From a two-year National Innovation and Competitiveness Program for Rwanda to an eight-week strategic positioning project for a Caribbean-based retail food division, we are passionate about helping our clients solve their most critical competitiveness challenges.

Selected Project Highlights

• Colombia Embraces Globalization. As part of President Cesar Gaviria’s apertura program—a plan to transition Colombia to a free trade economy—the OTF Group advisory team helped Colombian business leaders to embrace globalization. The team re-framed the national debate on competitiveness, transforming attitudes about the global economy. The industry clusters included executives from the following fields: textile manufacturing plants; leather production factories; and, capital goods markets.
  
  
• Bermuda Rebuilds Tourism Industry. The OTF Group worked closely with Bermuda’s public and private sector leaders to rebuild the island’s critical tourism industry. The OTF Group successfully shifted the industry’s strategic positioning and facilitated an unprecedented degree of cooperation among government, corporate and labor leaders, achieving regulatory reform and large-scale investments in infrastructure and training.
  
  
• Gabon’s Wood Sector Moves Up the Processing Ladder. The OTF Group is mobilizing the public and private sectors in the nation of Gabon in order to transform the country’s Free Trade Zone. Number one on OTF Group’s list is to improve operations in the field of wood production. The majority of Gabon’s wood has traditionally been exported in log form—there is no value added in the process. Gabon’s wood sector has long been among those with the lowest rates of return in the world. The OTF Group is determined to alter the status and profitability of Gabon’s wood manufacturing system. OTF is hard at work: the main goal is to identify the most lucrative products that can be built out of Gabon’s lumber. In addition, OTF is currently in the process of identifying the most suitable international markets to purchase Gabon’s wood.
  
  
• Afghanistan Rebuilds Economy After 25 Years of War. The OTF Group and the Ministry of Finance for the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan have cooperated in order to develop an innovative two-year project that will bring Afghanistan true economic success. USAID is funding this unique program, which links two important efforts to produce a sustainable and competitive private sector. Specifically, this endeavor entails in-depth work, with Afghani industrial leaders, toward the development of more sophisticated product lines. The effort also involves the inception, development, and support of a cabinet level National Competitiveness Council. The Council will serve as a forum to coordinate the role of the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in supporting private sector development.
  
  
• Rwanda Coffee Industry Differentiates Itself From International Competition. The Rwandan coffee sector faced a one hundred year price low on the international markets. The OTF Group developed a cohesive national coffee strategy to stimulate growth. The new strategy targets the high quality segment, with 15% growth rates and prices 2X the average. OTF enabled relationships with coffee importers, and built a detailed budget and investment plan to support the strategy, which was approved by the Rwandan cabinet and is official government policy.
  
  
• Macedonia Expands Markets for Lamb and Cheese Cluster. Nearly 50,000 people in Macedonian make their livelihood from the sale of lamb and cheese. In general, their standard of living is low, and most were missing out on opportunities to increase their incomes by exporting cheese. The OTF Group conducted market research with the Lamb and Cheese cluster to help them identify interested distributors, and publicized these export success stories to create new interest among other cluster members. OTF helped the industry sign contracts worth nearly $600,000 to 4 new markets.
  
  
• World Bank, USAID Increase Development Impact. Regarded as a pioneer in the competitiveness field, the OTF Group helped to develop the strategic capacity of senior managers at the world’s largest economic development institutions, including the World Bank and its finance arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), as well as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
  
  
• Jamaica's Agribusiness Cluster Combines Buying Power. For most Jamaican hot sauce and jerk manufacturers, packaging is the single largest input cost. Glass bottles are particularly expensive, accounting for as much as 40% of unit costs. Although the bottles used in the industry are generally standardized, they are purchased in small batches by the individual processor due to volume requirements. As a result, the far larger glass bottle suppliers have been able to exert bargaining power over a fragmented buyer base—dictating prices, credit terms, and the degree of after sales service. To address this situation the Jamaica Competitiveness Cluster Project (JCCP) launched a consolidated glass purchasing program: cluster members have taken their needs to the market in search of better prices, credit, and service. The purchasing initiative has already resulted in orders from several agro-processors (representing approximately 25% of the local market), through the preferred vendor pricing arranged by the JCCP. Cluster members have realized savings in the range of 8% to 25%—already resulting in excess of U.S.D. $900,000.
  
  
• El Salvador and Rwanda Reconstruct National Economies. Teams of the OTF Group advisors led multi-year projects to reconstruct the national economies of post-conflict societies, including El Salvador and Rwanda. The OTF Group worked with industry groups and government leaders to lay an economic foundation for recovery, diffuse competitive attitudes nation-wide, and create prosperity for the average citizen.
  
  
• Peru and Bolivia Build Export Competitiveness. The OTF Group helped Peru and Bolivia to increase export competitiveness in a range of key industries, including manufacturing, agribusiness and consumer goods.The OTF Group worked with each client nation to develop their export strategies as they positioned themselves for a new global marketplace.
  
  
• South American Manufacturer Develops Strategic Response to Foreign Entrants. The OTF Group helped the senior management of a South American sporting goods manufacturer respond quickly and aggressively to the increased threat of global competition. The OTF Group strategy advisors coached the management team on gaining insight directly from the market and developing a strategic response to international competitors.
  
  
• Caribbean Financial Services Company Builds Competitive Advantages. Competing in a commodity business, a Caribbean-based financial services company needed to quickly understand its customers’ needs and develop new products and services to drive sustainable business growth and profitability. Over a six week period with the OTF Group, the company determined its strategy to successfully differentiate itself in the money transfer market. They built plans to launch new initiatives that will reach their most attractive customer segments, drive profitable growth, build customer loyalty and create competitive advantages.