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