Business Trip to Southeast Asia Achieves New, High-Level Business Connections for Delaware Companies

Naresh Batta, the President of BATTA Environmental Associates in Newark, Delaware is pleased with how the trip to Singapore and Malaysia with Export Delaware went. As a result of the meetings he had on the trip, his team is already in commercial negotiations with one new client, and several companies in both Singapore and Malaysia are interested in his product, and are currently performing testing.

“I’m pretty confident something will come out of it. Everything was flawless. Nothing to add or improve it.”

– Naresh Batta

Julio da Ponte II, Vice President of Industrial Valves and Fittings in New Castle, Delaware participated in the trip to reconnect with previous connections and partners. “I feel good about the meetings, and feel a sense on confidence from my customers. Now they know I’m willing to travel there, and that I value building long term term relationships.”

Batta and da Ponte were among five Delaware business owners/professionals who traveled to Singapore and Malaysia in mid-April to explore export opportunities. Over the course of the 5-day trip, the participants attended a collective total of 54 one-on-one meetings with leadership of potential partners and distributors in both countries.

Business Matchmaking and Planning Provided by the State’s In-country Rep

This trip was not organized overnight! Planning began in January with the State of Delaware’s international representative Sarath Menon and his brilliant team at Orissa International.

Orissa International has offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. Since 1997, they have served over a thousand companies, both small and large, break into the growing markets of Southeast Asia and meeting new customers.

In the February/March timeframe, Export Delaware and the team at Orissa worked one-on-one with the participants from Delaware via conference calls and a multitude of emails back and forth to identify the ideal target clients. Once the targets were confirmed as a good fit, Orissa booked meetings with the appropriate contacts, and made arrangements for a productive trip.

When researching potential clients for BATTA Environmental, Orissa discovered that the Asia Water 2018 Trade Show was taking place in Malaysia two weeks before Mr. Batta was scheduled to be there. Orissa facilitated a connection with another company who was exhibiting at the show. They arranged for BATTA Environmental’s information and marketing material to be displayed at their booth at the show! Due to Orissa’s foresight, Mr. Batta had a distributor working for them in-country even before he left!

Full Schedules in a Foreign Country — No Problem!

Export Delaware organized a pre-trip briefing for all participants before leaving on the trip. At the briefing, they discussed logistics, cultural considerations and best practices for optimizing their time on the mission. With help from Orissa International and other local vendors in-country, the Export Delaware team coordinated in-country transportation for each company. Participants don’t have to worry about getting from meeting to meeting by themselves in the foreign countries — those details are all taken care of.

“The State’s support team added a lot of value on this trip. We all benefited from their intimate knowledge of the targeted areas, along with the local customs and laws. They also helped to map out best routes and assisted in making appointments. The support they provided was extremely helpful and facilitated us getting the most out of our time invested there”

– Julio da Ponte II