On 16 October 2003 an inquiry into Australian expatriates was initiated by the Senate to the Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee which in turn received a total of 670 submissions for the investigation, mostly from external parties with some affiliation to Australian expatriates. The committee’ terms of reference included:

• The extent of the Australian diaspora,
• The variety of factors driving more Australians to live overseas,
• Cost benefits and opportunities,
• The needs and concerns of overseas Australians, plus
• Measures taken by other comparable countries to respond to the needs of their expats and ways in which Australia could better engage its expats to promote economic, social and cultural interests.

The Senate’s inquiry published their findings in March 2005 starting with recognition that Australia has nearly a million global ambassadors that call Australia home.

In exploring international trade, Australian based firms, must navigate the challenges of:

• The distance of Australia to markets and customers,
• A heritage of selling crops and minerals to trading companies in Australia,
• Understanding export markets and customers,
• Determining practical market entry plans,
• Sales support and service in distant markets, as well as;
• Knowing the mechanics of exporting relevant to each market

These needs are partially addressed by government organisations, industry associations and investigative missions into foreign markets. However, despite successful and supportive government incentives at Commonwealth and state levels, what exporter’s continually ask for is guidance from those who have previously been there and done it successfully. Coupling the personal experience with the export mechanics of the dos and don’ts of trading in new markets improves confidence and builds ‘export readiness’ and ‘export capability’.

ExpatriateConnect (EC) is an initiative of the AIC, Southern Cross and ALBA National, that matches Australian companies with export market experienced mentors and provides coaching and resources to improve the ‘export readiness’ of these companies. Case studies are available for your reference at www.expatriateconnect.com and share how Australian companies have leveraged ExpatriateConnect’s export mentoring, coaching and resources to support export outcomes.