Specialty food brands from Eswatini and Senegal head to Saudi Arabia
The Saudi Food Show is the country’s biggest food and beverage event, giving African specialty food brands a chance to tap into a rapidly growing market. The International Trade Centre (ITC) brought seven of the most innovative brands from among its Alliances for Action partners to showcase their products.
Domestic sales are booming across the six nations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are seeing young, digitally-savvy consumers grow more interested in specialty foods.
The International Monetary Fund recently tipped Saudi Arabia as the world’s second fastest-growing economy, after India, in 2025.
This year was the Show’s second edition, strictly for trade and business professionals from the fine food industry. With Saudi Arabia and its GCC neighbours positioned as a hub for global trade, the event was a strategic opportunity for small food brands seeking to access new markets.
The ITC Alliances for Action initiative is working with small artisan food businesses in Eswatini and Senegal, to increase their competitiveness in global markets and expand their commercial network.
Last month, ITC traveled to Riyadh with seven representatives from some of the most innovative food brands from across its Netherlands Trust Fund V and Alliances in Eswatini programmes. They’re funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Union, respectively.
The idea was to tap into the rapidly developing Gulf markets.
The event also served as a ‘study trip’ for three of the Eswatini brands and organizations: Patience Delight, Sibongile Beverages, and the National Agricultural Marketing Board (Namboard). With support from ITC, they learned more about the GCC market and its opportunities, about specialty food trends and global export requirements, and how to scale a brand for the international market.
The four brands exhibiting at the show, Eswatini Foods and Black Mamba from Eswatini, and Senar and Zena Exotic Fruits from Senegal, met with new potential buyers and distributors to showcase their products made at origin. These included chilly crunch, hot honey, hot sauces, cashew apple juice, dried hibiscus and moringa, as well as roasted cashews with flavors such as coconut, pepper and sesame.
They also visited Sifat foods, a speciality food distributor in Saudi’s hospitality sector, where they each pitched their products and brands, and learned how the Saudi market is planning for its strategic growth.
