The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Atlantic businesses connecting virtually to opportunities
Program helps Atlantic Canadian businesses connect to opportunities
Opportunities to do business overseas might seem trickier when a face-to-face meeting is not an option.
Subc Imaging, a Newfoundland and Labrador technology company specializing in advanced underwater imaging equipment and software, routinely generates new leads through international trade shows. Pandemic travel restrictions have put those sorts of events on hold, unless they're held online virtually.
"When the pandemic started, obviously world business slammed the brakes on," said Chad Collett, the Clarenville company's founder and CEO.
But Subc Imaging has not given up on doing business with companies overseas, and it's hoping a program launched this year can help.
The Europe Market Development Program assists Atlantic Canadian businesses with export-ready products and services to expand markets and grow sales in Europe. The program is run by the Atlantic Chamber of Commerce and supported by Ottawa and the provinces. According to program manager Glenn Davis, the $4,750 each participating business pays to sign up gives them access to almost $20,000 in consulting services.
Davis said that nearly 20 operations have signed on and are already putting this expertise to work.
BOOTS ON GROUND
"I think the reference is made to boots on the ground, in terms of making the connections with potential consumers," said Davis, who is also the vice-president of policy for the Atlantic Chamber of Commerce.
"That being said, that's also a function of the fact each company is going to get a tailor-made, professionally developed market entry strategy for a very affordable cost."
Subc's key markets these days are Europe, Canada, the western United States and, more recently, the Asia-pacific region. The fourth quarter of 2020 has been better for the company, with several projects Subc had involvement in ramping back up.
"I think we hit some fiscalyear-end budgets that had to be spent on projects, or projects that had to happen regardless of what's been going on in the world; we've been busy," Collett said.
The company has done business in Europe for almost a decade and management knows there are plenty of untapped markets.
"We've always been going to trade shows and doing organic business development," Collett said.
"With the way things are now, obviously we can't do that, and we still need to do business in Europe. It's one of our core focuses. When this program came up, it was ideal."
NEW SERVICE
Subc recently participated in a kickoff meeting with the program. The company will look to virtually connect with potential clients in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Netherlands to pitch its newly developed offshore real-time video streaming service. This allows companies to watch work as it is happening through a cloudbased server.
Collett said he expects energy companies to curtail capital spending so Subc will focus on offering rentals, with sales efforts skewed to the more stable defence and marine science sectors.
"They're fairly consistent. They've got buying cycles. They're not subject to global economic crashes. Since we've been in business, I think we've seen a couple of major oil and gas collapses and a couple of minor ones. That cycle is not healthy for our business or for people trying to make a living, as everybody in Newfoundland knows."
DIVERSE INDUSTRIES
It's not only tech companies taking advantage of the export assistance program. It has participation from the food and beverage sector, natural resources and advanced manufacturing.
"It's also good to see a number of companies that signed up are seeing sales growth and exploring new markets as an appropriate approach to growing their business," Davis said.
"The companies we're seeing are fully committed to the concept of diversifying their sales base and growing their markets, and just need a little bit of support to navigate the unique characteristics of the (European) market."
Newfoundland and Labrador Industry, Energy and Technology Minister Andrew Parsons said it is important for Atlantic Canadian governments to pool their resources to help increase export sales.
"With (the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement), people need to realize 98 per cent of (European Union) tariff lines are duty free for our goods, so there's a natural partnership that I think would go there," Parsons said.