Mahnaz

Trade agent for Iran

Entrepreneurship is as a second nature to Mahnaz. In 2013 she started a catering business for Persian food as part of a cultural evening. The service of Mahnaz.nl has since then expanded with organising trips to and through Iran for the private and business market. “Iran has a lot to offer to tourists when it comes to nature, culture and history”, says Mahnaz.

Business-wise, Iran is very interesting as well. It is a country with over 80 million inhabitants. Lifting the trade embargo has made a large market available. Mahnaz: “Iran is a country with a young a well-educated population, which is much more oriented to the west than expected.” The network to facilitate the export as well as possible has been established by Mahnaz in Iran with local partners. Iran has a lot of need for meat and milk products; machines for the agriculture, horticulture and oil industry.

Conversely, besides oil and gas, Iran has agricultural products such as tea, pistachio nuts and vegetable oils to offer. Mahnaz acts as a broker between supply and demand in both countries. This varies from a first consult, the organisation of trade missions and entering into export order contracts. Mahnaz is currently working on a large solar park in Iran. Mahnaz: “At first sight, it seems odd that an oil country such as Iran is interested in solar energy, but they are very seriously interested. Many regional governments put free land at the disposal for this project.”

Connecting

Mahnaz has successfully mediated in the export of fruit machines to Iran. Iran has a large fruit sector, the mechanisation for this form of horticulture, however, is underdeveloped. The Iranian fruit sector wants to modernise. In the Netherlands, expertise and knowledge is available in this field, creating opportunities for export. In the coming years, Mahnaz expects to be able to mediate a lot between entrepreneurs in Iran and the Netherlands. The demand for various products and services are now coming in. There are specific requests for the supply of dairy products and beef and veal to Iran.