Inside ASI-AP

I met today with an export advisor from Austrade (specifically the Tradestart program) to better understand the options available to us for export assistance into Asia - via government programs, grants and also paid consultancy. We talked specifically about our existing relationships with NZ, Singapore and Malaysia and then on understanding how Austrade can help with new markets like India, Pakistan and further into the future China, Japan and Korea. While we have been aware of such programs before - to sit and hear them all at once was both exciting and stimulating.

For example, we can get funding to sponsor an inbound trade mission where we organise a "study tour" for Malaysian non-profits to come visit us and a number of our customers in Australia to provide best-practice business models for non-profits (and promoting iMIS). That particular amount of funding is upwards of $20k.

I have some further work to do now in documenting more formally our products, unique selling points, required partner and customer profiles to provide to Austrade - and then getting that into the Austrade "system" and eventually to the Australian trade commissioners in the various countries we want to work. I will meet again with our export advisor later in the month.

What an invigorating meeting!