As you may be aware, the European Seafood Exposition (ESE) in Brussels is fast approaching (24th – 27th April 2012). For the last 3 years we have been involved in organising a partner brokerage event at ESE. This is hosted by Scottish Development International (SDI) and organised by Enterprise Europe (in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Highland Opportunity Ltd & Scottish Enterprise teams).
The aim is to support Scottish companies who are going to ESE by helping them to make most effective use of their time. We do this by offering our market research services prior to the event and an opportunity for them to promote their business across Europe by uploading a profile on our online catalogue. Once they have uploaded their company profile to the catalogue (including what products/services they offer and what they are looking for in a partner) they have the option to request, accept or decline meeting requests from other participants. Our colleagues across our European network also encourage the companies they are working with to participate in the partnering event which is how the catalogue becomes populated.
A couple of weeks before ESE we start to schedule the meetings and provide the companies with their personal schedule for 1-2-1 meetings with their potential business partners. We have an allocated space on the Scottish Pavillion at ESE to host these meetings. It’s almost like speed dating – but for businesses.
We can arrange to bring people who they’d like to meet to their stand or work something out that will suit them. There is certainly nothing to lose in putting a profile in the catalogue to gauge any interest as there is always the option to politely decline meetings.
For more information: Link or contact Michelle Wemyss
