Expanding Your Market Through Exports

The Curaçao Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Chamber) does its utmost to assist and encourage local entrepreneurs to expand their businesses by offering their products and services to overseas markets. To expand initiatives, the Chamber collaborates with local companies to determine new markets, promoting their businesses and finding business opportunities abroad.

Export Conference Summarized
On March 19th, 2015, the Chamber held a business conference at Avila Hotel on exporting. Mr. William (Billy) Jonckheer, President of the Chamber, had a surprise announcement to make during his introduction speech. The Chamber just received a visit from representatives of a Caribbean island . The representatives extended an invitation to Curaçao businesses to offer their services to the island, opening the door to tap into their market. They were particularly interested in companies that can render services in the area of waste management, waste to energy solutions, alternative energy (both solar and wind), as well as ICT services and call centers.

The keynote speaker of the conference was Mr. Toine Knipping, who gave his eye-opening insights on the “Key Steps to Successfully Enter Overseas Markets.” His vast experience in proactively turning numerous business ideas into successful ventures, as well as his clear explanation about the specific steps to take to reach those goals, made this conference considered as one of the best ever by many of the attendees.

After Mr. Knipping’s address, the Chamber staff elaborated on how the Chamber can assist local entrepreneurs in identifying potential target markets based on international trade data, as well as facilitating business with its network of contacts. Furthermore, the content of the Code of Conduct was discussed, of which locally established businesses would need to comply if they want to be part of the Chamber’s export efforts. The purpose of the code is to create an ethical marketplace where buyers and sellers can trust each other. The Chamber also announced it will be promoting and advertising a new website, which will exhibit local exporters with their respective business profiles and websites internationally.