Finance’s creation of CAN-Trade a boon to SMBs: BC wireless association

The Wireless Innovation Network of British Columbia (WINBC) is applauding the Depart-ment of Finance’s proposal to create CAN-Trade, an initiative aimed at spurring international trade for the country’s small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). CAN-Trade would invest $485 million over the next five years to stimulate trade with emerging mar-kets such as China, India and Brazil. Caroline Lewko, chair of WINBC, tells Report on Wireless that at least one part of the CAN-Trade initiative fills a void that was left with the shuttering of the Program for Export Market Development (PEMD) some time ago. " really hurt our companies because that provided small companies with money to travel, do trade shows and it looks like putting something like that back and that’s a really good thing," she says. With the money contained in the Global Success Fund, she adds, it’s a big plus for small companies. Money for trade shows and international conferences are a crucial aspect of this proposal, she says. "That’s really so important, especially for the big ones that we go to in the wireless space like the CTIA shows and 3GSM. Canada’s presence at those has really been pretty pitiful...you see countries like Korea, Scotland and Ireland having a much bigger presence not just in booth space, but they do a lot of receptions to meet people. Their companies are really given the opportunity to both get showcased and are also able to get face-to-face with people that they need to." The $250 million Global Success Fund is designed to help small and medium businesses with less than $25 million in annual revenue get exposure and create trading relationships. "The fund will provide contributions on a matching basis to support the implementation of three-year business plans of SMEs with annual revenue of less than $25 million that want to expand their activities into priority markets. Over the next five years, the Global Success Fund is expected to assist more than 5,000 SMEs," reads A Plan for Growth and Prosperity section of the federal government’s recent economic update. Global Success Fund part of larger international The fund is only one aspect of a greater international trade strategy for the country’s small and medium businesses. The key pillar for this strategy is a combination of five initiatives aimed at providing Canadian SMEs with on-the-ground services to successfully compete in international markets. To ensure effective access to the emerging markets of China, India and Brazil, the government proposed to commit $109 million over five years to expand the trade commissioner service of International Trade Canada. This could prove to be one of the more beneficial aspects of the program, says Lewko. "About two years ago, put some extra dollars into building out the trade commissioners service in the United States and that’s been really helpful," she says. The creation of this program and the intent of the greater CAN-Trade initiative, while it is good news, could ultimately never come to fruition if the next governing party deems this to be of lesser importance than other government programs. As Lewko notes, "Everything is always up in the air when there’s an election coming. It’s hard to get excited is you don’t know if it’s really going to happen or not."

Finance’s creation of CAN-Trade a boon to SMBs: BC wireless association

News | 12/01/2005 5:00 am EST

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