Profound

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ProFound specialise in Sustainable Sourcing and Marketing of Agro-biodiverse Products and Natural Ingredients

Get to know ProFound’s current exporters and their products on this page and find your next sustainable source! 

You can order samples of these products through 1-2-Taste, by selecting the sample below.

Click here to know more about ProFound’s work on creating economic opportunities while protecting biodiversity

ProFound – Advisers In Development is a consultancy company. They are experts in developing sustainable value chains for natural ingredients for food, cosmetics, and health. They support sustainable sourcing and link natural ingredients producers to the market.

Power Maw Shan – Green Tea

About Power Maw Shan

Power Maw Shan is a tea-trading family business, that has been on the market since 1964. They source from the Southern Shan State, an area in Myanmar known for growing high-quality tea, where cultivation has taken place for more than a century. Most of the farmers still work with traditional handmade processing and hand-picking methods, which are the perfect basis for sustainable production.

About Power Maw Shan Green Tea

Maw Shan works closely with farmers from 13 different villages, providing them with training on sustainable cultivation, handpicking, and pruning. Most of their tea bushes are more than 60 years old, and all their teas are handpicked. Their plantations are at an elevation of more than 1,300 metres and their processing meets the standards of high-grade quality tea. They focus both on quality and maintaining a strong relationship with smallholder farmers. 

Certificates

Maw Shan is one of the first organic certified tea companies in the Southern Shan state and also one of the first suppliers of organic tea to Germany. They are a founding member of the Myanmar Tea Association. They are certified ISO 9001 for Quality Management and an award winner of the Outstanding Quality Awards, National MSME Award.

In 2018 they became Myanmar’s first EU Organic certified supplier and started exporting organic tea to Germany. In 2019 Maw Shan became the first fair trade company in Myanmar certified by EcoCert Fair For Life.

Phongsaly Green Tea Factory – Green and Red Tea from Laos

From Phongsaly, The Land of  Natural and Ancient Tea

About Phongsaly Green Tea Factory

Phongsaly Green Tea Factory was established in 2007 and is one of the biggest tea processing factories in Laos. The Factory is located in the Phongsaly province which is in the northern-most part of Laos.  90.9% of the area is of high mountainous topography. The factory is in the highly productive tea growing area of the country with an average elevation of 1,183.5 m and average temperatures of between 14.6 °C and 23.2 °C.

About Phongsaly Green Tea Factory Tea

Customers love the high-quality tea products and taste from Phongsaly. Many of the tea trees in Phongsaly are over 400 years old making the tea even more unique.

Certificates

Customers can recognise Phongsaly tea as a good quality tea of Laos from its uniquely rich and sweet taste. Moreover, their tea products have been certified by the international control body – ECOCERT as EU Organic and Fair for Life, and also registered as the National One District One Product of the country (ODOP).

Somnuek Laothang Tea Factory – Green and Red Tea from Laos

About Somnuek Laothang Tea Factory

The Somnuek Laothang Tea Factory was established in 2014. The factory has been closely working with more than 150 tea farming families in several villages in the Phongsaly Province in the far north of Laos. Phongsaly tea usually grows on trees in the mountainous hinterlands that are around 1,200 to 1,600 metres high. The tea leaves are picked at high altitudes which leads to excellent quality tea leaves.

About Somnuek Laothang Tea Factory Tea

Their focus is mainly on the selection of high-quality tea leaves through tea grading and standard processing in order to give customers high-quality tea from Phongsaly and Laos.

The tea products from the Factory are made from processed tea harvested from 400-year-old ancient tea trees in Phongsaly province. The tea trees have a smooth, unique taste.

Certificates

Their tea products have been internationally certified by ECOCERT as EU Organic and Fair for Life standard since 2018, and GMP by Lao FBB. Their products have also been registered as the National One District One Product of Laos (ODOP)

Green Acres Cassava Flour from Ghana

Green Acres Farms is a farmers’ cooperative that has been running for 10 years. The cooperative includes the local farmers as partners in the organisation. Green Acres collaborates with government bodies and individuals to empower and enrich the lives of local communities. The company is committed to local development with three main objectives:
1. To improve the income of small scale farmers through direct employment and livelihood interventions.
2. To create market linkages for farmers so they can their produce at fair prices.
3. To train farmers on improved methods of cassava processing to enable them to add value to their produce and access export markets.

Green Acres has more than 6 years of experience in cultivating, processing, and marketing cassava products. Their other products include Gari, high-quality Cassava flour, dry Cassava chips, and industrial starch. Green Acres is located in the South Tongu District, Hikpo, off Dabala junction, in the Volta Region of Ghana. It contracts out-growers, providing them with planting material and training as well as some processing facilities and warehouses. The company sells locally and exports. Green Acres have previously exported cassava products (gari/cassava flakes) to the UK.

Certificates

Organic

Elpis Distribution International

Elpis Distribution International is a Burkina Faso company that specialises in the country’s traditional and processed products. It works with several women’s associations both in Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. The company wants to contribute to the development of the country by offering high-quality healthy products that are available to all companies. It also contributes to poverty reduction by focusing on employing women. Elpis has two main objectives. First, to give small producers an opportunity by connecting them with buyers who offer more attractive terms of sale. Second, to form alliances so that the associations can increase their production capacity. For the supply of organic sesame, the company works with the GIE BIOPROTECT B. This group consists of 2171 certified organic sesame producers with several production areas in Burkina Faso. GIE BIOPROTECT B benefits from the technical support of ARFA. Most of their sesame is currently exported to France.

Certificates
Elpis sesame seeds are certified organic by ECOCERT.

High Basin and Cascade Shea Butter Producers Network (RPBHC)

The High Basin and Cascade Shea Butter Producers Network (RPBHC) in Burkina Faso is a charity that was created in July 2008. It now has more than 14,000 individual members (96% women and 54% young people) federated around 344 basic cooperatives. It aims to promote the economic, social, and cultural empowerment of women and young people through the promotion of high value-added sectors, focusing on the shea sector. It has preserved its development policy around an integrated and sustainable business model that takes into account the three components of sustainable development (economic, socio-community and environmental). RPBHC currently employs more than 200 employees, 74% of which are women and 79% young people. To ensure the sustainability of the shea resource and with the support of their technical partners, RPBHC is developing a series of management and environmental protection activities:
1. Sanitary pruning, they have already pruned over 1200 trees.
2. Grafts, more than 810 shea trees have been grafted.
3. The establishment of shea nurseries, they have more than 42,000 plants in nurseries.
4. Assisted natural regeneration, they have more than 400 assisted plants.

Certificates
1. Natural Organic Program (NOP) for the US market
2. European Union (EU) for the European market and AB for the French market
3. Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS) for the Asian market

Fair for Life
1. Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) standard in 2020
2. Certified by ABNORM under the NBF label

MARKET ANALYSIS

ProFound delivers complete and up-to-date research on the agricultural and natural ingredients sectors. They turn these findings into actions and recommendations. To head towards successful market entry and sector development, their studies are always tailor-made, reader-friendly, and ready-to-use.

COMPLIANCE

To access new markets, suppliers need to meet the requirements of those markets and business partners. Buyers expect safe, traceable, sustainable, and well-documented products. To meet these expectations, compliance is vital. ProFound assists companies and supports organisations to develop products and production processes that are compliant with market requirements.

MARKET ENTRY

Suppliers in emerging countries face challenges in international market access. ProFound helps businesses and organisations to develop and implement market entry strategies.  They tailor their work to the client’s ambitions, specific objectives, and export experience and capacities. They also help companies to find their best match in local, regional, or international markets.

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