Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9 pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with Chris Folayan @MallforAfrica. Chris has over 15 years of experience in marketing, technology development, and acquisition roles in various high-tech companies and startups and has managed multi-million dollar projects global with clients in over 50 countries. Chris has developed a unique, proprietary shopping platform called MallforAfrica (MFA) that enables retailers from the United States and United Kingdom to securely sell clothing and other consumer products to millions of shoppers in Nigeria, as well as Nigerians living abroad who want to ship items home to their families in Africa. For more information, visit mallforafrica.com
SmallBizLady: What are the biggest challenges of running an international business?
Owning an international business means you have to be very well versed in the day-to-day operations and all 3rd party factors that affect your business. It’s beneficial to be up to date on everything from political climate, foreign exchange, changing laws and the entire socio-economic platform for each country you have a presence in, or plan on operating in. To be successful in any international market means you have to have your finger on the pulse of all these things and see how they related to your business growth.
SmallBizLady: How can an international presence benefit your small business, and why?
Chris Folayan: Doing business internationally is almost essential to gain a larger market and growth. So if you want to see a huge growth in your business, looking internationally is certainly the way to go. If it’s something that is sold here, the likelihood that it is a wanted commodity abroad is extremely high. The international market is begging for more products and services from the US – I hear this each and every day. Let’s consider Africa – a continent big enough to hold the USA, Europe and a few other countries, and holds 6 of the top 10 fastest growing economies. The quality of products that come out of the US are much better than what African citizens can find locally, if they are even able to find similar products at all.
SmallBizLady: How can international companies overcome the challenges of working with countries that may have a controversial reputation due to things like fraud?
Chris Folayan: Working with any country that has a bad reputation isn’t easy, but it isn’t impossible either. You just have to look for the signs with each transaction. In most cases, you can simply verify payment is legitimate and not fraudulent. If you get a large order, simply verify with the bank that a) funds have been verified and b) the funds are legitimate. You can then tag such a customer as a legitimate customer after their first transaction. It’s possible to build a full end-to-end service that takes the stress out of such, preventing sellers from thinking, “Is this legitimate?”
Reputation goes both ways also. Companies abroad want to make sure your company has a strong reputation before doing business with you. Because the truth is, once funds are transferred from a credit card or bank institution for a service, it’s not easy to get them back when doing business internationally. So to prove you are a legitimate US based company, here are a few things you need to do.
- Have a very well developed informative website
- Have your contact details and information on your site – phone number, address, etc.
- On your site, show that you are open for international business via imagery and text.
- Have a social media account linked to your site – this would show you are open to comments and feedback
- Think of having your site done in different languages based on the international companies you are thinking of targeting
SmallBizLady: How do international e-commerce businesses benefit U.S. companies and the U.S. Economy?
Chris Folayan: International business helps U.S. companies and the U.S. economy by selling more U.S. products to other countries. By selling more U.S. products into other countries, we are in essence increasing sales of U.S. products, increasing jobs into the very tight job market and improving lives. It’s a chain reaction – you increase sales and a store will hire more people to work. The person who is hired now has money to buy more products and use more local services in their community.
It’s essential that we look into new markets and I believe that the international market holds the key to U.S. economic growth. The global economy is booming, we just need to reach those countries that are longing for our goods and services. They are out there.
SmallBizLady: how should small businesses choose the international markets they move into? Should they look for the fastest growing economies or markets with a demand that needs to be filled?
Chris Folayan: You can choose the markets you move into based on socio-economic elements, government rules and regulations, and population economic growth based on standards of living. By looking at these factors and the market’s demand for quality product, you can easily gauge what countries to target.
SmallBizLady: What inspires you to do the work that you do?
Chris Folayan: Making a difference in falsely represented places like Africa inspires me. To get people to see an often misrepresented nation in a whole different light is what fuels me. Individuals like Nelson Mandela who took it upon himself to make a difference inspire me. I am inspired to also make a difference in the perception of countries like Nigeria, and Africa as a whole, to be more positive in nature.
SmallBizLady: How can international businesses tackle language barrier issues?
Chris Folayan: Knowing your customers is one of the most important requirements when it comes to marketing. That includes knowing their language. There are many translation companies and real time software applications that do a great job translating content on your website and with your marketing materials. Look to company software such as Google Translate to provide you with a good software-based translation system. For a more human touch, reach out to the plethora of online resources that provide human translation of content for the more intimate approach. It’s more expensive, but you get a better, more personal feeling connection you with your customer base.
If taking on language may seem a little bit much at first, you can simply look into targeting English speaking countries internationally. There is nothing wrong with starting out small by focusing on English speaking countries and then as you get your international distribution and sales down to a science, expanding to non-English speaking countries.
SmallBizLady: Who are your influencers and why?
Chris Folayan: Nelson Mandela – A single man who made a difference to his country to help improve lives. He is an icon who proves that one man can make a positive change in the world.
Princess Diana – A lady who didn’t follow the general path and worked outside the box to help people by touching their lives in a positive way.
Steve Jobs – A man who saw a vision and went for it; he was a visionary at heart and constantly thinking outside the box on how to improve lives, the way we communicate, and the avenues of technology as we know it.
SmallBizLady: What type of content can international business with an online presence develop to entice their international audience?
Chris Folayan: Develop a more global focus. Take what I call the “Companies International Test of Strength and Skill.” This test should be taken on a monthly basis, or even more frequently, depending on your business:
a) What countries are my potential clients in? Answer this and then check your website stats, leads, distributors and compare.
b) What does my global social media outlook look like now and where do I want it to be? Look at your Twitter and Facebook feeds and links and see where people are coming from. Adjust content to suit your new global target.
c) What am I doing to attract international orders and clients? Look to having deals specific to countries or regions. This has proved phenomenally for my international business.
d) Freebies are, and always will be, the key to gaining new customers. Give away something free to gain a customer. Naturally use your industries standard cost of customer acquisition calculations and algorithm. But use that figure to determine what you can give away. Sometimes even a nice pen could do the trick. Please note I said nice… In some countries and some cultures the gift you give has a big influence on what you get in return.
SmallBizLady: How can small businesses set realistic and manageable, yet ambitious goals for their expansion?
Chris Folayan: You may think this number sounds high, but we hope to do about 8 to 10 times what we did last year in revenue, and are on track to do so. That’s how big the international market is for us. Set a goal based on your market reach, ROI, and ability to penetrate into the market you have designated. Go all out; focus as much energy as possible. You are on the road to build your brand and market into a country you are trying to familiarize yourself with. Find a local contact to help (boots on the ground). Set an ambitious goal and adjust after 3 months based on actual figures. Our business hopes to be in 16 countries by 2016. We plan on rolling this out country by country in a strategic manner while looking at all the general socio-economic advices. This for us is realistic and very doable.
SmallBizLady: What skills and tools are useful when starting an international business?
Chris Folayan: The number one skill is not one you learn but one you structure mentally.
Skill #1 is mindset. You need to have a global Mindset. Don’t think, “My customers are only in America, or only in my state.” If you have a good product that can be used abroad by someone, you have a global product offering. That should be your mindset.
Skill #2 – Know your new international market. Research, find contacts in that region, speak to experts in the industry you are in and learn about tariffs, international import laws and restrictions, etc.
Skill #3 – Learn about your competition, if any. You are brining your new service into a country – what are they using as alternatives to your product now? What are the competing brands and products?
SmallBizLady: Why do many companies fear to work with Africa?
Chris Folayan: Africa has been glazed with negative stories and controversies. The idea of shipping to Africa and dealing with incorrect delivery, foreign exchange rate changes, duties, fraud and a great deal more has caused companies to overlook Africa. In fact, companies like Target.com and JCP.com have blocked Africans from even viewing their sites.
The fear of Africa is a stigma that needs to be completely taken away from the minds of people and companies. We have done millions of dollars of business and someday we will say billions, which I am positive about. It’s not luck, it’s simply knowing how to do business in Africa and remembering that it is the fastest-growing continent, and can be a huge asset to your business.
If you found this interview helpful, join us on Wednesdays 8-9 pm ET; follow @SmallBizChat on Twitter. Here’s how to participate in #SmallBizChat: http://bit.ly/1hZeIlz
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