Canadian Consulting Firm Maps Successful Future in the Caribbean The International Business Opportunities Centre (IBOC) works with the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service to match Canadian companies with foreign buyers. In this success story, IBOC connected the consulting firm of Steve Woloz Associates with the Caribbean Regional HRD Competitiveness Program, a consortium of government, industry and education players in the Guyanese garment market. The trade lead, supplied by IBOC's Marg MacGillivray, and Lyris Primo of the Trade Commissioner Service in Guyana, resulted in a contract worth $17,000 CDN plus future business. What's the key to a company's good health? Is it a quality product or service? Happy, skilled employees? Effective production processes? Enlightened management? Staff trips to the sunny Caribbean? It's all of the above for Steve Woloz Associates. Steve Woloz should know. His Quebec-based consulting firm is skilled at assessing a company's pulse, and providing guidance and sound business solutions. The firm specializes in human resources, industrial engineering and strategic business development, with core strength in the sewn products industry. The business strategies Woloz uses for his clients have done wonders for his own company. "Doing a strategic business planning study helped us map future paths for growth and find ways to achieve continuity," says Woloz. The study results encouraged Woloz to look beyond shrinking domestic markets to areas showing a concentration of industry. This insight, along with a trade lead from IBOC, led Woloz to the Caribbean basin. "The study identified the Caribbean as a key geographic area for us," says Woloz. Under the 2000 Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act, Caribbean-based nations will have an opportunity to claim a large piece of the U.S. sewn products market. In the past, most production went to Asia. Now, U.S. companies can assemble products in the Caribbean without facing prohibitive duties or quotas. According to Woloz, the free trade movement is a double-edged sword: "Caribbean nations must be ready to ride free trade-not be run over by it. The markets that they presently enjoy may be at stake. So their companies must tool up and be more competitive to secure a share in the new market." Helping garment manufacturers to increase their competitiveness is Woloz' specialty. His background includes twenty years at the helm of a large apparel manufacturing company and more than a decade of consultancy work. When apparel manufacturers dwindled in North America, Woloz became knowledgeable in other industry sectors. He assembled a team of associates to help lighten the load and broaden the company's scope and expertise. The Woloz team has helped more than 40 companies to obtain ISO 9000 certification. Their combined experience covers various manufacturing industries, including jewellery, electroplating, metal stamping, electronics, plastics and food processing. Working with the Guyanese garment industry gave Woloz a prime opportunity to network with other Caribbean companies. He has made contacts in Barbados and sees potential in Trinidad as well. "Demand for our service is growing. The people involved in the Caribbean garment industry are prepared to engage us. Most important, they are serious about improving their competitive positions," says Woloz. As to the position of Steve Woloz Associates, the future couldn't look brighter. "The lead to Guyana opened an important market for us. Canadian companies that have yet to discover IBOC are missing a tremendous business opportunity." IBOC's Web site at www.iboc.gc.ca provides Web-LeadsŪ, a sample of business opportunities received from the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, and E-LeadsŪ, a premium on-line service where up-to-date international business opportunities are delivered from trade officers to IBOC, to the desktops of Canadian companies. Businesses are invited to subscribe free of charge to the E-LeadsŪ service by visiting the Web site.

 

Steve Woloz Associates Inc. 5763 McAlear C.S.L. (Montreal) Quebec H4W 2H2 Tel: (514) 944-8241 E-Mail: s.woloz@swaassoc.com