Last week, CBI (The Netherlands Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries) showed a delegation of 18 Rwandan coffee producing companies, who were in the Netherlands, the way to Europe’s lucrative specialty coffee market. CBI guided these exporting organizations from Rwanda in the coffee industry towards successful business relations with European clients. The program of last week was an introduction to meet European rules and regulations and take steps to get certification to become a successful exporter to European markets. The program in the Netherlands is part of the 4 year program and has the goal to develop a high value, sustainable specialty coffee export sector in Rwanda that can do independently business in EU markets. What is CBI's role in this project?

• 4 year company + sector coaching by different international and local coffee specialists;

• Training and coaching on:
• A. EU market segments, market developments and EU legal and buyer requirements;
• B. Your product readiness, market proposition and your supporting internal processes;
• C. Quality and cupping to recognize specialty coffee;
• D. Market entry preparation, participation and follow-up.

• Assistance in what certification is suitable to your market entry strategy and coaching to obtain the certification you need;

• Assistance with CSR implementation;

• Invitations to join in the CBI Rwanda booth at different international trade fairs in 2021 and 2022;

• An Export Market Awareness Mission to the European market early in the program. Special attention will be paid to the following subjects in the Rwanda coffee sector: youth em-ployment, gender equality, climate change, efficient and effective multi-crop farm management and block chain. The Rwandan participants have been selected based on the following criteria:

• A pro-active and flexible attitude;

• Commitment to the activities and external coaching for 4 years;

• Commitment and sufficient time investment to the tailor made action plan for the company; Ambition and motivation to take the next step with the company;

• Willingness and ability to invest in the company and in international market entry;

• Commitment to share on a yearly basis the EU export growth and employment growth. About CBI The Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI) is part of the Nether-lands Enterprise Agency and is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and contributes to sustainable and inclusive economic development in developing countries through the expan-sion of exports from these countries.