TODD S. THOMPSONDIRECTOR

TRADE COMPETITIVENESS PROJECTSOUTHERN AFRICA GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS

HUBTTHOMPSON@SATRADEHUB.ORG

WWW.SATRADEHUB.ORG +267 74784003

Thinking of Exporting?

A WarningAmerican English Will Be Spoken

What Is The Trade Hub?

AGOA

Africa Growth Opportunity ActGives African producers duty free tariffs on a

wide-range of products.www.agoa.gov

Some Things to Consider Before You Export

Three Parts to Any Business

Product or ServiceFinancial Management/Accounting

Marketing

No Individual is Equally Good or Enjoys Doing All Three of Them

What Is Your Product or Service?

What Are You Providing to the Market?

Who is Your Competition? How Big Are They?

Where Does Your Product Fit on the Product Life Cycle?

If Looking at Exporting – What Makes Your Product Unique?????????

Product Life Cycle

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Time

Sales

Determining Feasibility

Is there a major barrier blocking your path?

Feasibility Decision

To Proceed

or

Not To Proceed

Financial Management and Accounting

Start-up Financial Forecasting

Day-to-Day Financial Management

Do Not Kid Yourself When It Comes To Financial Forecasting

If you do not have adequate start-up capital you will fail.

Lack of Cash Flow can kill a business.Most start-ups take twice as much money and

twice as much time as anticipated.

Marketing

Why Has Someone Lived Their Life Without Your Product, But Now Life is Incomplete Without It?

Who is Your Target Market?What Percentage of the Market Do you Need

to Get in Order to Succeed?Product, Place, Price, Promotion

Some Other Things to Think About

Strategic Planning

Simple Definition:

Figuring out how to get from where you are to where you want to be.

Strategic Planning Steps

1. Vision – reason and purpose for existing 2. Mission – major goals and performance

objectives3. Strategic Goals/Objectives – measureable and

verifiable outcomes you intend to achieve4. Action Plans - steps required to reach strategic

goals/objectives – including who will do what, when and how.

5. Tactics - specific actions used to achieve the strategic goals and implement the strategic plan

6. Performance Measurement – how well did you do and how do you improve – Plan/Do/Check/Act

Business Planning

Why Do You Want A Business Plan?

• Forces you to objectively develop and evaluate your business idea.

• Helps you identify the opportunities and risks.

• Helps you understand the environment in which you operate, the strengths and weaknesses of your business, the competition, and the validity of your assumptions.

• You will understand who your customers are and how you can meet or exceed their needs and expectations.

Your Business Plan Should Be The Roadmap For Your Business

Not a Collector of Dust

Exporting

Tariffs Maybe Eliminated, But What About -

Transport CostsProductivity IssuesInfrastructure Costs – electricity,

Internet, etc.Government Red-TapeLabor LawsGeneral Cost of Doing Business in Your

Country Compared to Other CountriesCurrency Fluctuation

You Need the Following to Export To the US

Statistics - http://dataweb.usitc.gov/Harmonized Tariff Schedule -

http://hts.usitc.gov/USDA Regulations – www.usda.govFDA Regulations – www.fda.gov

http://www.fda.gov/Food/LabelingNutrition/FoodAllergensLabeling/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/ucm106187.htm

Crawl, Walk, Run Theory

Some Other Items

You Will Probably Only Get One Chance To Get It Right the First Time – Cannot Blow It

Can You Scale Up?Almost as bad as no orders is an

order that you cannot realistically handle

A Few Things to Remember

No Matter What the Conditions Are, Opportunities are Present

Do Not Forget the Basics of Business Product/Financial Management/Marketing

Know What You Know and Know What You Do Not Know

Be Realistic

Thank You