―Are there any points that managers should understand to make oversea expansion successful?

As you know, business uncertainty is high in developing countries. Even if you lay out a precise business plan, things often don’t go as planned. Also, when local market research takes too much time, it’s easy to fall behind another foreign company that takes a step ahead. Depending on the time and situation, a decisive and prompt action to succeed in the expansion regardless of barriers is more important than having a precise business plan.

Moreover, taking a global view, we believe that there is no industry that is specifically well or poorly suited to overseas expansion, though it’s a different story if you’re focused on a certain country to expand to. Even if it is not a special technology representing Japan, when turning our eyes towards African countries and Bangladesh that are developing and where there are still sectors that don’t have much competition, there are plenty of opportunities for services and technologies that are taken for granted in Japan. That means, even without a particular competitive edge, if you are serious about expansion, I think there is a good chance of succeeding overseas. Even without huge capital investment or bilingual human resources, there are many mechanisms that can make overseas expansion possible with minimal costs, so we will be happy if you talk to us frankly.

―Mr. Tada, please tell us a little bit about your career.

I have always liked nature, so I studied biology at university. After graduation, through working as a keeper at an aquarium and as a diving instructor in Thailand, I started working on preservation and utilization of nature on Bali Island as a Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer. Then, a question arose. While we were thinking about the best strategy of environmental protection, local people were getting large profits from dynamite fishing, by throwing dynamite into rivers. Even when NGOs warned them of longterm consequences, they wouldn’t hear of it. It’s a problem of different perspectives. For them, food they need for their families today is more important than resource management for decades ahead. I fully realized, at that time, that, to protect the environment, we need to help improve the life of people living there and that developing a mechanism is more important than anything else.

―I see. That’s why you joined IC Net, is it not?

Yes. When I was looking for a job to protect both local people and the environment, I found IC Net Limited. I’ve buried myself in work since then. With money allocated from the national budget, I continued to learn know-how while working on many development projects that ranged from 0.3 to 0.5 billion yen. These projects included post-conflict reconstruction, education, and health initiatives. Japan, as one of the leading ODA providers in the world, has indeed conducted truly consequential development projects. There are many fields that can be done only by ODA, and we continue to work on problems looking toward the next 10 or 50 years, while protecting local lifestyles. We are fortunate to have the privilege of engaging in many of these projects.
However, on the other hand, for areas related to industries such as agriculture and fishery, I’ve realized that approaching them with private resources is more effective than government. Actually, in many developing countries now, private funding is larger than ODA when it comes to development. That means, to contribute to social reform, we can make approaches from both the government and private sectors by supporting private companies outside our borders, in addition to ODA, and contribute to essential development of developing countries, which is our aim.

―Thank you very much. Finally, please tell us your vision for the future.

The GDPs of some emerging countries have grown by more than 500% in the past 20 years. In the Philippines, Cambodia, and Bangladesh, expensive cars are often seen on the roads, and many rich people are regularly making major purchases at shopping malls. Even just in Asia, we have entered an era where things are radically different compared to what would have been seen in a visit ten, or even five, years ago.

Compared to Japan where the market keeps shrinking due to the aging and decreasing population, there are many countries that keep growing at the rate of 5 to 7% annually just outside our borders. Japanese companies, with know-how and technology, but slowing growth due to limited markets. Developing countries, with definite market growth potential, but no private companies to catch up with it. The affinity of these two parties is extremely high. Even without an outstanding edge, there are really many business chances for Japanese companies overseas.

That is why we want to serve as an intermediary and keep challenging ourselves to help both sides develop. We hope to continue to realize efforts to share and provide generously the experience and know-how we have cultivated, and make as many countries and Japanese companies as possible happy.