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Premier Rodney MacDonald's column
Growing Exports for a Sustainable Economy in the New Nova Scotia
Chronicle Herald
February 19, 2007
Thirty years of experience in a marching band bearing the awkward weight of a drum gave Chris Wallace lower back pain; it also motivated him to make a better drum harness.
Wallace and his partners at Phoenix Percussion Ltd. of Dartmouth have designed and produced a harness that’s easier on peoples' backs, offers stability, the harness folds away for convenience and can be stored in the drum box.
Now, the task-at-hand is to successfully market its product and grow its business—that will mean going global. Phoenix Percussion has just finished a marketing plan and will soon take its first international trade excursion. The company will be in Scotland on a trade mission led by the province’s business development agency NSBI.
My government, through the Department of Economic Development, has developed Going Global, Staying Local: a strategy to help businesses export themselves and their products. It commits resources and provides two new funding programs to help exporters realize their potential:
- Go-Ahead helps exporters convert leads into sales by covering some of the costs associated with travel and marketing materials;
- ExportAbility offers exporters professional development, including workshops, seminars and training sessions.
The global marketplace holds many benefits for small to medium-size companies: There are more customers.
Earl Kidston, president and CEO of Annapolis Valley-based Nova Agri Inc., a domestic and international fruit and vegetable producer/marketer, says his company’s Country Magic brands are sold throughout Canada, the Caribbean, the U.S., England and Iceland. This broad market base helps lower production costs, and it also helps justify investments in improved technology that boost quality.
Kidston says the international marketplace has exposed his business to market trends and international standards of quality, process and service. The result is knowledge, experience and market strength.
Market strength is a competitive edge that helps a business continue providing value to customers, either through continuity of supply and service or through carving out a niche.
Trihedral Engineering in Bedford knows about edge. The firm is a pioneer creating software other companies and organizations use as part of their critical systems. Trihedral’s vice president of business development, Barry Baker, says success in the international marketplace gives a company a bankable reputation. Customers reach the conclusion ‘that company has managed to sell products all over the world—it must be good’.
Trihedral’s international success is proof. As Baker explains, when you put gas in your car, that fuel may have come from the North Sea. He says about 1/3 of North Sea oil production uses Trihedral’s mission critical software. At the airport, if you head through U.S. customs you will see Trihedral’s logo on computer screens. When you listen to or watch CBC Radio and TV, Baker says Trihedral’s software is behind the scenes there, too.
Our province wants to celebrate more of these successes. Throughout Nova Scotia, there are hundreds of small to medium-size businesses with unique stories, but similar challenges and opportunities.
An expanded exporter base in Nova Scotia is important because our economy has an aging workforce and limited domestic markets. To achieve sustainable prosperity, the economy of the New Nova Scotia must generate more money through exporting and trading in the global marketplace.
I encourage our businesses to learn more about Going Global, Staying Local. Please visit www.gov.ns.ca/econ/trade.