Foreign students give insights to exporters
Breaking into overseas markets may soon be as simple as teaming up with an international student.
Victoria University of Wellington and Education New Zealand are offering a new programme that matches international students from eight countries with Wellington businesses wanting to export products to the student’s home country.
The international markets insights programme aims to give Wellington businesses direct cultural insights into their target overseas markets.
The three-month programme, which launched this year, saw 15 students spend 10 to 15 hours a fortnight with a business, working for free on a project tailored to the business’s exporting needs.
Chinese postgraduate student Cindy (Junhua) Sun was paired with app creator posboss to investigate the feasibility of launching the company’s ipad till software in China’s hospitality sector.
Sun said working with posboss was a ‘‘good match’’ because she was able to share her marketing experience from China’s hospitality industry, as well as provide cultural understanding of the company’s target market.
‘‘It is a good opportunity to get to know New Zealand’s enterprise culture, communication ways and working environment.’’
Posboss chief executive Jonny Mckenzie said he would not have known where to start without Sun.
‘‘With Cindy, we got such a great opportunity to learn, without the massive overheads, and for a small company that is a huge bonus.’’
The programme included workshops on online marketing, New Zealand’s global reputation and intercultural communication.
The businesses involved included tech startups, and small to medium-sized export companies targeting markets in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
The programme was supported by the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency.