Building a Growth Partnership model with distributors

Building a Growth Partnership model with distributors

A global animal nutrition and health business had delivered strong growth across EMEA, but scaling further meant rethinking its distribution model in fragmented, high-risk markets, in the middle of a broader carve-out.

We partnered with our client to convert that ambition into an operational franchise-like model, reframing the EMEA growth strategy and staying embedded through the program’s earliest implementation.

THE CHALLENGE

Growth was outrunning the model built to deliver it

Expansion into these underserved, high-risk markets across Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe exposed a structural problem, driven by:

• A distribution and agent model not perfectly suited for these markets
• High tariffs eroding margin at the border
• Long lead times undermining competitiveness
• Weak local branding limiting the client’s presence and pricing power

At the same time, the business was in the middle of a carve-out, being separated from its parent group into a standalone entity. That separation meant the regional strategy itself needed to be reframed: a new growth model, a clear regional view, and strong cross-functional coordination, all required at once, against a fixed timeline.

Left unaddressed, these constraints threatened to cap growth in exactly the markets where the region had the most to gain.

OUR SOLUTION

A Growth Partnership model, built and mobilized in parallel

We partnered with the region director to structure and drive the initiative end-to-end, focusing on three integrated pillars to turn this new access model into an operational reality on the ground:

1. Refreshing the region growth plan

We updated the EMEA business plan to reflect the potential of the new Go-To-Market model, giving the region a clear, current view of where and how to compete and delivered ahead of the mid-March deadline the steering committee needed it for.

2. Designing the Growth Partnership Program

We developed the regional growth strategy into a dedicated growth partnership model presentation.

• An asset-light program turning distributors and agents into co-investing manufacturing partners
• Partners blend locally under the client’s brands and quality standards
• Delivered right on the client’s timeline

3. Mobilizing implementation, market by market

We supported the project team through the first year as it kicked off the Growth Partnership model across the Middle East and Africa.

• Prioritizing target markets
• Preparing steering committee materials
• Aligning all the key internal stakeholders about the new growth model
• Tweaking and evolving the model as we gathered feedback from potential partners
• Facilitating monthly governance
• Providing interim PMO support from kickoff through handover

Throughout the engagement, we focused on giving the region a workable path from strategy to execution, the kind of translation that often stalls when a growth model is designed but never operationalized.

THE RESULTS

A scalable, asset-light growth engine

The Growth Partnership Program launched successfully across the Middle East and Africa, with the client team aligned on the path forward. Key outcomes included:

• 22 priority markets identified across 3 growth clusters
• 4 partnerships signed and operational; 14 more targeted in the same year
• Program on track, stakeholders aligned, clean handover to the client team

This engagement demonstrates that reframing strategy and mobilizing execution in parallel is what turns a franchise concept into a functioning, expanding program, rather than a plan that stalls at handover.