While Agri-Africa's associates also operate independently in their own right, the wide field of disciplines represented by Agri-Africa's associates and its core members places Agri-Africa in a unique position to put together a team of experts to cater for specific project requirements.
With the passage of time, the demands placed on consulting assignments keep on changing, becoming both wider and deeper. Agri-Africa intends to keep abreast of these changes by bringing on board additional associates as demanded by the market.
NICK VINK (UNIVERSITY OF STELLENBOSCH)
Nick has been Chair of the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Stellenbosch since 1996. He also manages the Agrifutura Project, whose purpose is to implement and manage research into the Western Cape agricultural and agribusiness sectors in collaboration with the Western Cape Department of Agriculture and others. His work experience includes 11 years as a policy analyst and policy manager at the Development Bank of Southern Africa, and lecturing and research at the Universities of the North and Pretoria.
Nick has extensive experience in a wide range of national and provincial policy issues relating to agriculture. He has served on numerous formal commissions and committees of inquiry, including the Strauss Commission on the provision of rural financial services, the Kassier Committee on deregulation of agriculture, and the Katz Commission sub-committee on agricultural land taxes. His current research is focussed on agricultural trade issues in Southern Africa (he has done work on this for the World Bank, SADC, the National Department of Agriculture and the Trade and Industry Policy Secretariat) and on land reform and transformation processes in South African agriculture.
Nick is a graduate of the University of Stellenbosch, where he obtained his PhD in 1986. He has published extensively in peer reviewed journals, was past editor of Development Southern Africa, and is currently the Editor of Agrekon, the Journal of the Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa. He has consulted widely in South and Southern Africa.
JOHANN KIRSTEN (UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA)
Johann graduated with a BSc Agric Hons (Agricultural Economics) degree from the University of Stellenbosch before joining the Department of Agriculture in Pretoria. While in Pretoria, he completed his MSc Agric (cum laude) and then spent 2 years in London as South Africa's agricultural attaché. He returned to South Africa in 1992 when he joined the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Pretoria as lecturer. He completed his PhD in 1994 and in 1996 was appointed Professor and head of the Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development at the University of Pretoria.
Johann has published 86 articles in peer reviewed journals as author and co-author and also co-edited 4 books. A total of 29 Masters students and 13 PhD students completed their studies under his supervision. His main research interests relate the commercialisation of farming in poor communities, land reform, and agricultural policy in general. Recently, his research focus shifted to aspects related to price transmission and the role of market power in supply chains. He is currently appointed as a part-time council member of the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) and has been involved in many policy processes for the government. He is also serving as the Vice-President of the International Association of Agricultural Economists for the period 2006 - 2009.
JOHAN VAN ROOYEN (UNIVERSITY OF STELLENBOSCH)
Johan is an agricultural economist and holds an Hons. BSc Agric degree from the University of Stellenbosch and an MSc Agric and PhD from the University of Pretoria. He also obtained a post graduate management diploma from the Institute of Management Development (IMD), Lausanne and is currently a member on the Expert Panel of the World Competitiveness Report.
He started his professional career as a lecturer at the University of Fort Hare, then moved to Stellenbosch before joining the Development Bank of Southern Africa as a member of the executive team. In the early 1990s he was appointed as professor in agribusiness at the University of Pretoria with, inter alia, the responsibility to establish the Post Graduate School for Agricultural and Rural Development.
Whilst retaining the chair in agribusiness in a part-time capacity, Johan successively held the position of chief executive officer of the South African Agribusiness Chamber and the South African Wine Industry Council until the expiration of his tenure in 2008. He has since become a member of staff of the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Stellenbosch.
His career path afforded him real life opportunities to inter alia design unique value/ business propositions and organisational structures; to "roll out" strategies; to deal with change management and transformation; and to participate in wide reaching networks in agribusiness and agricultural development. Throughout this time period, direct involvement with various local and international academic institutions enabled him to participate in numerous research programmes and scientific investigations. Topics included competitiveness studies, impact analyses, strategic management and policy development. Johan also participated as consultant in agribusiness strategic planning sessions, often as facilitator as well as in management assignments.
PETER JACOBUSEN (DYNAMIC RESEARCH)
Peter was born in Cape Town where he went to school and college after which he entered the field of factory management training with one of the major food companies. After spending more than 20 years in this field, Peter put his extensive management and training experience to good use through a new career orientation which involved troubleshooting rundown factories and turning them around into financially viable entities.
Through his personal and business contacts and whilst looking for a new challenge, Peter became interested in market research and the survey logistics attached to such research. He now heads a division of a family business (Dynamic Research), undertaking surveys for market and socio-economic research, the latter often in remote and difficult places.
Dynamic Research is a registered service vendor for socio-economic and market research with The World Bank, FinMark Trust, ComMark Trust, Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), University of Pretoria (Department of Nutrition), Vodacom SA, National Gambling Board and the University of South Africa (UNISA).
The Research Division concentrates on qualitative and quantitative research encompassing: agricultural field studies; market research and market segmentation; socio economic studies and analysis (including focus groups and satisfaction surveys) and feasibility studies and surveys.
The Business Management Advisory Services Division has at its call a team of field workers in most provinces. The policy is to train local people for field work when doing socio economic work in outlying areas which helps with job creation and brings income into their households.
DEWALD PRETORIUS (AFRILEMA)
Dewald has almost four decades of experience behind him in a wide range of subjects around general management and consultancy in agriculture as well as in business/industry. He also has 12 years of farming experience and 10 years of management in industry. He holds a B.Tech and M.Ent-Dev degree in agriculture and his PhD thesis on Land Reform - An Agricultural Perspective on its Successes, Failures, Solutions is currently under final evaluation.
Dewald founded Afrilema, a firm which has brought together a multi-disciplinary team with many years of experience in the management of agricultural projects throughout Africa. The team's extensive contacts have given the firm access to local expertise across the continent enabling the formation of strategic partnerships in all areas of agricultural development, from early feasibility through to production, processing and logistics. Members of the Afrilema team have developed a number of agricultural projects in Southern Africa including commercial farming, bio-energy and land reform projects, all involving feasibility assessments and quantitative and qualitative surveys. The group has acted for governments, commercial stakeholders and investors. The scope of work has ranged from early conceptualisation, technical feasibility to operational management.
Apart from his South African activities, Dewald has also had business exposure in the USA, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa.
MIKE DE KLERK
Mike has a B.Com, B.A. Hons with majors in Economics and Mathematics and an M.A. (Economics) (with distinction) from the University of Cape Town. After an initial period in commerce, he lectured on Business Economics at the University of the Witwatersrand (1974-78) and then on Economics at the University of Cape Town (1979-1998). His consultancies as a lecturer focused on land reform, agriculture and rural development and included work for the Urban Foundation, the Institute for a Democratic Alternative in SA (IDASA), The World Bank, the (British) Overseas Development Agency, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the Departments of Labour and Trade and Industry.
Subsequent positions included General Manager: Research and Development at the Land Bank (1998-2001), Executive Director: Integrated Rural and Regional Development at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) (2001-2005), Chief Operating Officer of the HSRC (2005-2008) and then a period at two NGOs – the ComMark Trust and Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) (2008-2010) – where his main responsibility was to manage the flagship Eastern Cape Red Meat Project, before returning briefly to the parastatal world at the National Agricultural Marketing Council in 2010. These positions involved working for and with a wide range of South African, regional and international partners in the public and private sectors. He is presently an independent professional consultant.
While a common thread throughout his career has been his passion for agriculture and rural development, his experience includes leading and managing the ‘back office’ functions of a large research organisation, building research and product development teams, developing innovative development banking products, setting up market intelligence gathering systems, managing projects and numerous other activities. His ability to think and plan strategically has been complemented by his keenness to be involved in projects that deliver development on the ground. He is intensely committed to the vision of a Southern African renaissance involving economic participation and equity for all.
Chris has been involved in the Southern Africa agriculture sector for the past 20 years.
He started his career with the
Mhulme Sugar Company, a Commonwealth Development Company (CDC) in Swaziland, where he was involved in sugar production, managing the company’s relationship with out-growers and budgeting for this 5 500 ha operation. He left after three years to start his own company.
Until recently, Chris co-owned and managed a medium sized soft fruit (berry) business in the Southern Cape (Well-Pict). Chris built this company from scratch and it became the largest exporter of strawberries to the UK retail market and a significant supplier to the South African domestic retail market. Amongst others, he built the company’s financial, personnel and administrative systems and, more importantly, established ownership of key plant intellectual property rights.
Chris has played competitive tennis and rugby. He now participates in triathlons, plays golf and surfs (not very well though). He is married with three teenager children and is well travelled.
Chris’ skills lie primarily in start-ups and the commercial aspects of running a profitable agri-sector company. He has an extensive network, particularly in the fresh produce community; a thorough understanding of the complexities of soft fruit (berry) production, supplying the retail trade (both in South Africa and Europe) and good inter-personal skills.
Chris was Chairman of the Strawberry Growers’ Association and the Moerass Rivier Irrigation Board.
Steve is now based in Cape Town, South Africa and consulting into Africa after spending the past 26 years living on various agri-business operations in East and Southern Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi and Swaziland. He has held various executive positions with British and American multi-national companies including Commonwealth Development Corporation, Lonrho and Camellia Plc. During the years working with Outgrower programmes has always been a priority.
With his financial expertise he has been involved in numerous mergers and acquisitions as well as change management projects. His speciality is design and implementation of systems and controls to ensure the long term success of the operations.
Apart from citrus, avocados, pineapples, pecans and macadamia he also has worked with the sugar, maize, tobacco, tea, jatropha, rice and coffee industries.
TERANCE FIFE
Terance Fife completed his Diploma in Labour Studies at Ruskin College in Oxford, and achieved a Master’s Degree in Comparative Labour Studies at Warwick University.
He has worked as a researcher for the South African Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) at the University of Cape Town. He joined the Centre for Rural Legal Studies (CRLS) in Stellenbosch in 1994 as a researcher investigating the role of rural local government in the delivery of services and governance to farming communities. He then moved to the national Department of Land Affairs as head of Land Reform in the Western Cape. He was also the CEO of the Cape Agency for Sustainable Integrated Development in Rural Areas (Casidra), a public entity focused on enterprise development, land reform services and rural development.
He has worked in the Land Reform and Rural Development arena for more that fifteen years and is well acquainted with government programmes. He has strong networks in the land and rural development field, has acted as facilitator and mediator at a project level, has had extensive experience in project service alignment; and possesses a good understanding of corporate governance in the private and public sector.
MALLIK A-AS-SAQUI
Mr Mallik
A-As-Saqui is an Agronomist by
profession and holds an M.Sc (Agric.) degree in agronomy from the Bangladesh
Agricultural University which he obtained in 1970. He also obtained a Post-Graduate
Specialisation Certificate in Rural Development from the International Centre
for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies, Bari, Italy. In addition, he also
received international training on agribusiness development and crop production
technologies in Denmark and Nigeria respectively. He published 27 scientific
publications in reputed journals and has participated in 47 international seminars
and workshops in 35 countries.
Mr Saqui
started his career as an Agricultural Officer in the Extension and Management
Department of the Government of Bangladesh in 1970. Later, he started working
internationally as an agronomist / agricultural advisor with the Governments of
Mozambique, Liberia and The Gambia. He also worked with Bari State University,
Bari, Italy. He has 40 years of working
experience in diverse areas of agriculture , agribusiness and rural
development. He is fluent in English, Italian and Portuguese. Pesently, he
is working as an agriculture specialist with an ADB / IFAD funded project on
Water Management in Bangladesh.
Mr. Saqui has
experience working with donor funded
projects( USAID, FAO, CIDA, IITA, SIDA, ADB, IFAD), NGO,s and private sector
organisations.
