Export Connect delivered another successful Food & Beverage Exporters Forum in collaboration with Fine Food Australia, Export Council of Australia and Food Bank Victoria, on 10 September 2018 in Melbourne. This forum offered access to a panel of experienced Australian food & beverage exporters and an international buyer, covering a range of markets, and also explored building an export community. Panelists were: Mr Lalith Withana | SriLankan Airlines & SriLankan Catering; Nicholas Simms | Chief Executive Officer, Bubs Australia; Rob Eustace | Business Development Manager Export – Macadamias & Ginger, Buderim Group; Jackie Barnes | Export Sales Manager, Brookfarm; and Emma Greenhatch | General Manager, Food & Agribusiness Network. The panel discussion addressed trends and opportunities across a range of markets including Sri Lanka, North America, China and the Middle East, as well as how to collaborate in export.
In this piece, we hear from Emma Greenhatch on Food and Agribusiness (FAN)’s recent projects and developments.
“We’re very much an industry-led network. So, the things we invest in are what our members say that they want and need – and we see if there’s a role for us to play there.
We had a number of our members, led by COYO, come to us about six months ago. There were four of them, and they all have pretty strong domestic markets. But they were ready to push into export. They’re small-to-medium sized manufacturers, and didn’t have the resources within their own businesses to really execute an effective market entry strategy.
So they proposed to us: Could they co-invest in a resource through FAN that they would then be able to tap into, to help them.
The model is that we have an export ambassador on the ground on the Sunshine Coast who works with those companies directly. Then we also have a partnership on the ground in China as well.
I think collaborative business models for us is the region we can see a huge opportunity for. Because, these businesses have spent two years building relationships and trust together. So, not only will this export ambassador be able to provide each of the businesses and individuals service; but we’ll be taking a collaborative approach to the program as well.
Again, trade show participation overseas; potentially co-shipping (we’ve got a couple of the companies that have got chilled product); joint in-store demonstrations. So, FAN’s proposition is around collaboration.”
If you liked these insights and you’d like to see more, check out our Events page or reach out via our Contact Us page. We’d love to hear from you.
Many thanks to Emma Greenhatch for sharing her knowledge!
