Petone company Eyede build ties through Sister Cities
By Jamie Melbourne-Hayward
Through tagging-along on a Hutt City Council sister city tour, a local business leader gained much knowledge about our Asian neighbours and how they do business. Eyede Managing Director Wayne Stemp works for the most part in smartcards, from Snapper Cards to identification cards, and says the trips set him on the path to a recently signed-off business deal in China. Three years ago he ventured on a council organised business trip to the Japanese city of Minoh, and the Chinese cities? of Xi?an and Taizhou. ?I got a hell of a lot out of those trips ... and a lot has happened since then. ?It was a great learning step of how they do business in those countries,? he says. Eyede is now placing emphasis on building ties with Beijing, and Mr Stemp say the sister city experience laid the foundation for current business expansion there. ?What I learnt was of benefit to me and the company, and although there is no direct benefit from Japan, there are opportunities,? he says. Hutt City Visitor manager David Hancock says there is always a lot of interest in trips to Japan and China, and travelling with sister city delegations can get people a foot through the door in a foreign country. ?We need to exploit these trips as much as possible; pulling in opportunities from China will be good for us. ?Getting into their technology sector is very important,? says Mr Stemp. In Beijing it took Mr Stemp?s company three years of building relations before he could get a deal signed off. The company has just entered a business partnership with the China Sport, and will provide them with technical support for identification cards. Mr Stemp says the free trade agreement with China has helped. ?The Chinese are all about building relationships, they want to be international and grow relations.? He says the wider implications of the trips prove their value, and that it?s sensible for a city to look abroad for business opportunities. ?You have to go there with a positive outlook, and building these relationships is essential for businesses.? Eyede employ 26 people, and around two thirds of them are locally based.
