April 18, 2007

ACDI/VOCA’s ASAIL Project Hosts Cheese Festival to Develop Opportunities for SMEs

ACDI/VOCA helped launch the first cheese festival in Lebanon. The April 18th event, which was part of the annual hotel, restaurant and catering show, drew over 30 SME and cooperative exhibitors and more than 15,000 visitors.

Apart from cheese, producers displayed distillates, jams, pickles, syrups, dried fruits and other traditional Lebanese products. Participating small businesses were able to sell $8,000 worth of products and establish 100 new contacts with business service providers.

This initiative was part of ACDI/VOCA’s $6.9 million USAID-funded Action for Sustainable Agro-Industry in Lebanon (ASAIL) project. Under ASAIL, ACDI/VOCA provides services to small and medium-sized enterprises and cooperatives, including business development, marketing and promotion, access to credit, quality control training and product development. More than 6,000 producers, cooperatives and small businesses, ranging from small ruminant agricultural and dairy sectors, to niche market products such as cheese, pastries, pickles, jams and processed foods, benefit from this program throughout Lebanon.