Export Revolution Kicks Off
Enterprise Estonia has launched a program that will help mid-sized enterprises find export directors.
Called Export Revolution, the program is designed to let Estonian companies enter new markets. The future sales directors will be trained by Estonian and international practitioners, ETV reported.
A study conducted by the Institute of Economic Research in the autumn showed that companies feel a shortage of sales people needed to enter export markets.
Up to 25 export directors will be trained using an international team. Companies where such sales people would prospectively be hired can also participate in the program.
"We see there are two sides on the market - companies who are looking for people who would help them be successful in export, and young people who are underused but who could become export managers with the right training and supervision," said Marketing Institute head Anu-Mall Naarits.
"It is very good for a firm if they find a native market representative abroad, but there must also be competent people in Estonia who interact with that market and work with it," said Aare Paloots of the furniture company Tarmel, looking to move beyond the Nordics to exporting to the Netherlands. Paloots says there have not been many similar programs in Estonia.
Tarmo Kriis of the Employers Confederation says exporters could indeed set their sights farther than the European markets. "Certainly the Asian market, Japan, China, and South Korea but why not South America and North America where surprisingly little is going today," said Kriis.