America.gov asked finalists from among the more than 700 African immigrants who submitted business plans to the “African Diaspora Marketplace” to blog about their ideas. Sponsored by USAID and Western Union Company, the African Diaspora Marketplace is a contest that will award seed money to approximately 15 winners to help them bring their ideas to life in their home countries.

MOUSSA DIA, entrepreneur:

My idea is for my Sendiaba Corporation to open a modern processing unit for African cereals, particularly millet. The principal activities associated with the mill’s operation would be grain handling, processing, packaging, marketing, and utilization. We will produce and market several products derived from millet. I currently buy millet cereals that are produced and packaged in Africa and export them to the United States. In this new business, I aim to bring improvements to the way that millet is processed and packaged in my country of origin.

A big challenge that I am facing now is acquiring land in an industrial area to build our processing unit. I would welcome help with that.

MICHAEL DUCKER, business expert:

I believe that Moussa Dia’s proposed Sendiaba millet business can fill an important part of the grain value chain often missing in countries like Senegal. But he should consider finding specific areas where he can derive the most value. It will be difficult for him to do everything – handling, processing, packaging, marketing, and selling to export markets. Doing all that would be very difficult for a start-up.

I would suggest that Sendiaba first think about the markets that use millet products and pick one that is growing quickly and needs the least investment to take advantage of. For example, it might be easier to market to local super markets in Dakar rather than to the U.S. The best way is to talk to these potential customers, like a super market buyer, to find out the unfilled customer needs.