TTA’s inaugural trade mission to China has been an enormous success. There were twenty three delegates who came to China with the trade mission over nine days and the mission was packed with meetings, excursions and opportunities to learn about the tuition market in China in depth. Three factors contributed towards making the mission such a success: first, the insights and learning opportunities, second was the delegates themselves and third the opportunity to develop direct business opportunities with prospective Chinese partners.
The main purpose of a trade mission is to develop an understanding of a market and to start to develop connections and business relationships with people in that market. In this respect, the mission was extraordinary; we were able to hear directly from some of the most successful tuition entrepreneurs in China, many of which had built phenomenal tuition businesses turning over many millions of pounds each year (in Chinese Yuan equivalent). We were very fortunate that these entrepreneurs were open enough to explain their whole business models, their own blueprint for success, and a number of delegates have come away with a list of ways they want to improve and optimise their own operations and businesses. In other cases, we learned what support Chinese companies might be willing to seek from international providers – including partnerships with companies to develop offices in other countries and sourcing specialist support. Option 3 delegates, who did not travel to China but were represented in the trade mission brochure, will have an opportunity to learn lessons from the debriefing webinar TTA will deliver in the coming weeks.
The delegates themselves, and the exemplary way they conducted themselves with each other and with Chinese counterparts throughout the trade mission, was an enormous positive outcome of the trade mission. It is very likely that many of the delegates will remain friends for life – certainly everyone got on exceptionally well with each other and it was, no doubt, the best combination of delegates on a trade mission that I have ever seen. Delegates were open and supportive with each other, they worked together exceptionally well and many of them have committed to working together or providing further support beyond the trade mission itself. Chinese partners and Department for Business and Trade colleagues were impressed and commented very favourably on how the delegation acted as a united team rather than as separate businesses. This is a testament to the culture that has developed amongst TTA members of collaboration and support.
Finally, delegates will have developed a number of possible opportunities to work with Chinese partners. In many cases the work that delegates will do with Chinese counterparts will be different to the work they do now, however the opportunities are significant for those who adapt and learn. There is also an opportunity for Option 3 delegates, who did not travel to China, to benefit here; all were included in the brochure and will be able to benefit from possible opportunities in future.
You can never know the true success of a trade mission until you return and start to explore the opportunities presented whilst you were there. The delegates that are most willing to be agile and flexible and adapt to the market demands are likely to be the most successful. There is a military saying that ‘no plan survives enemy contact’ and trade missions are similar; plans change, meetings are cancelled and meetings can end up being more or less useful than expected, or just offer very different value to what was anticipated. A meeting with what might have seemed to be a great client might turn out to be a learning opportunity with no direct commercial value and meetings with businesses that seem almost irrelevant might be unexpectedly insightful. As we explained in the original prospectus, there are no guarantees that trade missions will give rise to new business and delegates cannot expect any specific outcome. However, we are well aware that the delegation was very well received in China and delegates have returned with a wealth of knowledge and optimism, which will also be shared with Option 3 delegates.
We would like to offer our special thanks to the delegates, TTA’s internal team, to our colleagues at ClassIn who were exceptional hosts, to our colleagues within the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) and, finally, to our Chinese counterparts who were so generous with their time and knowledge. Without their exceptional kindness and generosity, the mission could not have been a success.