We are going to test it and see what we can make of it! We are planning to offer this product to institutional kitchens and restaurants. This product might bring us some new revenue", Nygren says.
The fish has been caught in the Namibian waters. Third generation fishmonger Valtteri Nygren took part in a trip to Namibia last spring. The trip took him to some Namibian fisheries.
- The Namibian fisheries are on a par to any European fisheries. They have the capacity to pack their products according to our wishes.
Nygren’s company Kalaherkut Nygren aims at reducing the number of middlemen. Foreign fish usually has a multi-stage distribution chain. Fish caught in Africa travels to Finland via Spain, Holland and Stockholm.
- The money ends up in somebody else’s pockets – it does not benefit the local people. If our project materialises, we are going to buy the fish from local manufacturers. Finland imports fish products from the Indian Ocean and other faraway places. It is important to pay attention to who benefits from these transactions.
Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb published Finland’s Africa strategy last week. Finland has to become more active because Africa is an emerging market.
Meat and uranium
The Tampere region has a tradition of cooperating with Africa. When Namibia gained independence in 1990, the young nation needed help to unite the black and white industry and commerce. The Tampere Chamber of Commerce sent people to Namibia to inform about the industry and commerce organizations, and the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry was established.
The time was, however, not right for promoting trade.
Trade is now one of the cooperation instruments included in the North-South Local Government Cooperation Programme. Importing fish from Namibia is one example of this cooperation. Representatives of the electricity company Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) have also visited Namibia. TVO is interested in the Namibian uranium. Other areas of cooperation that the North-South programme focuses on include: strengthening the activities of the local chamber of commerce, improving the working environment of the local companies and increasing the cooperation between different companies.
According to Timo Palander, Development Director of the municipality of Lempäälä, meat processing in Namibia is becoming the most important part of the cooperation. Plans have been made to establish an expertise centre in Namibia in collaboration with the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK) and the Finnish Meat Trade Association.
Namibian companies are going to get business mentors from Finland. Senior Consultant Eva Hänninen-Salmelin says that the Women’s Bank and microloan programmes are also among the planned forms of cooperation.
- We explain how the Women’s Bank works in Finland. We are offering the concept to Namibians. Our goal is to establish a fund and activities in Namibia.
Namibians have also expressed interest in Ensimetri, the professional training & coaching service offering counselling in starting new businesses. Ensimetri may become a product for export.
The most organic meat in the world (by Sami Suojanen, Aamulehti, February 15 2010)
Trading Director Jarmo Hautakoski from PNM-Pan Nordic Meat praises the Namibian beef.
- It is tender and very tasty. It is exactly what beef should taste like, Hautakoski enthuses.
Hautakoski compares the situation of African beef to the period when Brazil started exporting its beef.
- In 1995, Brazil was considered as an exotic country to import beef from. South American beef was first sold to passenger ferries, then to restaurants, and since 2005 it finally made a breakthrough in retail trade.
Hautakoski does not think that Namibian beef would take as long to win the consumers’ trust. Finns are now used to imported beef, and the great benefit of the Namibian beef is that it is organic.
- The cattle in Namibia graze freely, and they are not taken to any feeding centres before the slaughtering.
This increases the price of the meat, however. Last year, the best parts of Namibian beef were around 10% more expensive than Brazilian beef. PNM-Pan Nordic Meat has imported small quantities of Namibian beef to Finland. It is sold at certain grocery stores, but it has not been marketed as a campaign product yet.
- First we need a few restaurants to start using Namibian beef. That is how the demand will increase.
Norway imports quite a lot of Namibian beef due to the fact that Norway has a high quota for Namibian products.
Fact file - North-South Local Government Cooperation Programme
• Cooperation programme involving Kangasala and Lempäälä from Finland and Ondangwa and Keetmanshoop from Namibia.
• Supported by the MFA.
• Focuses on: Democracy, economic development policy, water supply, waste management.
• Exchange programme between the Tampere University of Applied Sciences and the Polytechnic of Namibia.
