Africa Business Conference
2101 HBS Student Mail Center
Boston, MA 02163

© 2008 ICG Link, Inc.

Agribusiness: Africa as the World's next Breadbasket

Moderator: Ray Goldberg
Coordinator: Dominique Baillet

	Jim Thaller Managing Director, Talier Trading Group Jim Thaller is the Managing Director of Talier Trading Group; a specialty food development company based in West New York, NJ (USA). For more than fifteen years, Mr. Thaller has been developing products and market linkages for international food producing companies, with a special focus on Africa. At Talier Trading Group, Mr. Thaller has been responsible for spearheading a variety of programs in emerging markets, and is well-known for designing and implementing the African specialty foods program in the United States and Europe. Mr. Thaller’s efforts in developing the entire value chain in Africa, creating jobs, market linkages and sustainable incubation, have led to the market-driven success of African agribusiness and specialty food development. He is a much sought-after speaker on African agribusiness development, and as a consultant for implementing agribusiness development initiatives. Mr. Thaller holds a bachelor’s degree and sits on the boards of several food companies and international organizations.

	Katie King Engagement Manager, McKinsey & Company Katie King is an Engagement Manager in the Chicago office of McKinsey & Company. Katieis also a leader in McKinsey’s Agribusiness Practice and Social Sector Practice. Her engagement experience has included: · Creating frontline change strategy for Ethiopian government to improve extension system, which included 60,000 agricultural extension agents. · Developing an end-to-end strategy to increase soy productivity, yield, and processing in Sub Saharan Africa though private sector demand sinks, improved infrastructure, and farmer education/credit access. · Developing strategy for biotechnology to prioritize investments in research to develop seed traits to increase yield, improve nutrition, or increase disease/pest resistance · Researching potential for agriculture to reduce poverty in developing countries; created a model to measure potential hunger and poverty reduction from crop improvement strategies; resulted in Gates Foundation commitment to agriculture as a strategic priority Katie has a Masters in Public Policy from University of Chicago, specializing in international economic development and a bachelors degree in Honors Political Science and Spanish from Kenyon College

	Hans-Willem van der Waal Managing Director, AgroFair Europe Hans-Willem van der Waal studied chemical engineering and business management at universities in the Netherlands and South Africa. After several years in East-Africa promoting entrepreneurship, he was an organization consultant in the Netherlands. He then joined a mango farmer’s union in Burkina Faso as a business advisor, later becoming general manager of mango export company Fruiteq. Two years ago he joined Fairtrade banana and tropical fruit marketer AgroFair Europe, first as Manager of the Sourcing Department, and since July 2008 as acting Managing Director.

	Babatunde Omilola Senior Researcher, International Food Policy Research Institute Babatunde Omilola joined IFPRI in April 2008 as the Coordinator of the Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS), a large inter-Center initiative established to support the implementation of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP) of the African Union/New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD). Prior to joining IFPRI, Dr. Omilola worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) where he handled the FAO relationship with the African Union Commission (AU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He previously worked with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) as part of a collaborative programme between NEPAD, African Development Bank (AfDB), IWMI, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), FAO and the World Bank. He has also worked with the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London; the Projects Coordinating Unit, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Abuja, Nigeria; and the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. He has carried out capacity-building assignments with the Ford Foundation International Leadership Institute for Social Justice on environment, health, education, governance, and the intersection between global poverty and international development. He has a very broad outlook with varying degrees of knowledge in a range of development issues such as poverty, food security, agriculture and rural development. Babatunde holds both MPhil and DPhil degrees from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, United Kingdom where he studied as a Ford Foundation International Fellow; a Seed Corn Research Scholar of the University of Sussex; a Doctoral Research Fellow of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) as well as an International Graduate Research Awardee of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. He also received a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria, where he served as the President of the University’s Students’ Union Government.

	Ray Goldberg - Moderator George M. Moffett Professor of Agriculture Emeritus, Harvard Business School A native of North Dakota, Dr. Goldberg received his A.B. from Harvard University in 1948, his MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1950 and his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Minnesota in 1952. Together with John H. Davis he developed the Agribusiness Program at Harvard Business School in 1955. From 1970 to 1997 he was the Moffett Professor of Agriculture and Business and head of the Agribusiness Program. Since July 1, 1997, as emeritus professor, he has chaired the Agribusiness Senior Management Seminars at Harvard Business School and currently teaches a course on Food Policy and Agribusiness at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He is also an Honorary Professor and a member of the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester, England. He is coordinator of the Joint Business, Scientific, Public Policy, Consumer Policy Technology Committee of the U.S. Food System which meets annually at Harvard University.He received the Distinguished Service Award from Harvard Business School in June 2001. Dr. Goldberg is the author, co-author and or editor of 23 books and over 110 articles on positioning firms and institutions in the global value added food system. He also has authored and supervised the development of over 1000 case studies on various private, public, and farm cooperative firms and institutions in the global food system. His most recent publications involve developing strategies for private, public, and cooperative managers as they position their firms, institutions, and government agencies in a rapidly changing global food system. He is also conducting research on the major biological, logistical, packaging and informational revolutions that affect global agribusiness managers as they attempt to cope with the volatile restructuring of major commodity systems. Dr. Goldberg has served on over 40 Boards of Directors of major agribusiness firms, farm cooperatives, and technology firms. He has advised financial institutions on their agribusiness investments such as Rabobank, John Hancock and Agriculture Technology Partners. He is one of the founders and first President of the International Agribusiness Management Association and an advisor and consultant to numerous government agencies and private firms. He currently serves as a Director of Smithfield Foods, Inc., Daymon Associates,GoldKist Inc. and a member of the Technology and Research Committee of Beth Israel Hospital. He also serves as a member of the Science Advisory Board of the IFT/FDA Research Contract, and is Chairman of the Advisory Panel for a World Bank Guide to developing Agricultural Markets and Agro-Enterprises. He is Chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic and Social Development in a Global Context of the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources of the National Research Council. He is Chairman of the Task Force to Utilize Tobacco Funds for Economic Development for the State of Kentucky. Dr. Goldberg was a member of the Presidential Mission to Poland in December of 1989. He was a member and speaker at the U.S. Department of Agriculture 2020 Vision: Beyond Reorganization Senior Policy Retreat in May of 1994. He is Chairman of the Russian Food Management Program Research Project and Seminar sponsored by the international Agribusiness Management Association. He most recent articles are entitled the 'Business of Agriceuticals' published in Nature Biotechnology, Volume 17 Supplement 1999; 'Transforming Life, Transforming Business: The Life-Science Revolution,' co-authored with Juan Enriquez and published in the Harvard Business Review, March-April 2000; and 'Food Wars: A Potential Peace' published in the Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics Supplement to Volume 28 No. 4 Selected Proceedings of 'Genes and Society: Impact of New Technologies on Law, Medicine, and Policy, May 10-12, 2000' pages 39-45 Winter 2000:and Biotechnology and the Agricultural Industry of the Future published in the Conference Proceedings of the Eight Annual Conference of the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research(ECSSR) Abu Dhabi U.A.E. August 2003 He was made a Fellow of the International Agribusiness Management Association in 2004. In July of 2005 he became a Fellow of the American Agricultural Economic Association. He was Co-Director of the European Food and Agribusiness Seminar, held in Rome, Italy in 2007. He is married to Thelma Englander and has three children and six grandchildren.