From L to R: Pappur Shankar, Abu Becker, Arun Srivastava, Marti Anne Falcone,  Navi Dhami, Ross Richard, Sumeet Malik, Sanjay Makkar & Raza Hasan

Export Development Canada (EDC) is Canada’s nodal agency for all aspects of export promotion, and it helps Canadian entrepreneurs at every stage of the export process – right from the initial steps of exploring the global markets to arranging for finances to commence global trade.  Over the last decade, as it has expanded its scope of operations, EDC has built a formidable alliance with the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) in promoting Canada-India trade, especially amongst Canadian small and medium businesses.

To inform new members and refresh memories of longtime members of the ICCC, the Chamber organized an information and networking session about the EDC at ICCC’s new global headquarters in Toronto on 12 November 2015. The objective of the session was to inform and educate members about the EDC, and provide a platform for Indo-Canadian entrepreneurs with aspirations to expand their operations to global markets to interact with officials from the EDC.

Mr. Sanjay Makkar, President, ICCC, while welcoming the EDC officials to the Chamber, recounted the long association that the Chamber has had with the export promotion agency. “EDC is our Partner in Success, and has supported many of our projects over the last decade. It has supported Indo-Canadian entrepreneurialism by promoting our annual awards, and sponsoring other programs. It will also be playing a prominent part in our forthcoming India Mission 2016.” 

He then informed the audience of the forthcoming India Mission in January 2016, and gave a brief overview of his recent meeting with the new federal economic development minister Hon. Navdeep Bains. “Our Chamber is committed to creating opportunities for small business owners, and assist them in exploring global and in particular the Indian market,” he said. The ICCC President emphasized that a large number of the Chamber’s members are small business owners or professionals who have their own practice; therefore, a program with such a theme would be of great benefit.

Led by Ms. Marti Anne Falcone, Regional Manager, Asia, the EDC team also included Mr. Sumeet Malik, Mr. Ross Richard and Mr. Navi Dhami. In addition to providing a broad overview of the EDC’s operations, they answered questions pertaining to working capital and risk mitigation when conducting businesses globally. Answering questions the EDC team emphasized why the agency is important in protecting the overseas investment and also for doing due diligence of the companies with whom the Canadian SMEs would like to start businesses. They also answered the India specific questions raised in the session.