November 2023 : Jean-Baptiste's mission to Algeria from November 27 to December 10, 2023
Proposing a marketing plan for a toy manufacturing SME in Algeria
As part of an agreement with PUM (Netherlands Association for the Transfer of Voluntary Skills, like AVe), AVe expert Jean-Baptiste spent two weeks in Algeria. His objective was to propose a marketing plan to a toy manufacturing SME located in Ghardaïa, the country's last city before the immense Saharan desert just to the south.
The company has been experiencing difficult times for some time now, with sales at half-mast due to falling consumer purchasing power and fierce competition from China and Turkey in particular.
The task at hand was to diagnose the situation and propose the right remedies, and to do this, the absolute necessity of meeting the various intermediaries between the manufacturer and the end customer was vital to understanding, analyzing and proposing solutions.
Intense, yes, truly intense was this mission, for as soon as we got off the plane from Paris, the first visit began, and a few hours before we got back on the plane for the return trip to Lyon, a final visit took place. 3000 km were covered by van across the whole country : Ghardaïa, El Guerrera, Sétif, Constantine, Oran, Algiers with up to 4 visits per day of at least one hour per visit.
In the evening, before going into town for dinner, the customer and Jean Baptiste would meet side by side to summarize what had been grasped during these fruitful visits, and come up with ideas on what needed to be done to counteract the company's weaknesses.
Throughout the stay, the mission report took shape, drafted by Jean Baptiste and validated by the customer. On the last day, a proposed action plan was drawn up, well adapted to the company, and the report was completed: complete and signed by both parties.
This stay enabled me to discover a large part of this great and beautiful country, notably the Ghardaïa palm grove, the Santa Cruz fort in Oran and the suspension bridge in Constantine...
Last but not least, through this expertise, a true partnership has been forged between the customer and the association, extending into a real friendship between the two people to such an extent that, in addition to the remote follow-up of the customer, a second mission could take place in 2024 to measure the effects of the actions undertaken.
A fabulous adventure...!
Jean-Baptiste, AVe expert