Project profile — Canadian Market Access and Trade Capacity Building

The project has two main components: (1) The first component comprises Canadian market access services for developing country exporters and trade support institutions. These services include trade information, matching exporters with Canadian importers, and a responsive facility to help exporters from selected countries in their efforts to link to the Canadian marketplace; and (2) The second component comprises trade capacity-building and linkage services in five partner countries, consisting of a series of trade development projects implemented by TFO Canada and its local partners. The first objective of this component is to enhance the trade support services available to small and medium enterprise (SME) exporters in these countries. The second objective is to build the capacity of selected SMEs in order to increase their trade competitiveness and establish contacts that enable increased export and employment growth. An important initiative within this component aims to strengthen the capacity of Haitian artisans to develop and to export their products.

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Results achieved as of December 2013 include: (1) 3,640 new developing country exporters have registered on the free TFO Canada website and half of these companies have published export offers to Canadian buyers. This represents a 103% increase in the number of exporters using the service since the beginning of the project. (2) There has been a significant increase in the activity on the TFO Canada website, notably downloads of Canadian market publications (up 55% since the beginning of the project) and the number of developing country exporter profiles and offers viewed by Canadian buyers (up 135%). The vast majority of these exporters are smaller companies with up to 100 employees and over one third of these companies are owned, co-owned, or managed by female entrepreneurs. (3) Canadian market access services were provided to a group of 23 countries through local trade support institutions and their trade representatives in Canada. The results generated by these services include: 13 market entry studies were prepared by Canadian Master of Business Administration students for developing country exporters and agreements were concluded with 18 developing country trade support institutions to help them deliver enhanced Canadian market access services. The goal of 14 of the agreements is to implement Canadian market development projects (e.g. trade missions, seminars), which include technical assistance provided by TFO Canada. (4) As a result of the above activities, 693 developing country exporters have undertaken trade development activities to improve their export competitiveness and Canadian market readiness. In addition, 503 of the exporters have established contact with Canadian buyers. At least 96 trade support institutions have used TFO Canada trade information services in assisting local exporters and 13 have implemented new services or projects to help exporters access the Canadian marketplace. 277 exporters report that they have conducted business with Canadians and they report having made new export sales of over $3.9 million. (5) As a result of the trade capacity-building and linkage services provided for five partner countries, over 180 small or medium-sized enterprises (39% led by women) have increased sales or increased capacity to engage in trade, thanks to export training, personalized advice, product and market development, and the facilitation of business meetings and networking with Canadian importers. Many business sectors felt the benefits of this growth, particularly the agri-food and artisanal interior decoration sectors. These businesses achieved over $2.4 million in additional export sales within one to two years of receiving support from TFO Canada and export sales are expected to continue to increase. (6) Four national trade support institutions received assistance in developing and delivering new services for small and medium-sized businesses in their respective country. The reach of these new services is estimated at over 1,000 businesses to date. These new services include: export training courses, packaging guides, and an e-commerce website.