Here’s a checklist of inspiration for aspiring exporters. Our collection of 50 favourite export case studies shows that there is no magic ingredient to making it to the world stage, but it certainly helps to get the basics right.
Carolyn Creswell on Carman’s Fine Foods
Exporting since: 1994
Key markets: Hong Kong, UK.
Buying a business at the age of 18 was no easy feat. But not only did Carolyn Creswell do so, she then turned Carman’s Fine Foods into an export success, which now reaches 17 locations.
Creswell puts great care and thought into both the quality of products and having packaging that represents that quality. And while it’s working so far, she knows there’s more work to be done in the coming year if she wants to increase exports by 15 percent.
Part of becoming a successful exporter is keeping hosts happy, and Creswell remembered this during a business dinner in Hong Kong where she was told the meal was beans with mice meat. The savvy entrepreneur choked it down anyway. Though later, to her relief, she was informed that it was actually mince meat!
Having carved herself a place in the muesli market, Creswell is now setting aside time to develop other healthy products.
