Job creation is a major challenge for both the public sector and the private sector in virtually all world economies. One of the key jobs of government trade promotion agencies is to help create employment opportunities for job seekers in their home markets by driving export sales.

These government trade agencies’ export promotion activities play an important role in both economic development domestically and also in the development of the economies into which their exports are being introduced.

Examples of successful trade promotion agencies include UK Trade & Invest (UKTI) from the UK, NZTE from New Zealand, Austrade from Australia, Osec from Switzerland, JETRO from Japan, and Ubifrance from France.

When it comes to creating jobs domestically, the importance of export growth cannot be underestimated. For an individual job seeker, sending out a CV 100 times might result in one job offer – but for a company using the right B2B business matchmaking methods, sending out the right kind of ‘corporate CV’ to a very select number of companies can result in considerable sales growth, which in turn is likely to result in the creation of many more jobs at home.

Today there are countless IT Directors, General Managers, Country Managers, CIOs, Engineers, CFOs and more who owe their present jobs – and in some cases much of their present careers – to the work of government-funded trade promotion bodies. By helping businesses open up new international markets by finding new customers, distributors, and business partners abroad, these government-funded organisations such as Jetro and NZTE uncover new customer bases for these companies, and this increased demand results in more rewarding, higher-paying jobs in their own home market.

This applies to almost all economies that either manufacturer and/or provide value added services. Just as jobs created in the UK as a result of UKTI’s trade promotion activities help develop the UK economy, for example, so too does Enterprise Ireland’s support of Irish companies abroad result in enhanced job creation in Ireland.

Strong export growth does not only result in job creation in the home market, either – successful export growth can also result in job creation in the target market as well. Indeed, organisations such as UK Trade & Invest (UKTI), NZTE, Austrade, Osec, JETRO, and Ubifrance also often make an important contribution to job creation in the markets that they are targeting, as depending on the mode of market entry, often local salespeople, marketing staff, financial staff, and administrative employees are often required.

We help public sector B2B export promotion agencies deliver even better services to their clients across a range of industries, and we welcome opportunities to explain in more detail how our B2B business matchmaking and lead generation programs can enhance the work already being carried out by these government-funded trade and technology agencies, resulting in increased job creation fuelled by growing demand in new international markets.