Mentoring your way into markets

Ray Schofield reviews Export Year 07 from a business mentoring viewpoint and takes a look into the future.

IT IS ABOUT this time of year when business people up and down the country take a deep breath and contemplate the year behind them. Successes are celebrated and failures are analysed so that they can be avoided in the future. It is also a good time to look ahead and plan for the year to come.

All involved in Export Year 07, a combined government-private sector initiative launched earlier this year, will almost certainly be taking a glance back at the last few months. They will no doubt be discussing whether the scheme achieved its objectives and deciding on how to keep the momentum going over the years ahead of them.

Bob Walters, CEO of Export New Zealand, believes that Export Year has been successful but warns that this year was only the very beginning of a long-term process:

"There is no doubt that Export Year 07 has been a huge success,' says Walters. "It has increased awareness and has grasped the government's attention. However, I wouldn't expect any immediate increase in export earnings. Any change will happen gradually."

Walters believes it is vital that Export Year is not seen as a one-off event but is instead seen as a continuing process, designed to help our fledgling exporters into overseas markets and slowly increase the presence of New Zealand products overseas.

He also points out that the relevant support avenues need to be communicated to novice exporters: "Business owners starting out in export are still unsure of where to go for help and support. At the last count there were 30 different support schemes in New Zealand. We need to let business owners know about these schemes and how to get involved in them."

Business Mentors New Zealand, with the support of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, has had a keen interest in Export Year from the start and one of the key goals this year was to introduce new exportfocused mentors into the fold. This is a far from easy task as an export mentor must possess a number of unique attributes.

"Experience is the number one quality required in an export mentor," explains Duncan Simpson, CEO of the Otago Southland Employers' Association (OSEA), a Business Mentors agency. "They must have had practical, hands-on experience in the market region and industry sector they are advising on. Export mentoring needs to take place over a long period of time and requires more than just a couple of meetings. Mentors must return on a regular basis to develop the business plan and check that everything is on track."

Despite the high level of experience and commitment needed to be an export mentor, Simpson is confident that seasoned business people will come forward to offer their assistance.

"Business Mentors has had quite a few export mentors come forward over the past months and this is only the beginning," he says. "I fully expect the number of export mentors and enquiries from business owners wanting export advice to increase steadily over the following months and years."

Simpson firmly believes that Export Year has raised awareness and may convince small business owners to dip their toe into the export pool. Nevertheless, he also believes that our up-and-coming exporters will only succeed if they are given the right amount of support and advice through mentoring and other initiatives.

"Export Year has been a great start and has set the platform for the years to come," he says. "However, the only way that New Zealand export will succeed is if we assist our new and developing businesses as much as possible and keep introducing a wider diversity of products and services into the export pipeline.

"There is no reason that New Zealand can't be incredibly competitive overseas. Export Year is just one step towards achieving this goal."

Ray Schofield is CEO of Business Mentors New Zealand. Business Mentors New Zealand is a fully funded service of Business in the Community and can be contacted at www. businessmentor.org.nz

Copyright Adrenalin Publishing Ltd. Dec 2007/Jan 2008
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved