Testimonials

If you would like to know what a PAF project is about, take a look at the testimonials of recent candidates. They are classified by region where their assignment took place. Enjoy and be inspired!

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Anne-Claire Verbeeren - Participant 2017-2018

“I developed a strong sense of entrepreneurship and an appetite for self-employment.”

Role

The goal of Anne-Claire’s project was to facilitate market access to Asia for Milcobel industrial mozzarella cheese. She explored the following countries: Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Responsibilities

Anne-Claire’s research implied numerous questions. Whether Milcobel needed to set up a sales team in the Hong Kong office or operate through local business partners, distributors or agents? Which existing or potential agents, traders and distributors to work with? What recipes and product specifications should the R&D department develop in order to meet local demand and upcoming food trends?

How she benefited

Working for Milcobel in the fastest-growing region in the world, both economically speaking and in terms of its population, allowed Anne-Claire to show her entrepreneurial capabilities. She was able to develop new markets and work with overseas distributors.

This Prince Albert Fund year gave her an opportunity to demonstrate her ability to work remotely, in another environment and business culture. Anne-Claire, who previously worked in the service sector, also notes how “important it was for her to make a move to the business side to eventually become an entrepreneur.”

The company – Milcobel

With 2,700 affiliated dairy farmer members and almost 2,000 employees, Milcobel is the largest dairy cooperative in Belgium. Its dairy farm members and employees work hard to achieve a guaranteed milk collection with the best possible milk valorization. The company has a broad product range in several markets, including milk powders, drinks, ingredient-cheeses, cream, consumer cheeses… both under its own brand name or under private label.

 

“Anne-Claire succeeded in successfully immersing herself in different Asian markets, gathering market intelligence by interacting with customers and experts in the field. She identified the key drivers of these markets, as well as trends, trade barriers and mapped the key players.”

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