Thinking of Exporting?
TODD S. THOMPSON
DIRECTOR
TRADE COMPETITIVENESS PROJECT
SOUTHERN AFRICA GLOBAL
COMPETITIVENESS HUB
TTHOMPSON@SATRADEHUB.ORG
WWW.SATRADEHUB.ORG
+267 74784003
A Warning
American English Will Be Spoken
What Is The Trade Hub?
AGOA
Africa Growth Opportunity Act
Gives 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 Service
Financial 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
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Ti
m
e
0
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.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Vision – reason and purpose for existing
Mission – major goals and performance objectives
Strategic Goals/Objectives – measureable and
verifiable outcomes you intend to achieve
Action Plans - steps required to reach strategic
goals/objectives – including who will do what,
when and how.
Tactics - specific actions used to achieve the
strategic goals and implement the strategic plan
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 Costs
Productivity Issues
Infrastructure Costs – electricity, Internet,
etc.
Government Red-Tape
Labor Laws
General Cost of Doing Business in Your
Country Compared to Other Countries
Currency 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.gov
FDA Regulations – www.fda.gov
http://www.fda.gov/Food/LabelingNutrition/FoodAllergensL
abeling/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/ucm106
187.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
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