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Two Hawke's Bay businessmen are setting up the country's first export academy to fill a gap they say exists for in-depth business training for exporters.
Seasoned exporters Murray Painter and Mark Carrington, who run Havelock North-based export logistics company GoReefers, are spending $4.5 million establishing the Export Academy of New Zealand which will open its doors next year.
Painter said while there were a number of good short training courses available to those wanting to learn about exporting, none provided the research-focused or degree-level study to be offered through the academy.
"What is a real need out there, we've found, is for some of the successful export models to be committed to paper and then taught. That would save millions of dollars that get left on the table when people experiment [with exporting]."
The academy plans to teach an applied degree in export studies and a diploma in export. An online certificate in export may also be offered. It will initially have places for 18 students but plans to grow that to 175 places by 2010.
Seven fulltime staff will be employed next year, growing to 10 by 2009.
"The academy will, in addition, establish a quality export research faculty because research will be a vital part of the case studies offered and tutors will spend a large portion of their time there to ensure modules presented are the most up to date," Painter said.
Numerous anecdotes involving exporter mistakes and disaster stories abounded. A recent example was an exporter who had a deal with an Asian customer where the terms of the sale were unclear because there was no contract, just a verbal agreement.
"We were talking [about an export sale worth] hundreds of thousands of dollars. Those are the sort of basic areas where we see there's a need for up-skilling," he said.
"At the other end of the scale are the people who have done the work and all the basics. They go into the marketplace and make the same mistakes we've all made [because] there haven't been any high-level academic education resources available in the export sector."
Ken Stevens, chairman of baggage-handling technology exporter Glidepath, welcomed the idea of the academy and said this country had a shortage of export-literate executives.
"For some years now, we have needed tertiary institutions that can provide targeted tuition and training for scholars who are wishing to qualify themselves as professional exporters and earn a globally accredited degree in recognition of their training and skills."
