15 September 2011
On 13th September Wesgro hosted an Export Development Programme 3 (EDP3) Seminar at the Hilton Hotel. The level 3 training initiative is geared at business owners already familiar with export processes and follows the level 1 and 2 programmes for novices. This specific seminar focussed on the Furniture sector with reference to the Angolan, Saudi Arabian and Italian markets. The global furniture sector is anUS$376bn sector in terms of production, with China accounting for 25% of global furniture production.
Speakers across all spheres shared their experiences on working in these markets and sectors. Hinre Smit, from Distell, has for the last 5 years been focussing on doing new business development work for Africa, most recently focusing on Angola and Kenya. She shared Distell’s vision for the domestic market, which is to consolidate their strong position in the market by offering a compelling suite of brands across a range of alcoholic beverage categories and price points that represent fair and reasonable value. Globally the vision is to expand their footprint by entrenching brand visibility and awareness in key target markets. theiraspiration is to further extract growth from exports, while establishing a stronger local presence in key emerging markets by participating more actively, where appropriate, in the value chain of our products, strengthening their status as a profitable and leading South African exporter of wines while expanding their strength in the global cider industry.
An interesting development in our programme, albeit not new or innovative is the use of SKYPE™ in our seminars. This allows our delegates the opportunity to discuss issues with experts in overseas markets in real time, affording them the chance to ask questions and get feedback in a forum which would otherwise not have been possible. One such speaker was Andrea Cantoni, Managing Director: Cape Best an Italian based company. Cantoni re-iterated that the relationship between the two Countries canbe carefully promoted to achieve a more constant trend as some sectors (raw materials) are already “organized” but a large number of other (smaller) sectors canbe developed and significantly improved.Andrea GarelloCantoni is a mechanical engineer, founding partner of the consulting company VPG and marketing strategist. He presently works as a consultant for the Italian Ministry of Labour on Technology and Intellectual Property as tools to increase the employment.Cape Best is a brand owned by VPG and dedicated to the diffusion of the SA products (and lifestyle) in Italy.Andrea also owns Impronte di Milano cc, a company based in Cape Town that exports local products to Italy.
While the world of exporting may not appeal to everybody many are held back by their fear of the unknown. There is no doubt that novel exporters will face many obstacles along the way but aspirant business people should not be discouraged by the challenges as the rewards can be endless.The Western Cape is one of South Africa’s most prolific exporting regions, especially of agricultural products, but increasingly of a more diverse range of products as well. Much of this success can be attributed to the work done at Wesgro to ensure that companies are export ready before they attempt to take their business abroad.
Wesgro hosts the EDP1 & 2 programmes in conjunction with SEDA in Bellville and George.
The Export Development Programme (EDP1) is a vocational training tool in international trade designed to build export competence within small and medium sized companies globally. EDP provides the expertise; knowledge and network needed to help businesses grow internationally and offers a blend of company practice, export coaching in local seminars in standardised training modules.
The EDP 2 programme is an opportunity for small to medium sized companies to improve their international trade management knowledge. The training is targeting established SME businesses, start-up businesses with exciting and unique products and/or individuals working with sales and export related tasks within the Western Cape Province.
This highly-subsidised series of workshops comprise of four full days and one half day module, held over a two month period and will, on completion, enable you to increase your competitiveness in the international arena. You will be given the tools to implement sound strategies in your business that will help you exploit international market opportunities and combat threats in the local market.
The next EDP3 seminar will be held on Wednesday 28th September 2011 and will focus on Niche Processed Foods within the following markets Turkey, Poland, Mexico and Russia.
For more information about our organisation and to view all the presentations of the day visit our website http://wesgro.co.za/publications/index.php?presentations
Information: Seanne Kube
Head: International Trade
021 487 8600
seanne@wesgro.co.za
Contact: Judith Coetzee
Head: Marketing & Communication
Judith@wesgro.co.za
