ITC × Eswatini Entrepreneurs

We co-developed new products with Eswatini entrepreneurs — and two of them now sit on retail shelves

Client: UN International Trade Centre (ITC)
Sector: International Development
Service: Strategy (NPD)
Location: Eswatini · Year: 2024

Result: Two new products co-developed with Eswatini SMEs through a UN ITC matchmaking programme are now available — a corn-meal biscuit and a banana jam from Patience Delight, and a distinctly African relish “Lishisa” from Black Mamba stocked at retail

Mycelium, in collaboration with the Public University of Navarra (UPNA), orchestrated the groundbreaking "Resto Zero" workshop.

This innovative event brought together over 60 students from diverse food industry backgrounds to tackle the challenge of transforming kitchen waste into cutting-edge culinary creations.

Through a unique blend of expert insights, hands-on experimentation, and collaborative problem-solving, we ignited a powerful movement towards sustainable gastronomy practices.

From discarded to delicious: Empowering the next generation of culinary innovators to revolutionize food waste management.

The Challenge

How might we co-develop commercially viable, export-ready products with two Eswatini food enterprises — in a single week on the ground?

How we tackled it

Alignment

Before traveling, we ran strategic-alignment sessions with each SME — Black Mamba, a chilli and condiments brand led by Claudia Castellanos, and Patience Delight, a snack and preserves brand led by Lungelo Dlamini — to map their objectives, technical capabilities, price points, and legal constraints. The deliverable was a written brief per SME defining who we were developing for and the boundaries we had to work within.

Market research & design guidelines

We produced a short market-research report for each SME — competitive landscape, differentiation opportunities, and customer segments — and translated the findings into design guidelines. These guidelines became the brief for the on-site product development sprint and the test against which prototypes would be evaluated.

Brainstorming with the network

For each SME, we brought 2–3 Mycelium network experts into a brainstorming session alongside the SME's own team — chefs, food technologists, and designers contributing context-appropriate ideas. After ideation, we evaluated the strongest concepts together with each SME using a "real / win / worth it" filter to keep only the commercially viable ones.

On-the-ground week in Eswatini

From the 15th to the 20th of April 2024, our team flew to Eswatini for a one-week intensive: recipe development, prototyping in each SME's facilities, tasting, and iteration against the design guidelines we'd agreed upfront. The week ended with a set of tested, refined prototypes for each brand.

Ongoing support

We stayed in contact through the months that followed, offering hourly support as products moved from prototype to launch.

Deliverables