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Backpacker Hostels Australia
Industry sector: Tourism
 Backpacker Hostels Australia operates two accommodation venues, the Bohemia Resort and Bohemia Central in Cairns, Far North Queensland.
The Bohemia Resort offers first-class modern hostel accommodation. Set in lush, exotic landscaped gardens, the Bohemia Resort appeals to a wide variety of customers, from young backpackers to family groups and senior tourists.
The Bohemia Resort also offers sightseeing and adventure packages, such as the Adventure Package, the Island/Reef Package, the Extreme Package, the Action Package and the Learn to Dive Package. These tours take customers to the Daintree River, Cape Tribulation and the Great Barrier Reef.
The other venue operated by Backpacker Hostels Australia is Bohemia Central also situated in Cairns. The venue is a fully renovated Queenslander which retains all the glory and ambience of a bygone era. Overseas visitors can embrace the magic of colonial Queensland as they relax around the resort pool, watch the sun set on the wide verandas and venture down to cafes and bars for social relaxation.
Backpacker Hostels Australia’s export strategy commenced with an extensive marketing campaign in Australian backpacker magazines, as well as participating at holiday trade shows in Australia and overseas to promote their products. Memberships were established with industry associations and links with inbound operators were promulgated to promote both the Bohemia Resort and Bohemia Central to visitors travelling to Cairns.
As a result of this highly motivated and successful export drive, export earnings for Backpackers Hostels Australia are now in the seven figure mark and their major export markets include the USA, UK, Singapore, Japan, Korea and Germany.
Backpackers Hostels Australia has received three grants under the Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) scheme. The grants have assisted the company with meeting the costs of marketing visits, trade shows, promotional literature and advertising.
John Wu, Director of Backpacker Hostels Australia, said: “EMDG has significantly helped us in getting into the international markets; it enabled us to open up the markets which were not known to us. It also allowed us to pursue different markets over the last few years.” |
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GroundProbe
Industry sector: Mining Industry Technology
 GroundProbe, an innovative and dynamic Brisbane based company, is a developer and supplier of unique technologies for the international mining and civil infrastructure industries. The company’s core business is the provision of precise information that allows its clients to manage risk, making mining safer and more productive.
The Slope Stability Radar (SSR) is a state-of-the-art technology used for slope stability monitoring of open-cut mine walls. It is the only system in the world that provides continuous precise and real time online measurement of rock wall movements across the entire face of a wall. This system has already achieved outstanding success in the global mining industry, having detected significant wall collapses with sufficient warning to allow the safe evacuation of people and equipment. Furthermore, it is now possible to redesign mine plans based on the output of the SSR technology.
Keeping in-line with the company’s expertise, GroundProbe also provides renowned and reliable service in the application of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) technology; both to the mining sector and to the civil infrastructure industries. There are currently over 60 SSR systems successfully operating around the world.
GroundProbe has received three EMDG grants. The grants have helped support representatives in Chile, market and site visits, attendance at tradeshows and the provision of advertising material to prospective customers. Export earnings are increasing steadily with business development in North and South America, Africa and Asia. At present GroundProbe’s core markets are South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Canada, USA, Chile and Peru, and the company is already looking ahead at developing new markets in two of the BRIC countries: Brazil and India.
Lorraine Elsmore from GroundProbe states, “Austrade helped GroundProbe set-up meetings with overseas clients and prospective customers and was an important support during the establishment of one of its international subsidiaries, helping not only with translations but also with the recruitment of some of its international staff and has proved of valuable assistance with local knowledge to assure the sustainability of GroundProbe’s increasing export figures. The EMDG gave GroundProbe the ability to mitigate the high risk that small companies face when expanding internationally. The program is ingeniously geared to provide ongoing support to companies needing the assistance to establish themselves internationally. GroundProbe is grateful for the assistance that the Federal Government has provided through the EMDG program and the path to our success would have been more arduous to follow had we not received this support.” .
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Embed International
Industry sector: ICT
 Embed International Pty Ltd is a Perth-based company that specialises in a range of innovative IT products and services. The company’s primary focus is on card based solutions and database applications for the leisure and retail industries. In addition to the Perth head office, Embed has also established an office in Dallas, Texas USA to service the North and South American markets.
The Embed Card System is a total operating solution for any entertainment facility. The system allows for admissions control, cashless operation of games and attractions, retail, food and beverage sales, full prize redemption management, and integrated event scheduling.
The advantages result in a comprehensive point of sale, marketing and monitoring/reporting system. Increased turnover reduced operating costs and better controls are the major positive outcomes of the Embed Card System.
Managing Director Adam Steinberg comments, “When we first started the Embed business in late 2001 we knew that our card system product could be truly world class based on our knowledge of what competitive systems were available. What we didn’t fully appreciate at the time was the real financial commitment that would have to be made on marketing and promotional activities in order to achieve success in those foreign markets. In early 2005, we made a more substantial commitment to utilise the services of a top class overseas sales representative to establish a physical presence in the US market. This was a big commitment for us and we probably went at it harder knowing that the grant scheme was there. The result has been very positive indeed and we are fast becoming the leading supplier in the US of this type of technology.”
Embed received its third EMDG grant which has supported travel and trade fair expenses and retaining a marketing representative in the US.
In November 2006 Embed was presented with the Best New Product Award at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) show held in Atlanta, US for their Colour-Glo Swiper. In addition the company was awarded with the industry’s prestigious Impact Award, which recognises the most outstanding product from the fifteen best new product winners. Embed was also a finalist in two categories of the 2007 WA Export Awards due to its fast growing export business.
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AquaOil
Industry sector: Natural body care products
 AquaOil specialises in massage oil products which are based on 100 per cent high grade oils but with a unique technology that allows it to be easily washed without stripping away natural oils. AquaOil body care products are pure, have natural ingredients and are environmentally friendly.
While its initial focus was on the Australian market, in 2004 a significant opportunity arose for AquaOil to develop its export market and to expand abroad. With some early direction and assistance from Austrade's New York office, the company was successful in securing its first North American distributor in mid 2004. Since then, the company has secured distributors in Canada, United States, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Success abroad has also reinvigorated AcquaOil’s growth in the Australian market, with a new range of natural baby products producing strong sales in the top 200 Coles Supermarkets around Australia.
The assistance of the EMDG scheme has provided AquaOil with the confidence to attend essential trade shows, boost its business development and marketing activities and continue its expansion into overseas markets.
Of this assistance Chris Lambrou, Director of AquaOil, said: "The ability for a small entrepreneurial business like AquaOil to access EMDG via Austrade has given our company a great deal of confidence to explore new export markets. From our first contact with Austrade in early 2003 it was evident that our company could behave like a much larger organisation due to the resources and support that Austrade could provide".
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Pacific Legal Network (PLN) Lawyers
Industry sector: Legal services
 Pacific Legal Network Lawyers (PLN) is an Australian law firm based in central Sydney. The company also has offices throughout the Pacific, creating the “Pacific Legal Network” group
of businesses.
PLN’s main objective is to provide a seamless legal service to clients with interests in Australia and the Pacific region, with their main areas of expertise including corporate and financial services, insurance, insolvency, mergers/acquisitions and business advisory services. PLN services diverse industries including travel and tourism, mining and petroleum, telecommunications, agriculture and financial services.
In 2005 the company established PLN Advisory in Nadi, Fiji to provide clients with key corporate and strategic advice for their operations in the Pacific. With offices in Australia, Vanuatu, PNG, Fiji, New Caledonia and Samoa and other parts of the North Pacific, PLN is the only network of firms dealing with matters that traverse English common law, French and American civil law.
In recent years the company has expanded into “non-legal services” providing banking, securities, investment, and other miscellaneous financial services such as anti-money laundering programmes.
Managing Partner, John Ridgway, has been a corporate advisor and lawyer for 17 years and has lived and worked in the Pacific Islands region for the last 14 years. He is also President of the Australia-Pacific Islands Business Council.
Recent projects undertaken by PLN include providing advice in relation to regulatory and compliance frameworks in 13 Asia and Pacific countries for a listed Australian bank. The company also led a team of advisors working in conjunction with the World Bank on their “Doing Business Project” concerning 10 countries in the Pacific.
In Papua New Guinea the company was involved in providing advice to the Government in relation to regulatory matters arising from mining royalty payments.
PLN recently received their first EMDG grant. The scheme has supported expenses in the areas of travel, communications, trade fairs and promotional advertising. John Ridgway, Partner, states “The EMDG scheme has given us the financial (means) any small business needs to be able to confidently and effectively market itself. We have been extremely successful in the last 2 years with our export marketing activities; we are the only law firm which has more than one office in the Pacific Islands region. We take advantage of that position by actively marketing ourselves offshore. It has worked; we are often quoted in newspapers and asked for television interviews both in Australia and overseas. EMDG has strengthened my relationship with Austrade and I have already marketed it to other companies which are involved in similar types of marketing activities.” |
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Atlassian Software Systems
Industry sector: Management advice & consulting services
 First-time EMDG recipient, Atlassian Software Systems, provides enterprise software solutions to leading global organisations. Recognised as Australia's fastest-growing software company by BRW magazine for the past two years, Atlassian has over 6,800 customers in more than 80 countries, and offices in Sydney and San Francisco.
The company was started by Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar who at 27 years of age, have created an international technology house that touches hundreds of thousands of people globally. The pair received top honours at the Australian Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year awards and will now progress to the global awards in Monte Carlo on 2nd June where the Ernest & Young World Entrepreneur Of The Year will be announced.
Atlassian sells to some of world's most well-known organisations, including nearly half of the Fortune 50. The company’s success has been achieved as a result of providing excellent service to customers, bringing brilliant simplicity and ease of use to enterprise software, constantly looking at product improvement, as well as developing fair and reasonable software licensing policies.
Atlassian’s major markets include the USA, Germany, UK and Canada. The EMDG grant has helped support the set up of a branch office in San Francisco where three representatives are based and also assisted in the development of their website www.atlassian.com.au.
The founders remarked, "The EMDG grant helped us fund international online marketing activities and retain local consultants in the US, our biggest export market. The overall effect of the grant has been to help maintain strong profitability. This has in turn contributed to our ongoing growth by helping fund organic growth and acquisitions."
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John Cox Creature Workshop
Industry sector: Motion picture and video production
 John Cox's Creature Workshop (JCCW) is internationally acclaimed as a leader in the design and manufacture of fantasy creatures, monsters and realistic animals.
Based on the Queensland Gold Coast, John Cox's Creature Workshop has undertaken design projects worldwide including USA, Europe, South Africa, Asia and New Zealand, as well as domestically. The company’s involvement in feature films include Peter Pan, Crocodile Dundee in LA, Babe, Pitch Black and Racing Stripes.
Director John Cox is the recipient of a 1995 Academy Award for Visual Effects for the movie "Babe", and has many years involvement in the visual effects industry. He and his team contribute a wealth of talent and experience to each new design project.
The company’s target market includes film and television producers and theme park operators in the USA, Europe and Asia. The USA, in particular, has been a lucrative market for John Cox, particularly after the 1995 Academy Award success.
The EMDG grant has allowed JCCW to secure continued growth in this multi-million dollar industry by supporting the company’s marketing initiatives overseas. The provision of free samples to interested film studios is an effective promotional tool in eventually securing their business. Significant communications costs and the attendance at overseas trade shows are further costs incurred by the company in overseas promotional activities.
JCCW recently secured a lucrative contract with Chungeorahm Film, a Korean production company. This led to JCCW being part of the most successful Korean movie ever made, ‘The Host’, about a mutant creature who terrorises the people of Seoul.
Project Coordinator Julie Anderson comments, “EMDG ensures that JCCW can continue to market itself on the world stage alongside the major players in the visual effects industry. New markets are emerging, such as Asia and India, and it is essential to maintain a strong international profile. Meeting with producers, directors and fellow visual effects leaders in the US and Asia enables our company to be part of the mainstream international film industry. This would be a lot harder to achieve without the assistance of EMDG.”
Read more about John Cox Creature Workshop at http://johncox.net
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Nupress Tools
Industry sector: Glass product manufacturing
 Nupress Tools designs, manufactures and markets precision-made, machined components for the mining, defence and aerospace, and architectural glass wall industries. Recently Nupress Tools has expanded its client base and opened a marketing office in North America to specifically target the glass wall market. Established in Newcastle in 1972, the company has third party quality assurance accreditation and is a defence recognised supplier.
Nupress designs facades for commercial projects such as the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington DC, The Four Seasons Hotel Group world headquarters in Toronto Canada, and the Air NZ headquarters in New Zealand. Facades realised with Nupress solutions are melded together with their immediate surroundings, and create a unique atmosphere with the landscape in which the construction has been built.
Recent projects completed using Nupress products include the Newseum (museum of news) in Washington DC and the Royal conservatorium of music in Ontario Canada.
Nupress also manufactures standard engineering products of its own design such as wax applicators for the fruit industry, engine mount brackets and critical spare parts for the defence industry and strata control consumables for the mining industry.
The company is globally focused with a network of agents and distributors throughout the world. Major export markets include the USA, Canada, Ireland and India.
Read more about Nupress Tools at www.nupress.com.au
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Dynamic Hearing
Industry sector: Software publishing
 Research driven technology company, Dynamic Hearing Pty Ltd, provides digital signal processing software to the hearing aid and personal communications industries. Based in Melbourne, Australia, the company has achieved an international profile with major export markets including Europe, USA and Japan.
As a manufacturer of software modules and libraries which feature efficient low power implementations, Dynamic Hearing aims to improve the listening quality and mobility to its many end-users. Advanced technologies provide customised or ‘ready to go’ modules with the intention of improving the quality of life for the hearing impaired. The technology can also benefit those with ‘normal’ hearing, particularly those working in the personal communications industries, such as call centre operators.
The main product licensed is the DSP technology, including the flexible digital amplifier ADRO for hearing aids, entertainment and audio communication devices. The technology can be used on a wide range of applications including hearing aids, telephony which includes call centres, gaming, mobile phones, and assistive listening devices.
Dynamic Hearing has received four EMDG grants which has helped support representative costs in Japan and the USA and the promotion of its products at overseas trade fairs.
Michelle Lopez, Finance Manager comments, “Access to the EMDG scheme has assisted Dynamic Hearing’s continued export drive into Germany, France, Japan, the UK, Canada and the US. More recently we’ve begun promoting our technologies into Asian markets such as China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Having access to the EMDG means we’ve been able to increase our marketing efforts than would have been possible without the grant.”
Read more about Dynamic Hearing at www.dynamichearing.com.au
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