Are trade missions worth it in 2024?
With the rise of the internet, online marketplaces like Jumia, Alibaba, and BAM, and social media platforms, businesspeople can easily locate international customers without the hassles and bureaucracy of trade missions. Even Facebook has a marketplace and you can shop on Instagram now!
Before we delve into the importance of trade missions, let’s understand what the term means. This article on the importance of trade missions will cover:
- What is a trade mission?
- What is the purpose of a trade mission?
- What are the benefits of trade missions?
- Sponsoring & facilitating trade missions
What Is A Trade Mission?
A trade mission is a business trip by government officials and business executives to discover potential buyers, sellers, markets, and business partners in a foreign business environment. It is an organized visit by government officials and businesses for export development, market access, sales, process development, and networking.
- For example, you make shoes for nearly everyone in your town, but you want the next town’s residents to become your customers too. So, with your team (sole supplier, marketer, operations manager, etc) and the support of the mayor’s office, you visit the next town to expand your operations. There, you meet investors, new suppliers, and get comprehensive report(s) on how your shoes can fill a need. Sometimes, the mayor organizes this, and sometimes, you and your team can go on your own. That is what a trade mission is.
What Is The Purpose Of A Trade Mission?
Trade missions aren’t just business trips; they serve different purposes depending on your organization’s needs. Businesses embark on trade missions to:
- Explore new markets.
- Attract investors and capital.
- Partner with sectors of international governments.
- Create networks of buyers, suppliers, distributors and other key players of specific value chains in foreign countries.
- Gain market access to new regions.
- Evaluate and understand market areas, consumers, and investors.
- Boost business credibility.
- Promote culture and foster unity.
- Explore potential global business opportunities.
- Restrategize your business based on accurate research (from the host country).
What are The Benefits of Trade Missions?
Why do businesses embark on trade missions? Here are a few reasons why:
- Sales in multiple regions.
- Introducing new products or services to certification bodies, government regulatory bodies, chain supermarkets, distributors, wholesalers and retailers.
- Identifying new investors and pitching easily as opposed to weeks of awaiting email responses, calls, or virtual meetings.
- Assessing your competition and evaluating your position in the global market.
- Learning new methods, tools, or technologies to improve your production process and output.
- Building relationships with industry stakeholders and governments to ease business procedures.
Sponsoring & Facilitating Trade Missions
Although trade missions are usually sponsored by government bodies and large non-profit organizations, growing private organizations can facilitate the process through research, logistics co-ordination, business match-making, and more. This can be helpful for your business if you are in the trade facilitation sector, which aims to develop business access to goods across national and bureaucratic barriers and optimize trade.
For instance, in preparation for Macfrut 2024, an annual event for the fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices sector, the Macfrut team visited Nigeria with a delegation of Italian trade commissioners and stakeholders to analyze the market. Some parts of the trade mission were facilitated by MATE Africa Concepts Ltd. This facilitation happened through logistics support, practical market expos, strategic meetings and partnerships.
So, you don’t have to be a trade mission delegate to be part of one; you can also facilitate the process or work with us to do so.
Contact us at moc.acirfaetam.www@maet or call: 07014888891 for fast response.