Vincy Fresh represented at food buyers executive forum

Vincyfresh Ltd, the agro processing company which is a joint venture between Winfresh (60 per cent) and National Properties Ltd (40 per cent), attended a Food Buyers Executive Forum in Georgetown, Guyana, on 24 February, 2014.{{more}}

The Food Buyers Forum was the initiative of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), in collaboration with CARDI and CARICOM. The initiative was designed to bring together all major stakeholders among the hotels, supermarkets, agro-processors, catering services and exporters in the Caribbean food industry, in order to improve market linkages, with the aim of contributing to agricultural enterprise development within the CARIFORUM region, against the backdrop of the region’s food bill, which now stands at over US$ 5 billion and rising.

Presentations were made by Robert Reid, international specialist in Agribusiness, IICA; Dr Derrick Deslandes, unit head, Marketing, International Business, Strategy and Entrepreneurship, UWI; Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture Dr Leslie Ramsammy, and the EU ambassador to Guyana and CARICOM.

The speakers touched on topics ranging from current trends and best practices in the global and Caribbean food markets; financing schemes to support the development of commodity value chains; domestic, regional market information and intelligence systems; improving marketing, entrepreneurial and organizational capacities; HACCP compliance; the need for greater cooperation and collaborative efforts; changing lifestyles and demands; and untapped opportunities in agriculture.

Representatives of Vincyfresh and Sunfresh, both subsidiary companies of Winfresh, attended the forum at the invitation of Winfresh. They had the opportunity to display some of their products, which are marketed under the Winfresh brand. There was also a tasting session and everyone was impressed with presentation, range and quality of the Vincyfresh products. They also took the opportunity to network and establish links with other participants, particularly with the supermarket buyers, who came from all over the region.