Business NZ issued a press release today regarding a need to boost exports from NZ.

Business NZ chief executive Phil O’Reilly’s quote rings true – he says

New Zealand’s economy is too small to generate rapid growth without strong export performance.

Our challenge is to grow exports as a proportion of GDP. It’s the only way to grow the economy and improve living standards.

Our population makes up a tiny proportion of worldwide consumers and clients, so exporting is key to creating a viable long term growth plan for businesses.

We have a number of overseas clients, many of which have been as a result of collaboration with our Prague office. Working with these businesses gives one a strong sense that those not exporting are only getting the benefit of the tip of the iceberg.

This is summed up pretty well really on the Government’s Export Year 2007 website, in the title:

“You take baby steps. Take small risks and then grow it from there.”

Don’t wait for the world to come to you.

If you haven’t guessed already, the NZ Government has announced 2007 as Export Year for our small island nation. Their website has some information on it, and the Government is promoting ways in which they can help NZ business to export.

But at the end of the day the quote rings true. If we wait for the world to come to us, we will probably be waiting a long time. We need to go out to the international market and sell ourselves. Even if you are tiny business that has an established product and customer base, I would really recommend considering exporting if it’s something you at least want to consider.

And there really hasn’t been a better time. Helen Clark has been flying all around the world during her time as Prime Minister, improving relationships with other countries and working toward better trade relationships. We could have the first FTA with China.

But really, the only way in which NZ businesses can benefit from these efforts is to actually go out there and start selling ourselves to these countries. I don’t think you need to have a huge budget to get the ball rolling.

These FTA’s are for the benefit of us, NZ businesses, so we should be making the effort to shift our thinking to exporting as part of a sustainable business plan.

If you are not exporting your goods or services, an excellent place to start is:

http://www.nzte.govt.nz/

If you want to establish sales overseas without actually setting up a shop there (and here goes our plug), why not try selling online?