Real problems. Measurable results.
Selected engagements across cross-border business development, AI integration, and mediation. Identifying details adjusted where confidentiality applies.
Helping an emerging marketplace platform attract and sign quality brands
A growing B2B marketplace platform had strong infrastructure but needed to populate it with the right brands to attract buyers and build credibility. Signing emerging brands requires more than outreach. It requires trust, positioning, and the right introduction at the right moment.
We led business development outreach on behalf of the platform: identifying emerging brands that aligned with its positioning, building relationships with decision-makers, and walking prospective partners through the value proposition. We acted as an extension of their team, not an outside vendor.
New brand partnerships secured, expanding the platform's catalogue and strengthening its pitch to buyers. The client gained not just signed agreements, but a repeatable outreach process for continued growth.
Emerging brands don't sign with platforms they don't trust. Our role was as much relationship-building as it was sales, and that distinction changed the outcome.
Building a unified supply track for Ugandan coffee growers entering the US market
A network of smallholder coffee growers in Uganda, already selling coffee beans to the EU, wanted to expand into the US market. The opportunity was real, but fragmented: individual growers lacked the scale, unified voice, and supply chain infrastructure to attract American buyers on their own.
Working alongside the growers' network lead, we are consolidating the growers into a single, coherent supply track, the operational foundation needed to approach US buyers with confidence, while cultivating relationships with importers in the US specialty coffee market.
Engagement ongoing. A unified supply structure is being established, and US market introductions are actively underway. This work represents the kind of long-term, relationship-first trade development that Tigara was built for.
This isn't just a market entry project. It's economic development work. Getting growers to speak with one voice, and getting buyers to listen, requires cultural fluency, patience, and genuine commitment to the people behind the product.
Five Projects, One Lien
A private land developer and a framing contractor had worked together for five years, across five projects, with no prior conflict. On the fifth project, the framer determined he'd underbid the job and demanded a significant sum. When the developer pushed back, the framer filed a lien on the property: leverage, not a legal strategy. Both sides had real grievances. Neither wanted this to end the relationship, but neither knew how to de-escalate without losing ground.
We stepped in as a neutral mediator using interest-based mediation, focused on what each party actually needed, not just their opening positions. That required separate caucusing sessions to get past the posturing: the framer's frustration at being underpaid for skilled work, the developer's frustration at being strong-armed mid-build. Once both sides could see the other's actual constraints, a resolution became possible.
The developer agreed to pay the framer an additional sum, conditional on the lien being released. Once payment cleared, the framer discharged it. No legal action, no court costs, no months of delay. Both parties left the table feeling the outcome was fair, even though the business relationship didn't continue past this project.
A lien is a blunt instrument. It signals someone has run out of better options. The work here wasn't just negotiating a number; it was rebuilding enough trust between two frustrated parties to let them hear each other. That's what kept this out of court.