In international trade, you can get there from here
Mainers set the bar for bootstrapping their own businesses, but when it comes to thinking beyond the state's borders, particularly globally, many stop short, citing a lack of time or money.
While I admire such common sense, international trade is a hobby horse of mine: before moving to Maine I spent a good part of my career reporting overseas. I also lived in Japan, an island nation that needs global trade to prosper. So living in a state with abundant resources of its own, but a limited local market, I've sought out companies to write about that have ventured beyond the state's borders, and done so successfully.
Portland-based Tex Tech Industries Inc., which among other things makes 75% of the world's tennis ball felt, makes only $1 million of its $63 million in worldwide revenues from local customers. Similarly, Kepware Technologies, a software company with $30 million in revenue last year, culled 50% of it internationally but less than 1% in Maine.
The state's laboratories and universities are going global as well. Take the University of New England, which opened a science-focused campus in Morocco last year, and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, whose genomics and other research and services draw clients and scientists from around the world.
But when it comes to smaller companies, Janine Cary, president and state director of international trade at the Maine International Trade Center, tells me they often are owner-operated, and the owners feel they can't afford the time off for trade missions or the follow-up visits for overseas business.
She urges them to reconsider, given MITC's results. For fiscal years 2010 to 2013, trade missions totaled more than $59 million in export sales volumes, an annual average of $14 million.
Amber Lambke, president and co-owner of Maine Grains in Skowhegan, is an exception. She went on the most recent MITC trade mission to Iceland, also attended by Gov. Paul LePage. She tells me Eimskip helped pique her interest in the mission after the Iceland-based shipping company told her it needed backhaul to Europe.
That helped sprout an idea during her visit to Iceland, which unlike Maine, doesn't grow much grain. “I realized I could be the eyes and ears for Maine's local foods,” Lambke says, noting that Iceland imports a majority of its food. “The shipping for us would be no more complicated than getting our product to New York City.”
Livermore Falls native John Benedetto saw a similar opportunity in Singapore, where he now lives. Benedetto, whose wife is Singaporean, formerly worked in biotechnology manufacturing in New England and then tried unsuccessfully to set up a bottled water business in Maine.
After reading my recent story about how the state's limited market stymies Maine farmers, he emailed from Singapore to say he plans to set up a business selling “Made in Maine” goods.
“As a Maine native, I can relate to the abundance of natural beauty and resources in Maine, but a limited market for the goods and services available,” he says. “Part of that…is why I am working to establish myself in Singapore, where there is a robust jobs market and highly concentrated consumer base,” about 5.5 million people in an area of 276 square miles.
Maine's business hub and its most populous area, Cumberland County, has 281,674 people in 1,217 square miles. That's a population density of 318 per square mile versus 7,615 in Singapore.
While Maine has plenty of space in Aroostook and other counties to grow food, Benedetto notes that Singapore imports more than 95% of its food as there is no space for farming or agriculture.
He's still in the early stages of his new business, but he initially plans to sell fresh produce. Maine lobster is another possibility.
“As I make progress and find markets for the goods available, I will be looking for sources,” he says.
And that's an open door that shows you can get there from here.
Lori Valigra, Mainebiz senior writer, can be reached at lvaligra@mainebiz.biz.
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