While working or travelling abroad, quite often, you are asked where you come from. In a casual context, this question means, "What is your country of origin?”. In a professional world, however, especially in places with a high number of expatriates, this question implies at the same time, "What is your base country?” Meaning "Where is your employer headquartered?”.
Once at a conference in Hong Kong, the person next to me asked me the unavoidable question, "where do you come from?”. I looked at him. Spontaneously I replied, "I don’t think you want to know. It's complicated”. He replied, "I like complicated. Tell me, where do you come from?”
A few minutes later, he went on stage as one of the event's guest speakers. Introducing his speech, he said, "Isn’t it great? The world has come together. I was just sitting next to a lady from Rwanda, currently based in Singapore, sent over by a Swiss company, now leading a project in Hong Kong. That’s what I call Globalization!”
In business, globalisation refers to the increasing integration of economies around the world, in particular through the movement of goods, services, and capital across borders. The term can also refer to the movement of people (labour) and knowledge (technology) across international borders. Technological advances like the internet and telecommunication combined with the vast expansion of international trade agreements have been major factors in the rise of globalisation, creating a deep interdependence of worldwide economic activity.
Globalisation creates a lot of opportunities. Rwandan entrepreneurs, for instance, are no longer limited to the Rwandan market. One can now sell products or services to anyone out there in the world. Today, in the blink of an eye, you can be in touch with someone at the other end of the globe with a smartphone, the internet, traveller’s Miles & More, etc. Your next client is on the very tablet you are holding in your hands. It should no longer be a big deal to sell your products to a client in Beijing when your office is in Remera. Right?
Well, it turns out to be a little more difficult than that. There will be technological hick-ups, language barriers and cultural differences to deal with. A bad internet connection might make you miss an important business agreement deadline. Sometimes even small things can create big problems. When working in Hong Kong, my company wanted to hand out the prestigious Swiss pocket knives to our Chinese partners as a gift to celebrate an important achievement. Luckily, one of our Chinese team members told us just in time that in Chinese culture, giving a knife to someone means cutting ties. All knives returned to Switzerland with the next flight.
Once you get a preliminary agreement signed, other issues arise. You will need to fulfil requirements set by international regulations and those requested by the client. The client will not want to take any unnecessary risks. S/he will want to know about your production capacity, your disaster recovery strategy, or whether you respect ethical matters, etc. But also, if you calculate all fees and taxes, is your product still competitive with the goods available in their home market?
And finally, when all requirements are taken care of, you will, of course, need to produce and deliver your goods. Do you continuously meet your deadlines? Can you produce with constant quality all year round? Do your suppliers turn out to be reliable? What do you do if they are not? Can you get your products certified with an internationally recognised trade mark? We could keep on expanding this list, but it all comes down to this: can you keep your client satisfied?
When you start thinking about these topics, exporting might suddenly seem like a daunting task. Is exporting really a good idea? Well, the answer is that exporting certainly is a good idea. At least, if the opportunity is right and your business is in the right stage to take this step. How can you know this?
There is good news: You are not alone. The government of Rwanda has created trade opportunities within the Francophonie globally and within the Commonwealth. Rwanda is among the seven countries to pilot the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) framework. For entrepreneurs in Rwanda, the path is set to access international markets. BDS providers, government institutions RDB and MINICOM, and many more actors are here to support you.
The author is the Country Director of the Business Professionals Network (BPN) Rwanda. She is also a board member of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and I&M Bank.