European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) – Export Training

Project Overview

StrategyCrowd won a contract to design and deliver a 3-day interactive export training programme in Regional Centres of Ukraine and Turkmenistan. The training programme was targeted at SMEs across all industry sectors and included follow-up mentoring for all participants. Following a successful pilot, the programme was rolled out in 7 regional Cities in Ukraine and a cohort of businesses in Turkmenistan. The course included all aspects of exporting from strategy to planning; market research; route-to-market selection; selling in international markets; value proposition & marketing; impact of culture and export readiness – practical and financial considerations.

This export training programme was designed specifically for SMEs with ambitions to grow their business in export markets. The course design brings participants on a journey from understanding the strategic motivations to export and their international growth ambitions to the ‘how to’ from market research to route-to-market; understanding the importance of culture in international business; selling to international customers to the practical considerations of what needs to change in their business to ‘can I afford to export’. The output is guiding participants to prioritising and focussing on achievable, sustainable and profitable growth in export markets.

Outcome/Results

StrategyCrowd has delivered this export training programme to over 100 SMEs in Ukraine and Turkmenistan based on a 3-day interactive workshop delivered in a classroom environment. The course is broken down into 6 sections – each with its own participant handbook. All participants in this workshop received follow-on 1-2-1 mentoring (90 mins) to help them complete their export growth action plan. The mentoring was delivered virtually using Skype.

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