September 2016 Newsletter
17 October, 2016 - 15:38
ACA Celebrates 10 Years at Annual World Cashew Festival and Expo 2016
From September 19th to 22nd diverse actors of the cashew value chain came together for the 10th Annual ACA World Cashew Festival and Expo in Bissau, Guinea Bissau, which was themed “A Decade of Transformation”. Over 300 participants from all over the globe attended the conference.
Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the ACA, this year’s conference was certainly a special event. It featured 12 exhibitors, 4 plenary sessions, 6 World Cashew Forum sessions, a
nd over 360 official business-to-business meetings. As a unique opportunity, this year ACA also offered two World Cashew Forum sessions titled “Making Cashews Work” that served as training sessions on Market Systems andwere run by Mr. Jim Fitzpatrick. From the opening ceremony to the gala dinner, each event looked at how the African cashew industry can move forward and improve in this next decade.
Topics discussed durind the event included the past decade with ACA, the turning point for the industry, global competitiveness, access to finance, and more. ACA was honored to h
ost seasoned guest speakers from various stakeholder institutions including responsAbility, the World Bank, Red River Foods, Caronut, IPL ltd., and more.
On the evening of the 20th, the Alliance welcomed four new members to the Executive Committee after an election conducted and led by the Secretariat. These new members are Mrs. Minata Kone,Mr. Charles Muigui, Mrs. Kate Kamba, and Mr. Florentino Nanque. The Executive Committee also
officially welcomed Ms. Johanna Adotevi who will serve the
remaining tenure of Mr. Ashak from Casa Cote d’Ivoire. The new Executive Commit
tee, with newly elected President Florentino Nanque at the helm, chose to start a new initiative
of having three vice presidents. Those voted in for this position were Madam Kate Kamba as the first vice president, Mrs. Kone Minata, the second vice president, and Mr. Lars Wallevik as the third vice president to represent the international partners.
The conference wrapped up on the 21st of September with an award ceremony and gala dinner, which featured the cutting of the anniversary cake and unvieling of the anniversary video. The night also included live performances and was graced by the Honorable Prime Minister of Guinea Bissau, Baciro Dia.
ACA greatly appreciates all the suppport receivedduring and leading up to the conference. As an industry alliance, ACA greatly depends on all of our members and we could not have reached ten yearswithout all of you!
