Detail

Prague, 27 September 2005 - More than 200 representatives of Czech exporters, in particular SMEs, gathered at two seminars called The Successful Exporter, organised in Prague and Brno by Komerční banka together with CzechTrade's Export Club. The purpose of the seminars was to help - in particular start-up SMEs - to become oriented in export issues.

"As Czech companies' export potential grows stronger the importance of providing them with high quality support in the area of banking services is increasing. The number of clients using KB's payment and security products rose by 20% over the past two years, and a visible rise continues this year too. KB's long-term strategy is to support not only the existing experienced exporters but also clients who are only building their positions outside this country. The purpose of seminars such as the one organised today is to share with our exporting clients the experience and available services of our specialists and external partners, and also the knowledge possessed by other clients who already trade successfully on foreign markets," explains Jana Švábenská, head of KB Trade Finance.

"CzechTrade's main objective is growth in Czech companies' exports. I like to see our work bringing these efforts to fruition, but on the other hand, I come every day across the mistakes made by our companies when they are entering foreign markets. They are simple and unnecessary mistakes, which, however, mercilessly result in losing a contract being negotiated. One of such mistakes is underestimating export financing, which is, together with securing payments and other necessary building blocks, the basis for a long-term export strategy," says Jitka Hanzlíčková, CzechTrade CEO. "We are ready to help businesses with the development of this strategy, by way of one-to-one consultations as well as seminars organised as part of export education. With the carrying out itself, through the network of 30 CzechTrade representative offices in foreign countries," adds Hanzlíčková.

Sustainable success abroad is the result of many factors, including detailed knowledge of the country and competitors, barriers to the entry into a certain market, and the target partner on the market. Particularly start-up exporters and smaller firms that have not yet built their own exports department and international marketing, are often in the dark as to whom in fact they want to approach in a foreign country, how to adjust their products or services, or what their marketing mix should be like. They also make many mistakes during business meetings or subsequent communication with the partners. The experience accumulated by successful exporting companies also confirms the need to follow a comprehensive export strategy and to have adequate financing in place.

"A high quality product, in our case modern water management technologies and know-how, is not enough per se. Internationally, we cannot do without a long-term plan setting out the various steps to be taken in a particular country and their consistent evaluation. In eastern markets, on which we focus, we need a good local representative, who is one of many in that country and who helps to establish personal working contacts and also win the government's support. For us, this representative is an export promotion water management alliance, the Czech Water Alliance attached to CzechTrade, which also helped with the first meetings in the region. The current exporting successes, particularly in the Russian Federation, prove that the co-operation with the agency and other Czech companies in the region is fruitful," says Milan Moravec, head of international trade at Hydroprojekt, a.s. Hydroprojekt achieves revenues of over CZK 300 million annually, of which more than one-third are generated by exports. It was the first in the Czech Republic to obtain a Russian licence for designing and consulting services in the Russian Federation.

Zdeněk Černý of Biomac also emphasises companies' export alliances and a well-thought-through export strategy underpinned by export financing. "Our legislation, which complicates expansion in the marketing of biofuels on the Czech market, has compelled us to focus on exports. In our exports the breakthrough moment was the beginning of 2005, through a joint presentation at the Energiesparmesse trade fair in the CzechTrade stand. Thanks to the contract won there, our company's revenues rose from CZK 72 million in 2003 to CZK 90 million for the first half of 2005. The large contract and CzechTrade's sponsorship have made it possible for us to start selling under our own brand, and we have joined forces with other producers of biofules and products similar to our range. Especially at the beginning a loan granted by Komerční banka helped us very much, and subsequent co-operation with KB and other banks made it possible for us to build new operations, each of them turning out a tonne of briquettes per hour," says Zdeněk Černý.

The support provided to KB's exporting clients includes, for example, pre-contract advice, international payments services, pre-export financing, comprehensive trade finance services, currency and forex risk protection and facilitation of other financial services offered in the Société Générale group and the bank's partners outside this group.

Komerční banka is the third largest bank in the Czech Republic by the size of assets, providing comprehensive financial services to clients in retail, corporate and investment banking. Today, 7,400 KB employees serve more than 1,400,000 customers, who can use an extensive network of 338 points of sale all over the country. KB operates 578 ATMs and more than 700,000 of its customers use one of the direct banking channels.
In 2004 KB was awarded the "Bank of the Year" title. KB is a part of the Société Générale Group, the fifth banking group in the euro zone. Around 92,000 of the Group's employees serve 17 million clients worldwide.

CzechTrade is the Czech Republic's national trade promotion agency. Its objective is to provide first-class support in the area of export advice, services, and education. The agency strives for its brand to help CzechTrade clients achieve success in foreign countries and to build, together with them, an excellent reputation for Czech exports. CzechTrade operates in 30 centres of 27 countries. In each of the Czech Republic's regions CzechTrade's services are available through a network of information points (RIM) attached to chambers of economy.

CzechTrade is the third national export promotion organisation in Europe to obtain an ISO 9001:2000 quality management system certificate. In the Czech Top 100 raking it received an award as "The Admired Firm of 2005" in the area of services to companies.

www.czechtrade.cz
www.czechtradeoffices.com