????一個(gè)男人走進(jìn)酒吧,，點(diǎn)了一杯啤酒,。不過，這可不是英國(guó)倫敦的酒吧,，或者美國(guó)密爾沃基的體育酒吧——這里是烏干達(dá)的一家酒吧,。而他喝的啤酒雖然與米勒牌啤酒（Miller）出自同一家公司，但原料卻是非洲本地非常常見的一種谷物——高粱,。

????數(shù)個(gè)世紀(jì)以來,，非洲貧民窟的居民一直通過發(fā)酵香蕉、菠蘿和棕櫚等當(dāng)?shù)剞r(nóng)作物自釀啤酒,，追求廉價(jià)的飲酒樂趣,。然而這種啤酒有些毒性極強(qiáng)，時(shí)常有人因此送醫(yī)治療?，F(xiàn)在,，南非米勒釀酒公司希望非洲的私酒釀造者能放棄自釀啤酒，購(gòu)買他們生產(chǎn)的啤酒,。

????作為世界第二大釀酒公司,，南非米勒釀酒公司（SABMiller）正在烏干達(dá)建立高科技小型釀酒廠和小型供應(yīng)鏈，從烏干達(dá),、坦桑尼亞和贊比亞等地的農(nóng)民那里收購(gòu)原料,，比如高粱，期待能在這一處女地開拓新的市場(chǎng),。非洲出產(chǎn)的這種高粱營(yíng)養(yǎng)豐富,，通常用來制作糖漿或作為飼料。而提供原材料的農(nóng)民也有望成為米勒啤酒的消費(fèi)者,。

????在產(chǎn)地購(gòu)買原材料可以減少供應(yīng)鏈的價(jià)格波動(dòng),、降低物流、庫(kù)存和進(jìn)口關(guān)稅成本——因此價(jià)格要比大麥啤酒低20%,。根據(jù)南非米勒釀酒公司的測(cè)算,，非洲本土化啤酒市場(chǎng)規(guī)模將是傳統(tǒng)啤酒市場(chǎng)的三倍。除南非之外,，非洲其他地區(qū)人均每年僅消費(fèi)7公升啤酒,，這還不包括本土化啤酒；而美國(guó)的人均年啤酒消費(fèi)量為77公升,，很顯然,，非洲市場(chǎng)蘊(yùn)藏著巨大的商機(jī)。

????2002年,，南非米勒釀酒公司的子公司尼羅河啤酒廠（Nile Breweries）首次研制出高粱啤酒配方（并獲得更低的高粱啤酒稅）,，成為進(jìn)入該低端市場(chǎng)的首批啤酒廠商,。目前，烏干達(dá)的所有啤酒中,，35%為尼羅河公司的鷹牌（Eagle）高粱啤酒，該款啤酒在坦桑尼亞,、贊比亞,、津巴布韋和斯威士蘭也有銷售。

????其他啤酒制造商也不甘落后,，紛紛出牌,。喜力公司（Heineken）和迪阿吉奧公司（Diageo）雖然沒有用高粱全面代替昂貴的大麥作為釀酒原料，但從2008年開始,，這兩家公司也同樣在加納,、塞拉利昂和喀麥隆推出了高粱啤酒。由于大麥等進(jìn)口原料的價(jià)格飛漲,，而南非等主要市場(chǎng)又出現(xiàn)消費(fèi)停滯,，因此，這些公司正在非洲大陸其他地區(qū)為家釀啤酒尋找新的市場(chǎng)機(jī)會(huì),。

????摩根士丹利投資公司（Morgan Stanley）前沿新興市場(chǎng)基金（Frontier Emerging Markets fund）經(jīng)理蒂姆?德林考爾解釋道：“由于大麥價(jià)格高居不下,，生產(chǎn)高粱啤酒可以為啤酒廠商帶來利潤(rùn)。只要公司能夠降低成本,，并保證質(zhì)量,，這樣的決策就是積極的?！?/p>

推動(dòng)經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)

????小型供應(yīng)鏈還將推動(dòng)當(dāng)?shù)亟?jīng)濟(jì)的發(fā)展,。據(jù)法國(guó)歐洲工商管理學(xué)院（INSEAD）的研究顯示，2007年,，尼羅河啤酒廠為烏干達(dá)經(jīng)濟(jì)帶來了9,，200萬美元的附加價(jià)值，并帶動(dòng)了約44,000烏干達(dá)人的就業(yè),，主要涉及農(nóng)業(yè),、制造業(yè)、零售業(yè)或經(jīng)銷等行業(yè),。（約有9,000名農(nóng)民向啤酒廠出售高粱）,。而且，作為烏干達(dá)第四大納稅企業(yè),，該公司的稅收貢獻(xiàn)彌補(bǔ)了之前因黑市交易而損失的份額,。

?

????A guy walks into a bar and orders a pint of beer. But this isn't a pub in London or a sports bar in Milwaukee -- it's a watering hole in Uganda. And the beer, from the same company that brews Miller, is made from sorghum, a grain common to Africa.

????For centuries, Africa's slum dwellers have scored cheap buzzes by fermenting local crops like banana, pineapple and palm into home brews, some of which is so toxic it sends drinkers to the hospital. Now SABMiller wants bootleggers to buy the company's own beer instead.

????By building high-tech microbreweries and micro supply chains sourcing local ingredients like sorghum – a hearty grain normally used for syrup and cattle feed – from farmers in Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia who may buy their beer later, the world's second-biggest brewer hopes to crack a virgin market.

????Sourcing local ingredients cuts supply chain price volatility, and logistics, inventory and import duty costs – and the result is a product priced 20% less than barley beer. The company pegs the Africa home brew market at triple that of traditional beer. Outside South Africa, Africans consume just 7 liters of beer a year per capita (excluding home brews), versus 77 liters in the U.S., so enormous opportunity looms.

????SABMiller subsidiary Nile Breweries first concocted the sorghum beer recipe in 2002 (it also scored lower sorghum beer taxes), making it an early mover in the sub-pyramid space. Today 35% of all Ugandan beer by volume is Nile's Eagle brand sorghum beer, which is also sold in Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland.

????But other brewers are quickly following suit. Since 2008, Heineken and Diageo (DEO) have done the same in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Cameroon, albeit not replacing pricier barley with sorghum at a 100% rate. As prices for imported staples such as barley soar and key markets like South Africa stagnate, these companies are finding opportunity with home grown brews in other parts of the continent.

????"With barley prices so high, it helps brewers' margins," explains Tim Drinkall, manager of Morgan Stanley's Frontier Emerging Markets fund. "Whenever a company can cut costs and keep up quality, it's a positive."

Economic boost

????Micro supply chains also help local economies. Nile Breweries generated about $92 million in value-added for the Ugandan economy and supported roughly 44,000 Ugandans through agricultural, manufacturing, retailing or distribution jobs in 2007, according to a French business school INSEAD study. (Some 9,000 farmers sell the brewer sorghum.) The company is also Uganda's fourth-largest taxpayer, capturing value previously lost to the black market.

????南非米勒釀酒公司可持續(xù)發(fā)展部主管安迪?威爾斯表示：“我們希望自給自足的農(nóng)民能更多地參與到價(jià)值鏈中。我們的可購(gòu)性模式極具吸引力,，因?yàn)樗援?dāng)?shù)剞r(nóng)作物為核心,，這將為當(dāng)?shù)剞r(nóng)民帶來額外收入,；而且，在不影響公司核心產(chǎn)品的前提下,，可以為公司帶來新的利潤(rùn)增長(zhǎng)點(diǎn),。”之前,，南非米勒釀酒公司的原材料80%依賴進(jìn)口,；而目前，這一比例下降至66%,。

????南非米勒釀酒公司曾花費(fèi)數(shù)十年時(shí)間,，試圖用高端啤酒占據(jù)新興市場(chǎng)，當(dāng)時(shí)公司的大部分投入,，如大麥與酒瓶,，均從國(guó)外采購(gòu)。而其現(xiàn)行的小型供應(yīng)鏈措施則與之前截然不同,。

????南非米勒釀酒公司的策略與可口可樂公司（Coke）和法國(guó)達(dá)能集團(tuán)（Danone）當(dāng)年為進(jìn)軍非洲這一未經(jīng)開發(fā)的市場(chǎng)所采取的做法類似,。拿可口可樂公司來說，它當(dāng)時(shí)并未從印度或歐洲進(jìn)口果漿,，而是在烏干達(dá)培植了一種芒果種植文化,；而法國(guó)達(dá)能集團(tuán)也放棄了進(jìn)口原材料的做法，轉(zhuǎn)而從塞內(nèi)加爾農(nóng)民那里直接采購(gòu)乳制品,。

????當(dāng)然,，對(duì)于這種做法，并非所有市場(chǎng)觀察家都買賬,。Harding Loevner前沿新興市場(chǎng)基金（Harding Loevner Frontier Emerging Markets Fund）經(jīng)理唐?艾弗遜諷刺道：“這不會(huì)帶來任何改變,。”他認(rèn)為,，銷售環(huán)節(jié)的種種困難將導(dǎo)致跨國(guó)公司最終被邊緣化,，而當(dāng)?shù)仄髽I(yè)將長(zhǎng)期占領(lǐng)市場(chǎng)主導(dǎo)地位?！胺侵迣⒀永m(xù)家庭作坊式的生產(chǎn)模式,。”

????非洲是一個(gè)充滿挑戰(zhàn)的市場(chǎng),，但長(zhǎng)期以來,，外國(guó)零售商一直不得其門而入。非洲原始的公路基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施,、15個(gè)國(guó)家都位于內(nèi)陸的地理?xiàng)l件,，以及危險(xiǎn)重重的邊境線，這些都增加了設(shè)備和原材料的運(yùn)輸成本，甚至讓運(yùn)輸變成一項(xiàng)不可能完成的任務(wù),。比如說,，在新興經(jīng)濟(jì)體國(guó)家，平均40%的食品在進(jìn)入市場(chǎng)或商場(chǎng)之前都會(huì)遭到劫掠,。

????但是,，非洲也擁有年輕的城市化人口；而且,，到2015年,，全球十個(gè)發(fā)展最快的國(guó)家中，將有七個(gè)位于非洲,，因此，許多跨國(guó)公司都將目光投向了這里,。到2016年,，約有2億非洲人——超過巴西的總?cè)丝跀?shù)——將進(jìn)入消費(fèi)者商品市場(chǎng)。

????南非米勒釀酒公司不懼挑戰(zhàn),，計(jì)劃在今年內(nèi),，在莫桑比克和蘇丹南部釀制以木薯為原料的啤酒（公司甚至發(fā)明了一種新的加工方法，解決了木薯在運(yùn)輸途中的保存難題）,，并將在今年年底之前,，通過培養(yǎng)坦桑尼亞的大麥種植業(yè)，將本地采購(gòu)大麥的比例從10%提高到50%,。南非米勒釀酒公司表示,，通過用木薯替代其他原材料，每年可節(jié)省300萬美元,。這將有助于實(shí)現(xiàn)公司長(zhǎng)期目標(biāo)——將目前非洲的主流啤酒價(jià)格降低一半,。

????南非米勒釀酒公司的威爾斯表示：“部分跨國(guó)公司正在認(rèn)真考慮，通過合作來推動(dòng)非洲的農(nóng)業(yè)發(fā)展,?！?/p>

????如果這些努力能夠奏效，非洲起碼能成為一個(gè)地區(qū)性的“大糧倉(cāng)”,。不要忘了,，這里還有南非米勒釀酒公司與聯(lián)合利華（Unilever）、南非標(biāo)準(zhǔn)銀行（Standard Bank）以及雅苒（Yara）等行業(yè)巨頭在坦桑尼亞開展的農(nóng)業(yè)走廊項(xiàng)目（agricultural corridor project）,。該項(xiàng)目旨在提高糧食產(chǎn)量,、改善公路運(yùn)輸和冷藏條件。

????翻譯：劉進(jìn)龍

????"We want subsistence farmers more involved in the value chain," says Andy Wales, head of Sustainable Development at SABMiller. "Our affordability model is attractive because it focuses on local crops and creates additional income for farmers and a new profit pool for us without cannibalizing our core product." Historically, SABMiller has imported 80% of its raw materials in Africa; today that's 66%.

????SABMiller's micro supply chain moves are a sharp departure from its decades-long attempt to flood emerging markets with premium beers, with much of their inputs like barley and bottles sourced abroad.

????But its efforts to penetrate untapped markets echo those by Coke (KO) and Danone to do the same in the African mango juice and dairy markets -- Coke by incubating a mango farming culture in Uganda instead of using Indian or European puree imports, and Danone by sourcing milk for dairy products from Senegalese farmers rather buying it abroad.

????Still, not all market watchers are convinced. "This won't move the needle," quips Don Elefson, a fund manager for the Harding Loevner Frontier Emerging Markets Fund, noting an enduring dominance by local players due to distribution woes that leave multinationals on the sidelines. "Africa is still mom and pop."

????Africa is a challenging market, and one that has long eluded foreign retailers. Its medieval road infrastructure and 15 landlocked countries make delivering machinery, inputs and ingredients across oft-dicey borders costly or impossible – 40% of food in emerging economies spoils before reaching market or store shelves on average.

????But with a young and urbanizing population and seven of the world's ten fastest-growing economies by 2015, many multinationals are eyeing Africa. Roughly 200 million Africans – or more than Brazil's entire population -- will enter the consumer goods market by 2016.

????Undaunted, SABMiller plans to brew cassava-based beer in Mozambique and the Southern Sudan within a year (it's even invented a new processor to preserve cassava en route to the brewery), and to boost local barley sourcing to 50% from 10% of the total by the end of this year by seeding a Tanzanian barley growing industry. Some $3 million could be saved annually by substituting cassava for other ingredients, according to SABMiller. This would help the company meet its long-term goal of halving today's price of mainstream beer in Africa.

????"A select number of multinationals are getting very serious about working together on Africa's agricultural development," says SABMiller's Wales.

????If those efforts bear fruit, along with joint ones by the company and behemoths Unilever (UL), Standard Bank, Yara and others for better crop yields, roads and cold storage through an agricultural corridor project in Tanzania, Africa may yet morph into a local, if not global, breadbasket.