ExSport Management

Brendan Lynch, Founder of ExSport Management specialises in strategic planning, program development, governance reform, organisational development, workforce planning and change management in the sport industry.

As Program Manager of Volunteer Recruitment for the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG), Brendan headed the team responsible for the successful delivery of the 60,000 volunteers for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympics Games.  Brendan has since been appointed as adviser to a number of Olympic, Paralympic, Commonwealth and Asian Games organising committees, as well as the IOC’s Olympic Games Knowledge Service.

The philosophy behind ExSport is relatively simple – to ensure the ongoing development of professional sport management by promoting organisational development, sound business practices and the commercial growth of sport.

Drawing on the wealth of experience gained  from over two decades in the international sport management industry, Brendan has made significant contributions towards the staging and management of major sporting events around the world.  In 2006 ExSport worked with the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee to prepare the tender for workforce training for the Doha 2006 Asian Games.

Last year ExSport provided advisory services to the Vancouver Organising Committee to plan the recruitment, training, management, logistics support, and rewarding of the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games volunteers.

With the London 2012 Olympics only 1136 days away, Brendan has already begun advising the London Organising Committee to support the development of its sizable volunteer workforce.  This is no small task with up to 70,000 volunteers expected to take part in the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

For more information please visit ExSport Management’s website www.exsport.com.au

Recruitment Systems’ flagship product is the TRIS Recruitment CRM which is used by recruiters and human resource managers to manage documents, contacts and workflow. To develop and redevelop the system, the company works with the recruitment industry to identify all processes that do not need the direct input of a real person. Then Recruitment Systems’ software developers in Canberra and in the company’s Russian offices develop systems to eliminate or automate these processes.

“We are continuously working to automate as much of the recruitment process as pos¬sible to leave the real work for real people,” says founder and chief executive officer Neil Bolton.

With the global financial crisis now hitting recruiters in Australia and New Zealand, Recruitment Systems is expanding abroad into high growth markets.

Late last year the company sent three staff to Dubai for the annual GITEX Technology week. This major tradeshow generated prospects from countries such as Yemen, Kuwait, South Africa, Lebanon and Uganda.

“We were amazed at the incredible demand for the TRIS Recruitment CRM across the Middle East and Africa” says General Manager Brent Juratowitch who is an active member of the ACT Exporters Network. Recruitment Systems in the last two months signed partnership arrangements with distributors in Malaysia and China to keep up with demand.

Since Splatter’s inception in 1996, there has been one clear vision, to create a leading global Australian brand based on solid, original, modern design. This brand would then become a solid umbrella company under which a vari¬ety of highly desirable, stylish, quality products could be housed.

Export and subsequent expansion overseas to a world market are essential to Splatter’s future as a growing Australian brand, and it has been Angela and Chris’s intention from the start to build a strong export arm.

Angela Maher, Director of Splatter Pty Limited said, “We are developing new products in a variety of categories to broaden the company’s scope and diversify our range so everyone can collect their own piece of Splatter.”

“We use a number of strategies to market, promote and raise awareness of the Splatter brand. Apart from attending a range of trade shows and the development of strategic partnerships offshore, our ‘mosaic’ installation; a huge graphic wall of 320 paintings, installed in Robinson’s Store in Singapore’s busiest Orchard Road shopping precinct, is generating con¬tinued interest in the company from agents, clients and commercial enterprises,” Angela Maher said.

In May 2008, Splatter launched a clothing line and the first in a series of children’s books in Malaysia at the world famous Petronas Towers. The Malaysia launch represents the company’s first steps in plans for a suite of manufactured products under the Splatter brand.

Splatter has achieved a significant amount of export success over the past year. Notable export achievements include a solo exhibition with a private Singapore gallery, orders from high end retail outlets in Singapore and a product launch at Lifestyle Australia 2008 Malaysia. Continued strong interest in the Singapore market had led to a signed publishing contract with a Singapore publisher for promotion at the Frankfurt 2008 and Bologna 2009 Book Fairs.

The company has received several unsolicited editorial articles in Expat Living Magazine in Singapore and Malaysian Women’s Weekly which have boosted interest in the products. Malaysian Woman’s Weekly have used Splatter’s Canberra retail display on various occasions, promoting Canberra as a tourist destination with Splatter as one of its must sees. The success in Asia has triggered massive responses with UK and USA customers, through the e-commerce arm of the business.

As one of the leading producers of original children’s wall art and art-based design in Australia, Splatter’s competitive advantage lies in the unique nature of its products and a love in those markets of many of the Australian icons used in the artwork. “Splatter has found a niche market overseas that responds in an emotional way to our product which gives us an amazing commercial edge, but we are mindful that we must stay relevant and fresh to retain a special place in that market” Angela said.

The company is now currently in production development with clothing, manchester, home wares and décor, quality stationery, toys, and educational products featuring Splatter designs.

For more information on Splatter, go to website www.splatter.biz

Publicly recognised by the World Customs Organization as the leading centre of excellence in its area of expertise, CCES provides customs research, consultancy and internationally endorsed educational programs ranging from vocational through to postgraduate and doctoral level. Its client base includes customs, other government agencies, international organisations and private companies in over 180 countries.

CCES enjoys an international niche market in which no other organisation provides either the quality or range of products and services. In this regard CCES is truly unique.

A key strength is its global network of over 150 experts, which is rapidly expanding to keep pace with unprecedented levels of busi¬ness growth. From its humble beginnings in 2001 as an area of academic interest within the University of Canberra, CCES was incorporated in late 2003 and now has offices in Australia, Thailand, Kuwait, India, the US, Kenya and the Maldives, as well as official representation in South Africa, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and the UK.

The growing recognition and acceptance of the CCES brand within its niche market has led to the conclusion of franchising agreements in 22 countries, with additional licensing arrangements under negotiation. Under these arrangements, CCES programs are delivered by local educators under their guidance and quality assurance. Its most recent agreement saw the establishment of a campus in Kuwait through which its programs are being delivered in Arabic throughout the Middle East.

The international leadership role of CCES has been acknowledged through a WCO Certificate of Recognition for its continuing support of customs development and its establishment of the International Network of Customs Universities, of which the CCES CEO, Professor David Widdowson, is president. In addition, Professor Widdowson regularly chairs WCO conferences including the annual WCO PICARD (Partnership in Customs Academic Research and Development) conference, and is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the World Customs Journal.

CCES is maintaining a focus on sustainable international business development by embedding its programs in the development strategies of over 100 customs administrations and private sector organisations. To achieve this, it is further developing its international leadership role and consolidating its licensing and franchising arrangements, which represent a key element in the company’s business growth and in main¬taining its competitive advantage in the global market.

Website: www.customscentre.canberra.edu.au

ITC exports Australian, New Zealand, Austrian and South African wines from premi¬um and highly respected vineyards. Personally chosen by ITC the ‘boutique’ wines are consist¬ently ranked amongst the highest in the world. Currently stocking more than 350 wines ITC can offer variety and quality to their customers around the world.

Ignoring the largest market in the world, USA, ITC chose to focus on markets that of¬fered a real opportunity to establish a sustain¬able supply even in the event of an economic downturn such as being experienced today. This has resulted in established and profitable dis¬tribution and sales to Thailand, Singapore, the Middle East, China, South Korea, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Many of the markets ITC operates in would be too small for ITC suppliers to consider individually. However by putting the wines to¬gether with others, using the experience and ex¬pertise of ITC their wines are price competitive, and they have access to many more markets than they could envisage.
Their operations like their approach to busi¬ness, has been kept simple. This has resulted in a head office in Wamboin, NSW, warehouse in Adelaide, SA, marketing manager in Queensland and agents around the world. Like the selection of wines ITC has been careful and thorough in selecting those that work for and with them.

ITC confidently claims the range of wines in their Adelaide warehouse is unmatched in Australia and they have the logistical capacity to move large quantities very quickly. ITC’s capac¬ity to deliver quickly provides it with a competi¬tive advantage which has been enhanced by a door-to-door air freight delivery with Singapore Airlines.

In addition to Dubai their most significant achievement is exporting to all provinces in Canada, where the liquor market is controlled by the government. Understanding the nuances of the markets has been the key to success. To begin operations in Canada required many vis¬its to overcome numerous obstacles to imports such as labelling requirements and resistance by the government buyers to take any risks.

Today Canada is ITC’s biggest market. This has taken 10 years to achieve, so persistence is vital.
Marita Corra, Director ITC said, “Customer satisfaction is paramount. Sourcing sufficient high-quality wine to meet clients’ demand is a major challenge. In addition selecting receptive markets and establishing sound and lasting re¬lationships, while taking time and effort, has reaped rewards. Nothing happens overnight.”

ITC is a private company that is totally export focused. Inland Trading Company was inducted into the ACT Exporters’ Hall of Fame in 2007.

Aspen has created a unique approach to the delivery of healthcare that covers complete ser¬vice provision, from people, to equipment, to pharmaceuticals to consumables to innovative pathways for the delivery of the service. This in¬novation has seen Aspen selected, many times sole-source, to deliver health services around the world.

As a tailored medical services provider, capable of providing for small to medium size require¬ments. Aspen is a new kind of medical business. Most fundamentally, Aspen offers a thoroughly modern, innovative and trustworthy solution to service delivery problems; in the short or longer term, and as soon as you need it. Services are contained in three main business areas:

1. Healthcare services delivery, including operational healthcare, project-based healthcare,environmental health, preventative medicine and public health support;
2. Consulting; and
3. e-health.

Deploying the business areas listed above, Aspen can provide a comprehensive solution from characterising the requirement to delivering the care. Alternatively, customers can choose to make use of just one of the capabilities above to add intellectual capital to their organisation or fill a capacity gap.

Export success for Stratsec has been largely driven by the establishment of an internationally accredited IT security evaluation facility (Stratsec lab) and its independence from the security vendors. Our unique Australian and pragmatic approach has enabled us to engage and win contracts with government agencies and major international software companies, in competition with large multinational players in the IT security industry.

In 2007, Stratsec was awarded major contracts in the USA and Malaysia, and are currently expanding their footprint into Israel, Singapore and more generally into the Asia-Pacific region. Current export clients include Microsoft, SAIC, SanDisk and IBM. Stratsec have worked closely with Australian government agencies in establishing best practice information security programs and the development of suitable ICT business frameworks and policies.

Stratsec’s global approach is to extend its reach beyond Australia and to assist other governments and companies in establishing information security capabilities and risk management platforms.

Key to the success of Stratsec has been the commitment and dedication of its personnel and the unique approach to aligning security capabilities with the risk profile of our clients. This success has been recognised through the Telstra Business Awards in 2007 (MYOB ACT Small Business category) and most recently the 2008 (Panasonic SME category); the 2008 ACT Emerging Exporter Award; and Froggy Award (SME category); awarded to the highest achievers in the Federal Government ICT market.

Consistent with the recognition received in the market is our diverse client profile which extends to Fortune 500, S&P/ASX 200 and to numerous government agencies in Australia and overseas.

For more information, please contact Stratsec on +61 2 6260 8878, or visit their website www.stratsec.net

The firm have extensive experience in cross-border transactions, including negotiating and drafting contracts that provide the necessary protections against international business risk. Their advice covers matters such as Incoterms; payment protocols; country security and political risk; and intellectual property protection, in order to provide our clients with legal protection, certainty and clarity of obligations, and practical and enforceable dispute resolution. They advise on trade barriers that might be imposed, and on country business-entry requirements.

A special area of interest is in overseas government procurement issues. Moulis Legal recently wrote the report Cost/Benefit Study of the Implications for Thailand of Greater Cooperation on Government Procurement with Australia (in TAFTA) and New Zealand (in TNZCEP), which delivered valuable insights on comparative tendering and procurement processes from the perspectives of both opportunity and risk.

By drawing on their strong experience in corporate and personal financial and structuring matters, including asset shielding, and our practical and commercial legal skills, they can help you to identify, protect and make use of the value in your business and to structure your business in line with your immediate and longer term business goals.

Moulis Legal partners with major international legal firms on cross-border trade, investment and service industry projects. They draw on this network for local specialised legal advice where necessary. They assist their clients to conduct due diligence both as to business and asset acquisition and people/corporate entities. We are particularly well-versed in China matters, and have a mandarin speaking China specialist on our team.

Moulis Legal is a member of the Australian Services Roundtable, and is one of only two Australian law firms ranked Band 1 for excellence in international trade law by Chambers Global.

Moulis Legal is proud to be affiliated with the ACT Exporters Network. Watch for their upcoming seminar with ACT Exporters’ Network where we will discuss trade issues that are important to you. The seminar will be informal. We look forward to conversations with our local business colleagues, and sharing the benefit of our collective experience.

For more information contact Moulis Legal on +61 2 6163 1000 or visit their website http://www.moulislegal.com