J.C Mazingue
Founder and Senior Partner
Echotex Ltd.
JC Mazingue is the lead consultant and adviser to African exporters at the continental level. Capitalizing on his 30 years of experience in textile, apparel, and home décor in Africa, his role is to select, train, and assist African companies in generating actual deals with US buyers.
Finn Holm-Olsen
Senior Partner
Echotex Ltd.
Finn Holm-Olsen, a senior Partner at Echotex Ltd. Is a seasoned trade and development expert with 30 years of professional experience, with particular expertise in Africa. Finn is a strategic thinker and program implementer who has worked extensively with public and private sectors, effectively designed and managed enterprise development and capacity building programs, advanced U.S. trade policy interests, and promoted U.S trade and investment ties. He is an Experienced Lead Consultant with broad expertise in sustainable economic growth and development. Finn is an Accomplished Lead Technical Proposal Writer.
Lalaina Rakotoarison
International Trade Consultant
Echotex Ltd.
Lalaina Rakotoarison, with a decade of experience in international trade shows, she specializes in facilitating African enterprise participation, particularly through AGOA training, and organizing their presence at global and regional events, fostering economic growth and global market access for African businesses.
Robert Berg
International Trade Consultant
Echotex Ltd.
Bob Berg boasts an extensive background in global apparel sourcing and is recognized as an international expert in fostering relationships between foreign trade groups, individual apparel producers, and US market professionals.
Bob Focuses on US buyers and professional associations.
Jessica Ramey
International Trade Consultant
Echotex Ltd.
Jessica Ramey, CEO of Mercantilia since 2014, combines fashion design expertise from FIT with a decade of sourcing and production management in Africa. She specializes in turning concepts into globally deliverable products, prioritizing ethical practices and enjoyable partnerships.
Mercedes Gonzalez
International Trade Consultant
Echotex Ltd.
Mercedes Gonzalez,an experienced entrepreneur in the garment industry since 1988, has worked with top national stores and played a key role in numerous store openings and restructurings worldwide, including the inaugural Sears store in Panama. Proficient in pricing negotiations, operational optimization, and trend analysis.
Chad Schofield
International Trade Consultant
Echotex Ltd.
Co-Founder and Chief Digital Officer of BoxC, a 500 Startups Batch 6 company, Chad Schofield has expertise in international trade, international logistics, design and development of new services, projects and strategic partnerships. Previously, he was Founder and Managing Director of Three Global, a consultancy to advise companies, trade associations, NGOs and governments to adjust to changing realities of international marketing, sourcing and logistics.
Jim Thaller
International Trade Consultant
Echotex Ltd.
Jim Thaller is an entrepreneur who believes that the food industry can change the world. He is the managing directors and co-founder of Talier Trading Group; a specialty food distribution company based in West New York, NJ (USA) focused on grocery & food service offerings. For more than twenty-one years, Jim has been working with value-added, food producing companies on product, brand and market development. With Talier Trading Group, Jim has been responsible for spearheading a variety of emerging market programs, and has been credited with designing and implementing the African, Peruvian, Southeast Asian and Eastern European specialty food programs in the United States and Europe. With warehousing on two continents and active distribution on five, Talier Trading Group is consistently named one of the top specialty food development companies anywhere. Jim is also a senior agribusiness advisor at The World Bank for the past twelve years, and is responsible for supporting the design, development and implementation of their agribusiness innovation program across Africa, Asia and elsewhere. Jim has previously founded two software development companies, both of which were successfully acquired. Jim has received many awards during his career, including an Innovation Award from the NY New Media Association, a Top 40 Under 40 from Gourmet Retailer, Industry Leadership from NASFT and a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Specialty Food Association. Jim holds a bachelor’s degree from Pace University and several post-graduate certificates, including one as a certified HACCP auditor from The International HACCP Alliance. He sits on the boards of several food-industry companies and international organizations, as well as a few non-profits, including The Princeton Blairstown Center. From 2008 until 2016, Jim served on The US Trade Advisory Committee on Africa. Jim has authored many publications on agribusiness development, business incubation and the specialty food industry, and has spoken at many international development events at Harvard University, Wharton Business School, New York University, Columbia Business School and many more. Jim resides in Blairstown, New Jersey with his wife, daughter and dog.