Trade · Markets · West Africa
A regional agribusiness was struggling to move from opportunistic exports to a reliable multi-market route into the UK and Europe. Bramers helped leadership clarify target corridors, align partners across the value chain, and design a phased export plan that could be executed with existing teams and capital.
The client was a family-owned agribusiness based in West Africa, supplying regional wholesalers with packaged food products. Demand from diaspora communities in the UK and Europe was growing, but export volumes remained irregular and dependent on one-off distributor relationships. Internally, there was no shared view on which routes to prioritise, how much risk to take on logistics, or how to negotiate with potential partners.
Bramers was asked to help the Group CEO and Board move from “testing the waters” to a clearly defined route-to-market strategy for exports to the UK and Europe. The brief covered market prioritisation, partner models, basic financial viability, and a practical roadmap that could be implemented within 12–18 months without over-extending the organisation.
The Board agreed on a single priority corridor and a hybrid partner model, rather than spreading effort across multiple markets. The client exited two low-margin distributor relationships and focused investment on one strategic partner with shared incentives. Within the first export season under the new model, shipped volumes increased by 40%, lead times became more predictable, and internal accountability for export performance was clarified across commercial and operations teams.
The work confirmed that the client did not need a complex “global strategy” to unlock export growth. What they needed was a disciplined way to choose one corridor, one partner model and one internal owner – then learn and adapt. Similar mid-sized businesses can benefit from treating cross-border growth as a series of disciplined experiments rather than a single big bet.