True Origin MD Speaks at Launch of new UK Malawi Chamber of Commerce Scotland Chapter
Our MD Tracy Mitchell was delighted to take part in the launch of the UK Malawi Chamber of Commerce Scotland (UKMCC) Chapter in Edinburgh today. The event was hosted by the Scotland Malawi Partnership and chaired by Mr Hannington Gondwe, Chief Executive of the UKMCC.
It was an inspiring afternoon thinking about growing meaningful trade partnerships between Malawi and Scotland (and the UK more widely).
Guests heard from several distinguished speakers including; by video link the President of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera and the Minister of Trade and Industry. Vitombiko Mumba, The focus was on wealth creation, job creation and food security as part of its Vision 2063 and clearly sees trade as crucial for transformation.
Left to right: President of Malawi via video link, Chair UKMCC, Deputy Malawi High Commissioner, UKMCC Chief Executive.
The event at the City Chambers in Edinburgh was attended in person Her Excellency the Deputy High Commissioner, Justice Agnes Patemba. and the chair of UKMCC, Edgar Chibaka as well several members of the team from the Malawi High Commission.
Tracy spoke at the session on “Voices from the Frontline - Rapid Fire Insights from Entrepreneurs Operating in the Malawi Scotland Corridor” about our experiences importing the wonderful award-winning Fair Trade Kilombero Rice from Malawi since 2009. She then took part in the panel discussion,
“Malawi Means Business: Bold Investments, Big Opportunities, Real Impact.“
The focus of the panels was on exploring opportunities in green growth, investment-readiness, trade linkages between Malawi and Scotland, SME innovation, and the investor climate in Malawi. Tracy spoke about what lessons we have learned from building sustainable supply chains across borders.
In her talk Tracy shared the impact of the 90KG Rice Challenge on farmers in Malawi and talked about the deal with Central England Co-op through it’s Our Malawi Partnership initiative which has seen the rice and a variety of other products listed in all their stores across Central England. Whilst Kilombero rice is already easily available through our growing online shop, having a listing in a mainstream supermarket with stores across a whole region clearly brings the product to the attention of many many more customers.
As well as the positives of trading with Malawi she also outlined some of the challenges such as; Shipping from a landlocked country, with transport and packaging issues, competitor rice producing countries and impacts of exchange rates, Quality and UK processing costs and convincing people to try the rice.
“It is honestly very hard work. Making this work commercially is difficult. I am looking forward to learning from other people’s experiences and to understanding how the UKMCC can support us in making this supply chain sustainable over the coming years” said Tracy.
It was fantastic for True Origin to be part of such an event focussing on trade, and we look forward to seeing big benefits for both countries.
