In Vietnam - Benoît Trudel

The challenges of bamboo marketing
By Benoît Trudel

Benoît Trudel has just completed his posting in Vietnam in the Agriculture and Rural Development sector. This is his account of the challenges of working in marketing and entrepreneurship when one has very little familiarity with the local culture and ways of doing things. His experience was so enriching that he has accepted another posting as a Uniterra volunteer in Nepal this year.

From March 2005 to April 2006, I worked as a Marketing and Entrepreneurship Advisor to farm cooperatives in Vietnam. These latter were already the beneficiaries of an existing project: Improved Livelihoods for Mountainous Communities (ILMC). My arrival coincided with the beginning of the final year of the five-year ILMC project. My mission: supporting 10 farm cooperatives in the organization of sales and marketing. The first two weeks I spent in Vietnam were devoted to orientation and language training in Hanoi. I was glad to have this transition period, this chance to gradually integrate. On the other hand, I was anxious to get to the rural areas in the province of Thanh Hoa where I was going to work and finally find out what I was supposed to do!

At first, I felt more like a sponge than anything else: I knew nothing about the country, the history of the cooperatives, agriculture and even marketing in this foreign country. Fortunately, I had colleagues who could do a lot of the work. That gave me the chance to gradually fit in.

My baptism of fire happened when I gave a training session to enable cooperatives to present financial planning reports to their membership during meetings. The training went very well and I was very pleased. I felt that, in contrast to my previous jobs, this time I successfully integrated little by little as I gradually developed my skills, understanding of the context and capacities for intervention.

My second challenge was to conduct a bamboo processing cost analysis. Seven of our 10 cooperatives grew and sold bamboo locally. However, prices were low and didn’t generate adequate profits. The other cooperatives were engaged in oxen raising.

The project, the cooperatives and the funding agencies all counted on the introduction of bamboo processing to “create value added.” My challenge consisted therefore in identifying which type of processing would be feasible and profitable for the cooperatives. After an unsuccessful attempt to market processed bamboo for a company manufacturing wooden planks, I organized a study tour to see what else was being done with bamboo (e.g. bamboo baskets, bamboo sleeping mats, handicrafts, bread, etc.). Once the different possibilities were identified, I then sought the assistance of an outside consultant for a market research study on processing bamboo for baguettes (French stick bread) and for sleeping mats. Only a few months remained before the end of the project and it was clear that we wouldn’t be able to implement this transformation. That said, I wanted to at least identify the opportunities. The study concluded that the easiest, most profitable and feasible line of production for the cooperatives would be bamboo for baguettes.

From the outset, my work was full of major challenges—the cooperatives needed and expected results and sales. Concerning bamboo, we didn’t know which way to orient the cooperatives. Nor did we know which opportunities might be viable and profitable. At the end of the project, it was a little unsettling to be still looking for the answers. The cooperatives didn’t have much experience and were largely dependent on the project for both technical support (production, sales and marketing) and financial support.

I loved my work and, once again, I had the chance to take stock of my strengths and weaknesses. One has to be realistic in international development. We terminated the project without knowing whether the bamboo cooperatives would implement the transformation or whether the new stock-rearing model would bear fruit and whether the farmers would adopt it. My capacities proved limited, as did those of our partners and beneficiaries. The challenge is to make do and still do the best possible job. One thing is certain—this was a tremendous learning experience for me, both personally and professionally. I found my calling in international development and plan to stay in the field for several years.