POMORETE has its eye on Africa. Preliminary contacts launched for the production of Piacenza tomato concentrate in Zambia.

At the head office of Confapi Industria Piacenza, a meeting has been held between the Pomorete Enterprise Network and the British Company, Asili Processing Limited. The international project includes the planning and setting up of tomato farms and a factory in Zambia for the production of tomato concentrate.

(PIACENZA, 9 June 2016) Pomorete is preparing to embark upon a new African adventure. At the head office of Confapi Industria Piacenza, a meeting was held between the “Pomorete Enterprise Network” and the British Company, Asili Processing Limited. The international project includes the planning and setting up of tomato farms and a factory in Zambia for the production of tomato concentrate.

The agreement reached follows the recent approval by the Zambian Development Agency of an Investment Licence which will be granted to Asili if the project becomes operational. In June a delegation composed of technicians from three companies of Pomorete (the first Italian tomato supply chain), all members of Confapi Industria, will travel to Zambia to check out the feasibility of the project; the mission will be directed by Massimo Boscolo (Masterdelta) while Luciano Cavozzi (Asi) will be responsible for direct contact with the British company. The experiment will be carried out on approx. 3 hectares of fields and is scheduled to kick off in Autumn 2016.

«Confapi Industria was the first association from Piacenza to place its faith in the network even when it was not yet a collective resource» explained the provincial president of Confapindustria Piacenza, Cristian Camisa. «Now more than ever – continues Camisa – enterprise networks play a strategic part in the global market which demands integrated supply chain projects with a package of competitive know-how. After the initial phase of the Pomorete launch during Expo 2015 and the various project proposals received, the decision was reached to analyse the one with the greatest potential in a country such as Zambia and in a continent such as Africa where a supply chain of this type can provide a high level of added value. After this first mission we would be proud to be able to announce the first network project exported from Piacenza».

Its social role is of particular importance: the British company is, in fact, a “social impact company” which develops products and services that contribute to guaranteeing a sustainable future and social equity to small African farmers. This is the common line of action on which Pomorete itself is also focusing.

The project developed from the contacts made by the “Vivaio Giovani” group of Pomorete in Milan, at Expo 2015; these young people had contacted approx. 40 foreign delegations, creating the bases for the current important trade developments for the individual enterprises.

So Pomorete is continuing the work commenced at Expo 2015 concentrating on the internationalisation that led to the implementation of this project which could become a model for further developments on the African continent. The British company was impressed by the know-how of the 17 member companies of the network and by the keen collaborative synergy driving them.
The project will be developed in three phases: feasibility study, business plan (it is expected to be operational for the season of 2017/2018) and project development, followed by the creation of the tomato fields and the building of the factory.