + post-sale assistance).
o Offer quantity discounts.
o Run seasonal promotions to give something for free.
o Create a sales support team within the Agribusiness Center. It would be a good
opportunity to attract University students to the Agribusiness Center and
promote the relationship between the University and the Center. Internships
might be a good option.
Look for opportunities to partner with seed associations, co-operatives and
financial/credit institutions.
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Marketing
Find quick tips at the University of Wisconsin-Cooperative Extension
Project Value Added to Organization (defined by sponsor)
The project value we provide to our sponsor and the Center in general is to provide a proposal
that is simple to initiate and complete and is applicable to Mali. There are several questions
that have come up in the seed potato production process, such as how they should be
marketed, what storage should be used and how the Center should be involved. One of our
biggest value propositions to the Center is providing not only individual project plans to
complete these tasks, but more importantly providing questions, ideas and potential answers to
the Center (B. Tamboura, personal communication, November 23, 2008). Many of these
questions will allow for those involved with the Center to realize their original ideas and begin to
think through the strategic plan for making a sustainable seed potato market in Mali.
End of Project Managerial Review, Kick-off, and Sign-off - Jessie
Our end of project managerial review will take place on December 11, 2008. At this time we will
present to our portfolio manager, sponsor and classmates.
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Mali Seed Potato Project
Marketing
Works Cited
Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation. (2008) Retrieved November 28, 2008, from
Emprabra Website: http://www.embrapa.br/english/embrapa/about-us
Development Credit Agreement between Republic of Mali and International Development
Association. (Dec. 12, 2001). Retrieved October 15, 2008 from World Bank Website:
www.worldbank.com.
Gray, Clifford F. & Larson, Erik W. (2008). Project Management. (4th ed.) New York. NY:
McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Kenya. (2008, December). Retrieved October 19, 2008 from International Potato Center
Website: http://research.cip.cgiar.org/confluence/display/wpa/Kenya.
Market Data Center. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from Wall Street Journal Website:
http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3020-worlddollar.html?mod=topnav_2_3014
Mali: Trade Brief (2008, April). Retrieved September 22, 2008 from
http://info.worldbank.org/etools/wti2008/docs/brief119.pdf.
Matsumoto-Izadifar, Yoshiko. (2008) 2008 Business for Development. Mali Beyond Cotton,
Searching for “Green Gold.” Retrieved September 25, 2008 from Centre De
Development Website: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/1/23/41228448.pdf.
Minutes from Dr. Camille George’s Trip to Mali. Saturday, June 14, 2008.
Nigeria. (2006, October). Retrieved October 19, 2008 from International Potato Center
Website: http://research.cip.cgiar.org/confluence/display/wpa/Nigeria.
Potato World. (2008). Retrieved October 19, 2008 from International Year of the Potato
Website: http://www.potato2008.org/en/world/index.html
Publications the Learning Store. (2008). Retrieved December 10, 2008 from Division of
Cooperative Extension of the University of Wisconsin-Extension Website:
http://learningstore.uwex.edu/Direct-Marketing-Are-Farmers-Markets-a-Good-Fit-forYour-Business-P1216C0.aspx?UserID=20684468&SessionID=DpXDXMigJoJD{3tt0Ezt
Scott, Gregory J., Rosegrant, Mark W. & Ringler, Claudia.(2000) Roots and Tubers for the 21st
Century: Trends, Projects, and Policy Options. Washington D.C.: International Food Policy
Research Institute.
Sowinski, Lara L. (2006, January). “The African Emergence.” WorldTrade Magazine. Website:
www.worldtrademag.com.
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Mali Seed Potato Project
Marketing
Thera, Assista T. (2006, September). Certification design for Mali’s seed potato production
inspired by Montana State University potato seed certification process.
Thera, Aissata T. (2006, October). Ralstonia solanacearum management: A prerequisite for a
potato seed certification program in Mali. Presentation provided in Project
Management class.
The Mali Agribusiness Entrepreneurial Incubator Center, Provisional Draft, March 2007.
Trip Journal, Dr. Owens and UST Students, January 2008.
USAID Mali, TradeMali Semmi-Annual Progress Report, June 2006, Submitted by Chemonic
International Inc.
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