Global opportunities knock
An array of global embassies will be in town this month for the first ever Cork Business Expo & Summit.
Embassies representing Malta, Argentina, Switzerland, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania, Turkey, Kenya and Nigeria will all make their way down from Dublin to share their vast wealth of knowledge and exciting opportunities with Cork’s business community.
According to Michael Mulcahy of Business Cork, it is “not common” for such a large number of embassies to attend an expo of this kind.
“This is the first time that they will attend in such a large group. They want to speak with any businesspeople or anybody at all from Cork who is interested in learning more about their countries. They want to talk about doing business in their countries, tourism opportunities, educational opportunities, and anything else that the people would like to learn,” said Mr Mulcahy.
He also pointed out that with Brexit looming larger than ever, the expo will represent a valuable chance for Cork businesses to start looking further afield.
“One of the big things that embassies have is access to a multitude of different types of business opportunities and advice on how to do business abroad. They want to help Cork companies to access new markets in their countries which, now at a time of Brexit uncertainty, is of the upmost importance,” said Mr Mulcahy.
The embassy of Malta, which is an English speaking country, is expected to have an especially large presence at the expo, due partly to the recently opened direct flight from Cork Airport to the Maltese capital Valletta.
Mr Mulcahy said: “Malta is attending the expo because it is very interested in growing opportunities with Cork. They will have their Malta Invest agency, which is a bit like our Enterprise Ireland, their Malta Tourism, which is like our Fáilte Ireland, and then they will have their largest chamber of commerce attending as well.”
He also highlighted the Swiss Embassy who he said would usually not attend expos of this kind. He said: “The Swiss Embassy wouldn't normally do very much promotion, but Cork has a direct flight to Zurich, and that's a tourism and business market we want to develop more in Cork and the Munster region.
The future is looking bright for Cork’s newest expo and Mr Mulcahy is confident that the number of visiting embassies will grow in future years.
“For next year's event, we will ask embassies to come together and pick a date that suits them best meaning that we will have an even greater number of embassies next year.”