Mei 2014
86
Global Key Account Summit
inSouthAfrica
O
ver 35 international key account
growers from eight different
countries gathered at the 2014
Monsanto Global Key Account
Summit in South Africa at the beginning
of March in Sun City to learn, share
experiences andnetwork.
These key account customers represent
more than 5 million ha of arable land and
over 1,3 million ha of maize production.
Countries represented included Russia, the
Ukraine, Romania, South Africa, Bulgaria,
Argentina andBrazil.
Hosted by the Monsanto South Africa
Country and Global Key Account teams,
the summit demonstrated the value of the
partnerships and business relationships
thatMonsanto is developing.
“TheKeyAccount Summit provides uswith
the opportunity to bring together some of
the largest and most complex customers
across the world for Monsanto and to
provide a forum for learning, best practice
sharing and addressing many of the most
important issues facing the agricultural
industry,” said Mr Chris LaPak, Global Key
Account Lead.
“Many of our customers are very large
corporations and their operational and
advanced agronomic practices are full-
time areas of focus for driving excellence
and optimisation and we strive to provide
a level of service and expertise to help
them and Monsanto optimise our business
relationship.”
The summit’s five-day programme focused
on the future of agriculture in Africa,
investment potential and current farming
practices. Key speakers and experts from
Monsanto and the agricultural community
inAfrica provided their perspectives on the
future of agriculture and the roleMonsanto
andproducers canplay.
ThesummitwasopenedbyDrPieterMulder
(Deputy Minister of Agriculture for South
Africa), who provided an in-depth overview
of the state of agriculture andopportunities
in South Africa. Other speakers were
Dr John Purchase (CEO of Agbiz), Mr
Jannie de Villiers (CEO of Grain SA) and
Mr Ernst Janovsky (head of the Agri-
Business Centre of Excellence at Absa
Bank). They provided overviews of the
challenges and opportunities for conduc-
ting business in South Africa as well as the
investment opportunities in greater sub-
SaharanAfrica.
Key leaders from Monsanto addressed
the company’s vision for the future
of agriculture. Mr Mike Frank (vice-
president of International Row Crops and
Vegetables) gave an update on global
trends and Monsanto’s strategy, and
Mr Jim Bowman (global marketing lead),
discussed Monsanto’s pipeline, including
many of the company’s new platforms and
the value they bring to producers, such as
microbials and precision agriculture. Other
key presentations focused on Monsanto’s
strategic vision for Africa and our global
reputation efforts.
Throughout the summit, Monsanto’s
regional and global leadership interacted
with each grower, and this provided an
excellent forum for sharing ideas and
getting feedback fromour customers.
“Based on past summits and feedback
from our key accounts, we understand the
value in connecting these customers with
key regional and global decision-makers at
Monsanto,” said LaPak.
Part of the summit included visits to
producers in South Africa and Tanzania.
Key account customers from Europe had
the opportunity to visit local farms and
businesses for a hands-on approach to
learning about agriculture inSouthAfrica.
Key account customers from Argentina
and Brazil made the trip to Tanzania to
focus on investment potential and gain a
deeper understanding of the day-to-day
realities commercial producers there face.
The groupwas hosted by the leadership of
Export Trading Group (ETG) and Charoen
Pokphand Produce Tanzania Co., including
visits to their operations. Additionally, they
had the opportunity to visit producers in
the Arusha area and meet with Mrs Juliet
Kairuki, executive director for the Tanzania
Investment Centre, who highlighted the
opportunities for commercial farming in-
vestment.
“This discussion provided answers to the
main questions our key account customers
had around land availability andownership,
labour, export potential andoverall logistics
for establishing operations in a country like
Tanzania,” saidMrsStephanieKrifka, global
customer strategymanager.
The comments of Mr Santiago Del Solar, a
farmer participant fromArgentina, summed
up the summit very well. He said, “I was
very impressed by the effort thatMonsanto
andAfricanproducers aredoing to improve
every day and to make things happen in
Africa. All the presentations were excellent
and showed a broad picture of African
challenges and opportunities as well as the
job thatMonsanto isdoingall over theworld
with researchandworkingon the reputation
of agriculture.”
We also spoke to the guest speakers at
Monsanto’s Global Key Account Summit
to gage their feelings during and after the
summit had ended.
According to Mr Kobus Steenekamp (busi-
ness manager of Monsanto South Africa),
the visitors and producers from the other
countries complimented South African
producers on their ability to embrace
technology, such as biotechnology and
precision agricultural systems and he said
that they were especially impressed by our
producers’ strategies to apply moisture
management.
According to Steenekamp it is good for the
sector that the role-players are positive.
“Jannie de Villiers can serve as an example
of someonewhowants tomakeadifference
in people’s lives and in the industry,” says
Steenekamp.
Dr John Purchase said that “it was just
another strong confirmation that South
African agriculture can only compete with
the value chains of other world regions if
we have access to top technology which
companies such as Monsanto brings to
South and Southern Africa. Also that we
RELEVANT
– creatinga favourableenvironment for international networking
MAGDADU TOIT,
corporate communicationsmanager:MonsantoSSAfrica
