A pilot program started in May to connect Savannah and Ireland for international trade is bearing fruit.

The program,TradeBridge, is a partnership between World Trade Center Savannah, the Savannah Economic Development Authority and the county of Wexford, Ireland.

Savannah and Wexford have ties that span 170 years when immigrants from Wexford came to Savannah for a new home.

As part of the TradeBridge initiative, Savannah and Wexford each hired a person devoted to business and trade development. TradeBridge offers expertise and a low-risk way to see if a foreign market exists for a company’s products.

In the coastal Georgia area, five companies participated in a trade mission to Wexford in November. In October, five Irish companies came to Savannah.

Kristen Crawley, international sales director for Savannah Bee Company, was among the group that made the Ireland trip. Also making the trip were representatives of Wet Willies.

Crawley said TradeBridge has been a great help.
“We were delighted to participate and are still in the midst of finalizing negotiations with a distributor for our health and beauty products,” Crawley said.

James Reville, CEO of the Wexford company, Survipod Engineering Solutions Limited, found a distributor for his product as a result of his TradeBridge trip to Savannah.

A Survipod is a tool for surveyors that replaces the conventional tripod.

“Through hard work and determination on both sides, TradeBridge organized relative meetings,” Reville said. “Through those meetings and more, we are proud to say Ram Tool will be fully stocked in December and selling (our product) in their 39 branches in seven states.”

Brynn Grant, chief operating officer for SEDA and vice president for World Trade Center Savannah, said focus and hard work have created results through TradeBridge and credits Trey Rossiter with much of the effort. Rossiter is the Savannah Business and Trade Bridge Development Advisor for the Georgia side of TradeBridge.

Grant said TradeBridge is currently supporting Savannah and Wexford businesses in 27 “more-likely-than-not” deals from direct sales to distribution partnerships with three more Coastal Georgia companies planning trips to Wexford in the first and second quarters of 2019.

“Three Wexford businesses are also expected to visit Savannah early in 2019,” Grant said.

The program has also helped seven foreign direct investment deals for the Savannah region.

Grant said schedules of people in Savannah and those in Wexford don’t always match up with organized mission dates.
“Some are making trips on their own,” Grant said. All participants pay for their own travel and expenses.

Grant also pointed to responses to the Savannah Gateway Regional Showcase held each year during the Savannah Music Festival.

“We have had four applications from Irish businesses exploring investment opportunities in the U.S.,” Grant said. “We’ve never received them this early.”
The showcase is hosted by the World Trade Center Savannah and Georgia Power.
Another Irish business, impressed with Savannah, was Shane Curtin, who works with Kent Stainless.

Curtin said TradeBridge officials in Savannah made “efficient use of my time,” with eight meetings in two days.

Curtin said what he didn’t expect was how useful the meetings would be.
“Usually on a business development trip you might have 10 or 12 meetings with three or four that are useful,” Curtin said. “In this case all eight were useful and an effective and efficient use of our time.”

Curtin is planning another trip to Savannah in February.
“Savannah seems to be the right size to try out the American market,” Curtin said.
Kent Stainless is a stainless engineering company.

He said his target market is landscape architects working on construction sites within the public realm.

Grant said there are two main factors for the success of TradeBridge to date.

“For the 17 years I have been at SEDA, we have no more committed international economic development partners than those in Wexford,” Grant said. “Also the consistency of effort and in coordinating key events which drive activity toward a goal.”

Grant said investment follows trade, with JCB and DIRTT being just two area examples.

John Coleman, vice chair of the SEDA board, said the trip to Wexford was also filled with good, substantive meetings.

Coleman said it’s also great to see the Savannah and Wexford connection continuing.
“It’s great to see what’s happening.”

See source for the original story.

DeAnn Komanecky
Savannah Morning News