Contribution of Enterprise Estonia export advisers to export growth last year was 83 million euros
With the help of Enterprise Estonia’s export advisers, enterprises increased their export revenues by 83 million euros in 2020. In total, export advisers advised companies almost 1100 times, which is 25-40 percent more than last year, depending on the destination country.
According to Peeter Raudsepp, the head of Enterprise Estonia, the results of the export advisers confirm that this is a revenue project, not an expense project for the state. “The largest impact on our clients’ export turnover was still seen in exports to Scandinavia and especially Finland. At the same time, the importance of Asia and the US is growing, and the crisis has shown that it’s wise to keep the choice of destination countries wide in order to diversify the risks,” Raudsepp said, highlighting the fact that as of January, Estonia was one of the four members of the European Union that was able to increase exports outside of Europe.
The services of Enterprise Estonia’s export advisers have been used the most in the ICT sector (22%), followed by the metal and machinery industry (11%) and the food industry (9%). “Different sectors have interests in different destination countries,” Raudsepp said. “With our help, the ICT sector has been moving more towards the Japanese, US, Indian and Central European markets. The metal and machinery industry is still primarily focused on the Scandinavian markets, and based on our experience, the food industry is looking more towards Asia.”
When considering the effect of export advisers on the export income of enterprises, both the export turnover of the advised enterprises in the respective destination country as well as the opinion of the enterprises regarding the role of the adviser in the respective business deal are taken into account. “Since the average export project takes from six months to three years from the initial contact to a successful business deal, we also take into account the time shift,” Raudsepp said.
“As for our offices abroad, it is important to understand that Enterprise Estonia offers services and support to enterprises during the different stages of their life cycle as well as throughout the value chain. The expertise of the export advisers is part of a package we offer entrepreneurs so that their market entry is as effective as possible,” he continued.
Last year Enterprise Estonia opened a new office in Poland and an additional representative was hired in the German market. This year, a second representative was appointed in Finland, there is a plan to open an office in South Korea and there will be a new expert added to the Chinese market.
Enterprise Estonia employs export advisers in 16 countries: Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Poland, United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, China, India, Singapore, Japan and the United States. The total cost of the network of export advisers in 2020 was three million euros. In addition, Enterprise Estonia employs six investor consultants and two tourism representatives in offices abroad.
More information on export advisers can be found on the Enterprise Estonia website.
The services of export advisers are funded by the European Regional Development Fund.