Building a brand marketing strategy doesn’t happen overnight. You have start somewhere. So what is the first step you should take in creating your marketing strategy? Where should you start?
The answer: brand positioning.

Overall, a brand strategy is a long-term plan for the growth and evolution of a public image in order to achieve specific goals. A well-defined brand strategy for any business should guide all aspects of it including consumer experiences, messaging, internal culture, and even positioning.

Think of it like giving driving directions.
Creating your brand strategy is like drawing out a map, and positioning is determining your location and destination (your goal). It is completely impossible to provide someone turn by turn guidance if you have no idea where they want to eventually end up and where they stand. Once you know this, you can then configure the best way to get there.

So, without further ado, let’s begin with the location, or brand positioning, in mind. If you haven’t already, selecting and developing a brand positioning strategy isn’t as hard as you might think.

Read more: Brand Positioning Strategy

Richard Fox is the current chairman of the Kenya Flower Council ; he has been extensively involved in the Kenyan horticultural sector for the past 25 years and has played a leading role in the promotion of socially and environmentally sustainable business practises in the industry. He has been serving on the Union Fleurs Board of Directors since 2008, holding the position of Vice-President since 2014.

Who is Hosea Machuki (Personal, educational and professional background)?
Hosea Machuki is the Chief Executive Officer Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya (FPEAK). He has served the agriculture sector for the past 22 years in research, horticulture, natural resources management, biodiversity conservation, food security, irrigation technology, agronomy, agricultural extension and extensive value chains development.

Hosea has extensive knowledge and experience in organisational management and administration and he has an excellent understanding of the horticulture industry in Kenya and within the region having vast experience working with private sector both in Kenya and within the East and Southern Africa region. He holds a Master of Science in Agricultural Extension from Egerton University and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Nairobi.

Other than FPEAK have you worked in an agriculture related organisation before?
Hosea started his career in 1997 as an Agricultural Extension Officer with the Ministry of Agriculture. He has since served as a Project Coordinator – Agriculture for Self Help Africa, Programme Manager – Horticulture for Solidaridad Network and Regional Manager East and Southern Africa for Rainforest Alliance. Hosea has implemented and managed sustainable agriculture projects in Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda,Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, and a consultant for various international organizations.

With so many great organizations to work with why FPEAK?
FPEAK became a natural fit given my skills, knowledge and experience horned over the years as its one organization in which one interacts with and serves smallholder farmers, private sector companies, key government agencies, international clients, development partners, academia, media just to name a few.

How would you describe your time as the CEO-FPEAK? Are you passionate about what you do?
I joined FPEAK on 15th May 2017 at a time when there was a lot on the plate for a new CEO. It has been both exciting and challenging to steer the organization to date. The road ahead appears very promising as the industry grows, and incomes to FPEAK members and the supplying farmers continues to grow. I am always passionate not only for the work I do at FPEAK, its my work ethic. Excellence, delivery and rigour.

What is FPEAK’s vision for the sector?
FPEAK’s vision is to Make Kenyan horticulture the Global choice. This vision will continue to facilitate the diversification and expansion of horticultural exports through systematic and related growth in innovations, product range and market segments. It will also continue to identify income streams that offer competitiveness while assuring profitability for FPEAK members and their suppliers

What are your top priorities?
At FPEAK my priorities are; Ensuring that we represent our members interests to government to continue creating an enabling environment for business; Provide specific services to our members including capacity building, compliance to standards and marketing; Ensuring that FPEAK becomes a sustainable entity with respect to income in the coming years. This way, we can be assured that we can provide world class services to our members and clients.

In a nutshell describe FPEAK products and services to the farmers
FPEAK services and products are based on our four key strategic objectives which are; to undertake advocacy aimed at improving the business environment both locally and abroad; to undertake capacity building at all levels; to undertake measures that will ensure compliance in response to quality and food standards, environmental and social Concerns and; to promote and brand Kenyan fresh produce globally

Briefly discuss the FPEAK Management and team
FPEAK has a board of 9 directors elected by the members during an annual general meeting. The current directors have a term of 6 years and they retire on rotation. The board appoints a CEO who heads the secretariat composed of 6 staff. We employ more staff as and when we have more work to do especially if we get specific projects.

What’s the biggest challenge YOU feel your farmer faces, and how do you inspire the rest of the team to meet it head on?
The Kenyan horticulture export sub-sector continues to experience challenges that include; Emerging market issues like new regulations from the marketplace, Limited diversification of Agricultural production: Narrow base of agricultural products, especially exports leads to high vulnerability of incomes to the international market trends. Non-compliance to international market standards, Retrogressive regulatory environment that continue to undermine trade, Stringent food safety market requirements in the EU market, Lack of public-private engagement geared towards investment and market development, Increased cost of production discouraging new investment in the sector, poor infrastructure, Lack of crops diversification in the making, Lack of coordinated marketing approach; climate change among others. We continue to strengthen our skills and knowledge in these matter through trainings and partnerships with our partners in order to provide solutions to these issues.

Where do you see the horticulture sector globally in the next 5 and 10 years from now? How are you prepared for this change in the industry?
Currently in Kenya only 4% of total annual fresh fruits and vegetables ( FFV) output is exported. In 2016 for example, the fruits and vegetables exports earned Kenya over US$ 1 billion. Kenya is a major supplier of high-value produce, such as green beans, snow peas (mange-touts), runner beans, okra, chillies, avocados, and mangoes and also a major exporter of flowers especially roses and carnations. In terms of markets, Europe is the main market for Kenyan FFVs and flowers, with the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and Italy leading. Other importing countries include Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Ireland, and Uganda. Colombia, Peru and Guatemala are Kenya’s main competitors on the global scale. Major export markets for Kenya vegetables include the UK, the Netherlands, France, India, Pakistan, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, Uganda and South Africa, while the USA, the Netherlands, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Japan, Spain, Belgium, and Bahrain are the leading importers of Kenya fruits. FPEAK has 17 member companies that export flowers mainly to Holland and the UK. Over dependence on traditional markets is turning into a disadvantage owing to changes in legislations due to increase in food safety concerns. There is need for promotional activities in emerging markets in the Far East, Middle East, SADC, and USA, among others. We are currently working with the various government agents and other development partners to expand our market share especially into new and emerging markets including China and India.

What is your personal work ethic, and how does this affect the organisation culture?
I believe in a collegiate working environment where people can bring out their best skills and expertise. I ensure that staff are able to meet deadlines, deliver quality work and be proactive. This creates the tempo for results delivery within the organization.

Describe your ordinary day? Do you have enough personal time? Is there a particular moment or memory that stands out
Given the nature of my duties, I do not have a routine. Each day presents a different procedure. However, normally, I will check mails and respond to issues, attend meetings, plan for days ahead, consult with colleagues and my board members on particular issues. Most evenings and weekends is my personal time. I go to church on Saturdays with family and unless I am out of town, always takes my family out for lunch every Sunday.

Who are the most important people in the industry today?
Our members. They provide employment to hundreds of thousands of Kenyans, provide ready markets for smallholder farmers and contribute to foreign exchange earnings.

What do you think other people should know about holding such a high esteem position you hold at Fpeak?
Any hard working person can be a CEO. What is different is how much one delivers once there and the strategic decisions and actions that one makes. This is what separates the average CEO for an excellent performer.

Is there anything else you would like to share with me?
I encourage every kenyan to enter the fresh produce sector, learn from the best in the business and lets all make Kenya horticulture the global choice now and in the future.

Production of flowers which does not fully meet the specifications of the market contributes to a serious loss. Almost 50% of problems encountered within the supply chain arise at the airport due to paper work being incomplete; this creates inconsistency, inaccuracy and lack of accountability causing growers to spend excess resources trying to get it right.

While growers strive to deliver to the best standards possible in cool chain management to ensure consistency, good pest management, enhancement of vase life, speed and accuracy in terms of data collection. The process still demands more as it requires heavy investment, professional approach and investment in reliable systems to execute, monitor and assess the success of the cool chain program.

Motivated by these challenges experienced by growers which are: cooling and re-cooling which attracts extra costs, additional of management time which results in high wastage and compromises made to the cool chain’s speed; Muddy boots software designed a comprehensive software to emphasize on quality foundation at pre-harvest, pack house and dispatch points respectively and having the data collected from the three assessment points made available in real time within the system.

How can working with quality control greenlight help supply chain be sustainable?
The software has comprehensive and intense assessment activities which are supposed to be performed at pre-harvest point, pack house and at the dispatch location. During the pre-harvest, workers at the green houses get to monitor the growth of flowers so as to manage the threats caused by pests and diseases enabling them to detect any compromises on the quality in real time so as to get agronomists curb the challenge early enough. Once the data is recorded, they upload to the system and store at the cloud. At the pack house, workers perform quality assessment tests referred to as self assessment before flowers are dispatched and the last assessment is executed at the dispatch point when flowers are loaded to the plane. Recorded data in the system is made visible and available throughout the supply chain. The process creates confidence and trust in the entire supply chain, emphasizes on quality, and complements cool chain management processes, increases shelf life and also thermal degree hours; hence cutting on costs incurred in management of quality and cool chain programs. The software contributes immensely to sustainability because when wastes are reduced, quality increased and data made available and visible in real time then revenue will definitely rise.

Quality control greenlight is the industry architecture with the right capacity to help growers to formally engage data collection capability of their existing army of quality control officers in the flower industry and ensure they harness the increase in data collection realized from the usage of the software in a push to cut wastage and increase revenue.

Benefits of Quality Control Greenlight
Grower- The growers get to integrate quality assessment checks at all levels into their farms so as to ensure that every staff member gets it right when it comes to quality production. Data collection creates confidence and contributes to the farms reputation through being visible and transparent concerning the quality of their flowers. The growers are able to cut on the wastage they incur annually which are approximately 20 million shillings and increase revenue and their recognition in the market.

Retailer- Retailers and customers are able to trace their orders at the point of dispatch because the system will notify them in real time that what they ordered has been completed and dispatched. They will also be assured of quality because of the confidence they already have towards the supply chain.

Kenya Regulators (KEPHIS, FPEAK, KFC) They are able to trace data uploaded to the cloud and get to understand the volume of flowers dispatched from different farms on real time updates, get data on the amount of revenue gained by the government from the exports Furthermore KEPHIS is able to trace quality control assessment data of the farms from the system and compliance which saves on time and costs incurred and in turn speed up the cool chain process.

Call for action
With technological advancement, it is indisputable that we ought to automate the processes within the farm so as to save on the costs, avoid misuse of time and enhance quality management of data. Appreciate the technological milestones that have been achieved, tested and proofed to work successfully in the flower sector by trying quality control greenlight today which is accredited. Get in touch with Muddy boots software to secure a 30 day free trial of the software in your farm.

What are the benefits of participating in an exhibition?
One of the questions that always hover our minds: why should Agrichem Africa Limited participate at the annual International Flower Trade Expo (IFTEX)?

Unlike other marketing activities, IFTEX has over the years offered a grand platform for Agrichem Africa Limited to showcase their products and services and communicate their message.

For instance, cold calling can get a bit annoying for any person who might not be in the right place to talk to you about your promotional activities. But on the other hand, IFTEX offers an opportunity for Agrichem Africa Limited to emerge and stand out at their exhibition stands and trade show booths.

Read more: Connect Face-to-Face at IFTEX

Describe the horticulture industry
Horticultural crops in Kenya include flowers, fruits, and vegetables. The horticulture sub-sector is one of the top foreign exchange earners for the country generating approximately US $ 1 billion annually. Currently the horticulture industry is the fastest growing agricultural sub-sector and is ranked third in terms of foreign exchange earnings from exports after tourism and tea. Horticultural industry has been one of the most dynamic agriculture sub-sectors over the last 10 years. This is attributed to the high demand for the products both locally and internationally. The sector is characterized by small-scale production (80%) on horticulture plots of less than a hectare, frequently subsistence in nature.

Read more: Powering on for Horticulture