WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT TALKING POINTS

Transcription

1 WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT TALKING POINTS *To accompany Warehouse Management powerpoint/flipbook Part One: Purpose of Warehouse 1. Discussion with the group on what a value chain is. Should use the producer profile to do this. Page 2: Before doing this session, complete the producer profile worksheet with the group. If there is an excess of nuts and the road is accessible by trucks, then continue with the session. Typically, a buyer will only come to an area if there are between bags of nuts available, this can be done with a few stops though, but it is good to keep in mind. The average kernel collector picks two to four bags of shea nuts in a year. This slide lists the three trainings that will be covered in this flipbook. Page 3: Group Discussion. Where do you sell your nuts? And what happens to them after that? 2. Role play of value chain from woman to export, compare empowered women to buying agent. Page 4: Here is a script for using the pictures to talk to the women about the shea value chain: i. Woman collects the nuts ii. Sends them to market for sale iii. An aggregator buys the nuts form market and stores them iv. They are sent in a truck to Accra, where they are loaded onto a ship v. A ship sends them to Europe, it takes 2-4 weeks vi. They are processed there in facilities and refined for cosmetics (10% of the export market) or as a cocoa butter equivalent (90% of the export market) vii. They are then packaged, and sent to shops where they are sold. Many products use shea, and they compete with each other. The quality and sourcing of the share butter is important to consider. The cost of sourcing makes a huge difference for these brands. Higher quality nuts mean that it is cheaper to process them, and more steps in the value chain means more people will take a percentage of the gross profit. Follow the script below as closely as possible. The lesson for this skit if you re not aggregating the nuts, someone else is, so the group should try to take the place of the aggregator and receive their benefit (this is how you attract large buyers). Skit Script #1 Take a handful of kernels, give them to one woman. She is the shea kernel picker and these are the nuts she collected over the year. She takes three kernels, one is her cost of production (labor, firewood, and water), and two kernels are her profit. She sells the rest in the market, and gives the nuts to another woman. The second woman is the aggregator (typically a role in the value chain played by a man). She takes a kernels for her cost (labor and storage facility), and two kernels for her profit. There might even be a second aggregator involved, but to keep the example simple, let s leave them out for now. The second woman then gives the leftover kernels to a third woman in the group. This person transports the kernels from the market and/or storage facility, and brings them to the port where they will be shipped out. This person takes a kernel for her cost (labor, fuel), and two kernels for her profit. The leftover nuts go to a fourth woman who is the export company.

2 Then do the same activity, but this time the women are selling directly to the large buyer. The aggregator isn t there anymore, and the transport to the person is Accra is purchased by the buyer. The first woman (the collector), takes some profit, and then the large buyer that comes to pick the nuts takes some profit. There is still some left. The buyer is then able to give share some profit with the women. This is also a way that they can sell more nuts than the local market can support. 3. Four great reasons to use a warehouse. Page 5: Who would a buyer rather purchase kernels from? Discussion question for the group- international buyers want large quantities of nuts. They use large trucks to bring the nuts to the coast, and then ship and process them into butter. The tipper trucks are expensive. Of the two pictures, where will the truck want to go? To the group, or to the individual? You can also draw a web of houses on the ground to explain why this is: The buyers will prefer to go to the group. If the group is collecting their nuts in one central location, it is easier to buy and transport them. Anyone that isn t processing the nuts locally will want to aggregate them. This means that they always bring them together to sell, they make more money that way. If the women aren t bringing them together, than someone else is, and they are taking a profit for doing so. If the group is suffering from not having a strong market for shea nuts, then aggregating them is a great way to attract buyers. Page 6: Use the collected kernels as collateral to take a loan from a local bank. Be careful with interest rates- you should be able to pay that, plus profit when the price rises during the dry season. This can be done with a credit facility at the local bank, they should give low interest loans to groups. That way, the group can take a loan together, and then wait to sell the nuts until the dry season. Then they can sell the nuts at a higher price to pay loan interest and make a higher profit. If there is no local bank, or they don t have a credit facility, the group can set up a Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA- see Microfinance section of toolkit). They can take loans from that fund to keep the nuts in the warehouse for some time until the price is higher. *Remember, if the nuts are weighed with a scale when they are brought to the warehouse, they will lose weight over time, so this should be accounted for. Page 7: There are other potential benefits to working directly with a buyer. These are NOT guaranteed, but some groups are receiving them. i. Pre-financing

3 ii. iii. iv. Premiums for higher quality nuts Health care, local NGO support, etc. Women are more empowered to negotiate with a buyer; this is difficult to do as an individual. Page 8: A place to store extra nuts. Discussion Question Fatima sells two bags of shea kernels. Amina sells six bags of shea kernels. Who makes more money? The more nuts you collect, the more money you will make. So if you need more money, you can collect more nuts. But sometimes storage is a problem. Where will you put the nuts and protect them so that they will not get damaged? A warehouse provides this place.

4 Part Two: Record Keeping 1. Role play confusion at the warehouse. Page 10: Role play of confusion at the warehouse. Skit script #2 follow the script on the page as closely as possible. 2. Discussion with the group on what records they think should be kept. Page 11: The point of the warehouse is to aggregate nuts. We need to know who has brought what. Ask the group if they have any ideas on how we can do this? - This is a good way to find out what they are comfortable with. Do they think someone needs to watch the bags the whole time? Suggest that they can lock the building with a few different locks and choose a room that is in a compound of someone that doesn t have long hands or they can build a structure that is near their homes. Do they think that they will remember whose nuts are whose? Give each woman in the group a shea nut or other small item that is difficult to differentiate. Tell them to remember their nut. Collect the nuts and mix them up. Say that in one month you will ask them which nut is theirs. How will they remember? See if they can even remember which nut is theirs at the same meeting. 3. Think of it like a VSLA. Page 12: If the group has already been trained as a Village Savings and Loans Association, or if members in the group have, then you can even use the passbooks as an example of how records are to be kept at the warehouse. Each member needs to know how much of the money in the box is theirs, and then there has to be records on how much is in the box total, and if anyone takes something out. The group should be able to trust each other and work together, otherwise the warehouse will not go well. 4. Pictures of records that should be kept by the individual at the warehouse. Page 13: This is what needs to be kept for each individual at the warehouse. The name of the woman, weight of the nuts (or measured with something consistent if a scale is not available), quality of the nuts (use the GSA standards), and date the nuts were brought to the warehouse. The women using the warehouse should each have a passbook that they keep at their house. The warehouse managers should also have a copy, and another record with the total amount of nuts that are in the warehouse, and what has been purchased (for how much and by who). Other records kept will depend on the contract with the buyer. If a scale is unavailable, then estimate: 3 headpans = 1 bag (85 kilo). Page 14: For example, pre-financing. If the company pays for some or all of the nuts up front, or if the group took a loan together and is using that to be able to wait to sell the nuts. Page 15: Have the women received training? For example, on improved processing of shea nuts. 5. Role of the management committee, and records that should be kept. Page 16: The group should have a chair, a secretary, and an assistant secretary to manage the warehouse. There must be someone literate on the management committee. This can be someone from the group, a family member of someone in the group or another community member willing to support the group, or another community member that the group gives a small amount of money to assist with record keeping. The management committee should be elected. The group chairperson should be respected, confident and

5 calm when speaking in from of others, treats everyone equally, listens to others and asks for opinions, organized, always on time. The record keeper should be literate and write neatly, have a reputation of trustworthiness, always on time, willing to work more hours than the rest of the group (this person will have to keep records for everyone). At least one representative from the management committee should be there when kernels are brought to the warehouse or sold to a buyer. Page 17: These are records that should be kept by the management committee on the stock of nuts in the warehouse and the nuts sold. How these records are kept will depend on the buyer (are they receiving pre-financing), but here is an example of what you will need to know. They should keep records on nuts received, nuts sold, and this should be equal to the amount of nuts in the warehouse. And the bags should be properly labeled, but these are typically provided by the buyer. To train the secretary on record keeping, take a notebook and draw out the columns with the secretary. Then, using objects, demonstrate what the input/output will look like and write them in the boxes.

6 Part Three: Physical Role of a Warehouse 1. Discussion on what a warehouse should do. What should it protect against? Page 19: The physical role of a warehouse is to protect against these things. Discussion question: What is a warehouse used for? Why do people build them? If they are unable to answer this, then ask, do you keep the nuts scattered in the compound for long periods of time? Why? Because I need to use the compound area. Good answer. The warehouse provides somewhere else to put them. Because the animals and/or rain will spoil them. Good answer. The warehouse provides a protected area where you can keep the nuts. Because someone will steal them. Good answer. The warehouse provides somewhere the nuts can be kept and locked up. A grain store must perform one task: the storage must protect the grain from its natural enemies: mold and fungus, insects, rats, birds, and other animals. 2. Picture of a warehouse and how it should be built. Page 20: To property protect from these things, a storage facility must follow these principles: dry and cool, keep the grain out of the sun, should be clean, should have no holes or cracks in the roof, walls, or floor. Four principles of storage: must be dry and cool, kept out of the sun, clean, no holes of cracks in the roof, walls, or floor. Page 21: Ask the women, with what you just learned, what does the storage facility need to look like? Response follow up: The warehouse doesn t need to be fancy, it can be a room in a compound, or a community building that the chief and landowner donate to the group. Just designating a room in a compound or an existing structure is okay. Inside, the nuts should be stored in jute sacks (cocoa sacks), and have firewood or pallets to keep the nuts off the floor. The warehouse should be established/built in a location where all of the women can walk there, or use available means to get there (is there a motoking they can rent?). There should be multiple keys for the warehouse, kept by keyholders or the management committee. 3. Reminder of the quality poster. A warehouse will maintain the quality of nuts, buyers like that. Page 22: Remember the quality poster? The last step is on storage. To maintain the quality of the shea nuts, so that you or the buyer will get more money for the nuts), you have to store them well in the warehouse. In jute sacks and off the ground. Page 23: Discussion with the women will a buyer want nuts that they can get a lot of butter from? Or ones that they cannot get a lot of butter from? The Global Shea Alliance Quality Working Group is putting together standards that will be used in the field to assist in determining the quality standards. However, apart from impurities and nuts that have been smoked or overcooked (black nuts), quality can really only be determined in the lab. Following the industry best practices can help the women produce higher quality nuts. When a new buyer comes, it is common for them to ask for a sample of nuts to be brought to the lab and tested, so now the women can be prepared.