The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

THE SOLE Bahamian entrant to a Caribbean-wide competition designed to enhance the region's export potential with Europe has made the initial 'final 30' cut, its proprietor yesterday telling Tribune Business she aimed to "break the mould" when it came to agriculture and manufacturing in this nation.

Rionda Godet, owner of Nassau-based Ridge Farms, a Bahamian agri-business specialising in 100 per cent natural jams, pepper jellies, tomato and pepper sauces, and salsas, said she was hoping to use the Caribbean Export Development Agency's (CEDA) Break Point competition to take her company "to the next level".

And Ms Godet added: "Ridge Farms will be to the Bahamas what Grace Foods is to Jamaica", a reference to the latter nation's multinational conglomerate, Grace Kennedy.

Damien Sorhaindo, a CEDA official, told Tribune Business that out of the 60 firms that initially entered Break Point, just one - Ridge Farms - came from the Bahamas. That field has now been cut by 50 per cent to the final 30, with all entrants judged on a YouTube presentation plus one-page executive summary of their business plan that they were required to submit.

Ridge Farms, and the other 29 companies, will now attend a one-day coaching seminar at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill School of Business in Barbados, followed by two virtual coaching sessions. This will strengthen their presentation and business pitch skills, and the firms will also be told about the export opportunities available to them under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU).

Mr Sorhaindo explained that the 30 remaining companies would eventually be cut down to the 12 winners, who would be taken to London for a Break Point event held during the last week of the upcoming Summer Olympics.

There, Ridge Farms (if it qualifies) and the others will be able to "pitch their product or service to angel investors, venture capitalists, distributors, retailers, looking to get their product into the UK or Europe".

"It's going to be a match-making exercise to attract the best people suited for the companies," Mr Sorhaindo explained, with CEDA already working to identify appropriate UK and European-based investors.

Ms Godet, who spent 11 years as an in-house attorney and vice-president of labour relations, human resources at Kerzner International, and is now managing partner of the Halsbury Chambers law firm, confirmed to Tribune Business that she entered Break Point in a bid to obtain the capital and partners that would enable Ridge Farms to exploit potential export opportunities.

The company was founded in September 2009, and said of her Break Point success to-date: "I'm thrilled about it. It's all about growing small and medium-sized businesses into export opportunities.

"I'm a practising attorney by profession, but my passion is mostly along the lines of food processing and agriculture, so I am making full use of my talents until I go into this full-time."

And Ms Godet added: "I am a professional food security advocate, because I don't think we nearly feed ourselves enough, and rely too much on imports to feed ourselves.

"Rather than rely on tourism and banking, we have to break the mould and become more actively engaged in the CARICOM Community."

Ms Godet said 80 per cent of Ridge Farms' target market were tourists. The company's products are in three stores at the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA), downtown at Prince George's Wharf and other high-end tourist locations, as well as being sold at Solomon's SuperCentre and at Farmers Markets staged by the likes of the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) and Doongalik Studios.

She added, though, that the Government's "regard" for Bahamian agriculture and food processing was "minimal", and its lack of interest had forced herself and others to "appeal to international organisations for help".

In her business plan for Break Point, Ms Godet said: "Without question, this fledgling business has come a long way, and now has found itself a nice niche market with room for further development, while export opportunities abound by reason of the Bahamas' location, its direct access to, and affiliation with, international trade markets and organisations such as CARICOM and CEDA."

Suggesting that Ridge Farms could break into the international export markets in six-eight months with CEDA's help, she added: "While we enjoy good success in the local market, we have found it more beneficial to pursue the export and tourist market, where we can compete more readily with foods of the same all-natural, preservative free quality, as a healthier tastier alternative for a more demanding clientele.

"From a business standpoint, consider this. Last year, the Bahamas welcomed over five million tourists to its shores. What if each one of them left with at least one bottle of our Ridge Farms' pepper sauce? What then, if only 5 per cent of these guests wrote back and asked us to ship more of our products to them? That's the type of opportunity we're talking about.

"Further, what if we were able to tell them that 'Ridge Farms will be coming soon to an outlet near you'? Imagine that. The opportunity is huge, and that's our goal. Indeed, CEDA itself has noted that specialty foods are in high demand in the tourism industry, and people want to enjoy a different flavour, that is exotic, all natural and exquisite to the taste."

Ms Godet added that Ridge Farms "will install semi-automatic processing units to aid in greater efficiencies and volume of our product, and still retain our high standards of quality and excellence. Because our recipes are original, it will be difficult for a competitor to seek to replicate or duplicate our products".