SASKATOON – Getting a chance to travel to Asia and research potential new markets is an experience Christine Banman couldn’t refuse.
Banman is one of 10 University of Saskatchewan MBA students leaving on a 15-day trip to Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
The trip will be no holiday for the dairy and grain farmer from the Aberdeen area.
It’s a working tour that’s part of her university marketing course. The trip is an opportunity to get practical experience in market research and explore potential new markets for Saskatchewan.
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“That experience doesn’t come very readily and very cheaply,” said Banman.
Her total bill is $850. The remainder is funded by the University of Saskatchewan’s Centre for International Business Studies, the College of Commerce, and four participating companies.
Each student has been paired with one of the four companies, Ag-West Biotech Inc., MicroBio RhizoGen Corporation, MicroGro International Research Inc. and Electronic Coupon Marketing.
They are all Saskatoon companies with links to the agricultural bio-technology industry except for Electronic Coupon Marketing, which is a Winnipeg-based firm that installs electronic coupon machines in grocery stores.
Each student will assist a company in developing a market in southeast Asia. Banman has been teamed with Ag-West Biotech Inc.
“(Her) role is to start understanding what the market potentials are, what the biotech interest is in those countries from an ag perspective and how the linkages and contacts should be made,” said Murray McLaughlin, Ag-West president.
By the time her course is completed in August, Banman should have developed a business plan for Saskatchewan firms interested in biotechnology opportunities in southeast Asia, he said.
It will be like an instruction guide detailing what opportunities exist and how they should be pursued.
The joint venture with the College of Commerce was a natural fit for Ag-West, which has a mandate to commercialize agricultural biotechnology developments in the province.
Instructor Bruce Hoggard said Saskatchewan companies have not been actively pursuing Asian markets. It costs a lot of money to send staff to explore market potential.
“This class takes some of the aversion away. Students aren’t being paid a salary and they’re doing a lot of the rudimentary market research.”
Hoggard was part of the 1991 marketing class that went to southeast Asia. The trip resulted in a contract with the Singapore Sports Council for his fledgling business. He said if a business of one can make money, there’s no “God-given reason” why an organization of 15 can’t.
“Companies in this province have such narrow, focal blinders on that they’re missing tremendous opportunities. They are so unaware and oblivious to it that they can’t fathom how much they’re missing.”
