Workshops at the Curaçao National Export Awareness Week

The Ministry of Economic Development of Curaçao has embarked on the process for a National Export Strategy (NES) and has committed to annually organizing the National Export Awareness Week (NEAW) in Curaçao. The NEAW is a platform that seeks to increase awareness of - and showcase - Curaçao’s export potential. It encourages current and potential exporters to initiate and enhance their entrepreneurial capabilities through innovation and collaboration. This includes the following key activities:
  • Increase awareness and visibility of the export potential of Curaçao outside of the traditional industries e.g. tourism.
  • Bring together all the key stakeholders in Curaçao to inform them about the Government’s export initiatives.
  • Provide information to MSME and the general public on the support mechanisms that will be put in place for start-ups and MSMEs.
  • Strengthen and deepen interactions and partnerships among the public and private sector, academia, MSMEs, research and development institutions and communities towards promoting the growth of exports through innovation.

Products

Year

2019

Country

Curaçao

Type of activity

  • Coaching
  • Market Intelligence

Year

2019

Country

Curaçao

Type of activity

  • Coaching
  • Market Intelligence
The main theme for this year’s NEAW was 'Curacao Export Nation'. This year the NEAW took place from Monday, May 20th – Friday May 24th, 2019 at the World Trade Centre, Curaçao. 
The Ministry of Economic Development of Curaçao invited Globally Cool to provide workshops and presentations during the National Export Awareness Week. These activities aimed to enlighten the export sectors on how to present their businesses internationally and tap market opportunities. The four workshops that took place were as follows:
  1. Workshop 1: Market Intelligence - Identifying promising markets.
  2. Workshop 2: How to do business in the EU: Opportunities and challenges.
  3. Workshop 3: Digital Marketing: Promoting your business through effective website marketing.
  4. Workshop 4: Branding and Promotion: How to optimize your trade fair participation.

Activities

During the week Globally Cool contributed to four workshops:

Workshop 1: Market Intelligence - Identifying promising markets

We presented an interactive methodology that has opened the eyes of many businessmen around the world. During this session, Globally Cool revealed how this methodology can be used to select the most promising markets for export products from Curacao.

Workshop 2: How to do business in the EU: Opportunities and challenges

The focus of this workshop was on the favourable trends and challenging market access requirements (opportunities and challenges) for 2 relevant product groups/services (foods and tourism) and how to find relevant buyers.

Workshop 3: Digital Marketing: Promoting your business through effective website marketing

This workshop focused on the key success factors of an effective website, attracting and converting visitors into customers, including website strategy, usability and Search Engine Optimization. Multiple good practices were shared.

Workshop 4: Branding and Promotion: How to optimize your trade fair participation

The session focused on the key success factors of an effective trade fair participation and highlighted the do’s and don’ts and a practical checklist. The sessions were interactive and blended with assignments and online quizzes and games.

Results

By the end of the sessions, the workshop participants understood:
  • there are more promising markets for their products (beyond the traditional markets) and they knew how to research and identify promising markets themselves, and which tools they can use to do so.
  • to what extent the trends offered opportunities to them and which market access requirements need to be tackled for successful market entry. Participants also knew which (free) sources to use to find such information in the future.
  • the key success factors of an effective website and were able to assess and improve their own website and search engine ranking using free tools.
  • the key success factors, how to make a trade fair participation a commercial success and were able to apply a practical checklist.