By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

CHICAGO — A Chicago entrepreneur and process technology expert said a recent trade mission to Mexico hosted by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and a group of state agriculture department directors would likely pay benefits to his start-up company for years to come.

“It was an excellent experience, and I admire and appreciate the USDA for giving me the opportunity to go in front of the buyers,” said Dr. Zafar A. Bokhari, a professor of marketing and international business at Chicago State University who is also the founder and president of Zafi Beverages and Technology. In the past, Bokhari has delivered presentations and lectures on process technology across four continents while representing the USDA and Department of Commerce.

Bokhari’s present concern was for opening new foreign markets for his company, which began in 2004 as a non-carbonated premium energy drink company and has since evolved into a filling line technology business that provides basic needs (such as clean or infused water, dairy, and pharmaceutical) products for people in emerging nations. Zafi helps empower local entrepreneurs in Asia, Africa and Central and Latin America to manage their own filling lines and sell their own products to their communities and beyond, according to the company’s website.

An excursion into the Mexican trade market would avail new opportunities for his company, Bokhari predicted. “We were able to visit with many people who are in the business of manufacturing beverages along with fruit and vegetable processors. We told them about the advantages of American technology, flavors and concentrates, and education,” Bokhari said, “and how when they combine those three things together, they can manufacture a 100-percent American-made product in Mexico, South Africa, or India.” 

Bokhari was part of a Nov. 6-8 USDA-led trade mission to Mexico, with the aim of forging new opportunities with U.S. agriculture’s largest bilateral trade partner second-largest export market. Along with Perdue and U.S. Undersecretary of Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney, Bokhari was joined on the trip by more than 100 industry and government representatives, including business leaders from Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio.

Mexico has long been a top market for U.S. farm and food products, but its growing economy and population are driving demand for high-value, consumer-oriented foods — which are now the largest category of U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico, according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). The U.S.’ southern neighbor is the top export market for U.S. corn, dairy, poultry and eggs, sugar and sweeteners, distillers dried grains, and rice. It also ranks among the top destinations for processed foods and beverages, soybeans, beef, pork, wheat, fruits and vegetables, FAS data show.

Overall, U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico totaled $19 billion during 2018, reflecting a 23 percent growth rate over the prior decade.

“I think Mexico would be a very promising market because of the (proximity) to the USA, and the tremendous opportunities and potential,” said Bokhari, whose company is set to launch a certificate course in business administration for local entrepreneurs in order to help them optimize their business success. “I would like to meet with more small and medium size entrepreneurs and bring together a linkage to universities' colleges of business and engineering, so that a small company in Mexico can still have very strong intellectual support to run their businesses.”

The proposed United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement, which is still in the hands of the House of Representatives, would likely have little effect on Zafi Beverages and Technology, its owner predicts. “But I am a strong believer that the USMCA should be extended to all around Central America. Bringing more countries on board would be beneficial not only to the U.S. economy but those countries as well. I think America is the best country to be able to export its small business technology at the very grassroots level, and that’s what our focus is,” said Bokhari.

The future looks bright for Zafi’s foray into the Mexico: its food processing sector is currently a strong market for U.S. sweeteners, fats and oils, and other food processing inputs, according to the FAS. Overall U.S. exports of “intermediate” ag products to Mexico totaled more than $3.9 billion in 2018, suggesting a viable market exists for food and beverage process technology entrepreneurs in the U.S.