No Longer an Academic Topic

Nearly six years ago I presented a paper (entitled "Stimulating Exports, Reducing Poverty") at a mango agribusiness seminar, where I publicized for the first time analysis that justified a new rural-based industry of dried mango producers.  (See the attached photo.)  I figured that I could simply put the idea in front of Indonesian businessmen, along with data and analysis, and they would create the technologies and solve the marketing problems.  It didn't happen.

At the time, a number of thoughts poured through my head, including:  "Is there no one who is both willing and able to develop dehydrators for village enterprises?" Someone had to learn how to do it and then teach others to do it sustainably.  Eventually, I accepted the fact that it had to be the man who I saw in the mirror.  As the title of my paper suggested, I believed (and still do believe) that exports can address chronic community-wide poverty.

For years we researched, designed, refined, adapted and deployed technologies that were utilized by people in the village.  When they started producing a high-quality, consistent product, I assumed that exporters could easily include dried mangos from Indonesia into their marketing plans.  It didn't happen.

Not too long ago I mulled over another thought: "Is there no one who is both willing and able to market dried mangos in the US?"  The man in the mirror showed up again.  The time has come for me to champion the high-quality products made in the village.  For their part, village residents I know rarely permit themselves to dream about a future in which their products are purchased in the U.S.  When they do, they regard it as an extraordinary blessing from Allah.

The Boaz Project aims to perpetuate and expand this sense of "rahmat Allah" (blessing from God).  By successfully exporting dried mangos to the US, we can offer hope of a sort that has spiritual implications.  Our first shipment of dried mangos is on the way right now to a warehouse in Iowa, where I will base my marketing operations.  The next step: develop multiple channels for the marketing and distribution of 2800 packages of dried mango!

What began six years ago as an academic topic for a paper has developed into an effort to grow an industry so that hundreds of families can export hundreds of thousands of packages of dried mangos!

Please comment if you have any ideas about marketing!

Mango Agribusiness Seminar, November 2006