BCBusiness

The Veteran Kryton International Inc., Vancouver SPECIALTY: Concrete waterproofing products whose proprietary chemi- cal technology creates crystals that grow into the material FOUNDED: 1973 EXPORTING SINCE: 1975 PROPORTION OF TOTAL SALES FROM EXPORTS: More than 90 per cent THE STORY SO FAR: Ron Yuers, Kryton's founder and chair, signed his first international distributors in 1975, in Australia and Mexico. To fulfill his global ambitions, he would buy a one-way plane ticket and not return until he had sold something, says his daughter, president and CEO Kari Yuers. On those trips abroad, one of her father's first stops was often the Canadian consulate. "At times, he would be a good enough salesman to not get out the door without ask- ing to borrow their car," Yuers says, "so he could show up in a beautiful sedan with little Canadian flags on the front and look pretty important." That resourcefulness paid off: Kryton now sells its products in more than 45 countries. The company, which has 90 staff, has offices everywhere from India and China to Dubai and the U.K. TOP EXPORT CHALLENGE: "One of the biggest challenges has been protectionism and tariffs," Kari Yuers says. "There's 40 per cent duties in many countries, so when our products are brought in, our customers have to pay as much as 40 per cent tax before they can mark it up and sell it in their local jurisdiction." WHAT'S NEXT: In the middle of the last decade, Kari Yuers pared Kryton's 150-product line back to 12 core offerings. That boosted growth, but now that the company is expanding by 20 per cent year-over-year, it wants to introduce new products again. To that end, Kryton has hired a mergers-and-acquisitions expert to find takeover prospects, Yuers says. "We're looking to add some value-added systems that can help propel the company and our customers' growth on a global basis." Yuers thinks the pending Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union will make Kryton more competitive. "We welcome deals like the Canada-EU trade deal," she says, noting that the EU is a mature market with an appetite for high-quality materials. The Opportunist Tri-Star Seafood Supply Ltd., Richmond SPECIALTY: Live, fresh and frozen crab, cod, prawns and other seafood, nearly all of it Ocean Wise–certified FOUNDED: 1979 EXPORTING SINCE: 1981 PROPORTION OF TOTAL SALES FROM EXPORTS: About 75 per cent THE STORY SO FAR: Founder Claude Tchao started out by tapping what was then a niche market, storing live seafood in his daughters' wad- ing pool and distributing it to local restaurants in a rented truck. Tchao built a processing plant, and Tri-Star soon went nationwide and began shipping to the U.S. The Hong Kong native then turned to Southeast Asia. "He saw an opportunity that people over there loved eating freshest-of- the-fresh seafood," says business development manager Evelyn Tchao, his daughter. "He basically exported his first shipment, and that was it— we just continued." 40 BCBUSINESS JUNE 2017 n June 29 at the Vancou- ver Convention Centre, Sekretaryuk will be one of three teenage contes- tants in the Youth Export Pitch Challenge, part of the inaugural #Trade- Talks forum presented by the BC Chamber of Commerce. Joining him to make a case to poten- tial investors are Emily Naing, co-founder of Swave, which is developing an electronic device to help people sleep better; and another contender whose name hadn't been announced at press time. All have participated in Young Entre- preneur Leadership Launchpad ( YELL), an educational program for high-school students, where their teams were the past three winners of its annual spring Venture Challenge. "The way I usually describe it is it's entrepreneurship class on steroids," Sekretaryuk says of YELL. (See page 42 for more.) The BC Chamber of Commerce is expecting upward of 300 attendees at #TradeTalks, which features four panel discussions on the theme of exports and trade, with guests such as Lower Mainland MP Pam Goldsmith-Jones, parliamentary secretary to the minister of International Trade, and Lynne Platt, U.S. consul general Vancouver. Also on the agenda: a Virtual Global Marketplace where entrepreneurs can meet the local consuls general of at least 15 nations. "The majority of the entrepreneurs you talk to, they ended up there by accident or serendipity, not by design," says BC Chamber president and CEO Val Litwin. "The whole point of #Trade- Talks is to get our B.C. business com- munity thinking about trade as part of their strategic opportunity moving for- ward, as opposed to a happy accident along the way that produced awesome results." B.C. offers a wealth of resources for companies that want to prepare to export or grow their international business, Litwin notes. One example is Export Navigator, a pilot program by government-backed agency Small Business BC that connects small- and medium-sized companies with export specialists. "Part of what we're hoping to achieve with #TradeTalks is to simplify the conversation a little bit and make it more accessible to all businesses around the province," Litwin says. "This will be an interactive experience—get your ques- tions answered in the moment, and get the tools you need to get trade-ready." Exporting may not be top of mind for smaller businesses, notes Dan Baxter, the Chamber's director of policy, government and stakeholder relations. How four B.C. companies took their products international–and how another plans to follow in their footsteps

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