Tru-Cape hosts Harvard students for hands-on UK apple market research

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The project focused on market entry, pricing, and building a strong brand in a competitive market.

Hands-on learning in the Western Cape

The IFC provides second-year MBA students with experiential learning outside the classroom. For this project, students examined how to maximise profitability and establish a strong presence for premium apples in the UK, a market with limited shelf space, high price sensitivity, and habitual consumer behaviour.

“Understanding consumer preferences, pricing, and distribution dynamics is invaluable when introducing premium apples to the UK market and building a brand that consumers can trust and love,” said Roelf Pienaar, managing director of Tru-Cape.

Henk Griessel, Tru-Cape’s quality assurance manager, added: “It pushed us to think differently about the entire process and challenged us to improve the way we work.”

Students suggested approaches including influencer-led storytelling, targeting health-oriented online shoppers, innovative packaging, expanding the customer base, creating a halo effect through luxury gifting, and targeting emerging demographics such as health-conscious male shoppers.

Programme scale and structure

This year, over 285 students participated in the Immersive Field Course. The programme combines project work, site visits, guest lectures, and discussions with senior leadership. Students typically have around five years of professional experience across sectors, including finance, consulting, healthcare, real estate, the military, and technology.

Hakeem Belo-Osagie, who led the student group, said: “We are extremely grateful to Tru-Cape and all the host organisations around the world for all they do on behalf of our students. The students benefit immeasurably from this experience, and we hope the host organisations do as well.”

Many students also commented on the positive experience of visiting the Western Cape and expressed interest in returning to South Africa in the future.

“We are pleased to be working with Harvard Business School to provide students with a real-world learning experience in South Africa,” Pienaar said. “We are confident that the students gained insights here that they would never be able to glean from a classroom discussion alone.”