Meden-Inmed is a Polish producer and distributor of professional medical facilities. Since 1989, the company has been supplying medical staff and patients alike, developing high quality, technologically advanced medical, rehabilitation and wellness equipment.
2017 was a pivotal year for Meden-Inmed [1], when the company intensified its pursuits of expansion to Asia.
The company participated in the EU Gateway | Business Avenues mission to Thailand and Singapore in September and later that year went on to China.
Since 2017, the company has been hard at work to follow up with the contacts made in the region and overcome the barriers of doing business in Asia.
In a healthcare and medical field that is developing rapidly in the digital world, commercialising traditional technologies is more and more difficult.
The nature of our production makes it hard to promote our products in the modern world where technology rules and bulky devices with no touch screens or Internet connection are not the latest crazes. (…) The other part of our own technology is water therapy, which is popular in our traditional markets, but not in Asia. – Tomasz Gorecki, Export Sales, Meden-Inmed (Poland)
Technology-related challenges aside, Meden-Inmed representatives were also confronted with a task to revive old contacts and restart sales engines.
This is where the EU Gateway | Business Avenues programme really made a difference.
Following the China mission in December 2017, sales increased five-fold and turnover increased by 1900%, in China alone.
We have managed to step up from one sale in 2017 to five in 2018 (…) the turnover was made on our flagship products for hydrotherapy and kinesiotherapy. And it's not five, but twenty times bigger. – Tomasz Gorecki, Export Sales, Meden-Inmed (Poland)
Within a year since the mission, the company increased its turnover by 50% in Asia as a whole, including in Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.
We now see an increased turnover of approximately 50%. – Tomasz Gorecki, Export Sales, Meden-Inmed (Poland)
The EU Gateway | Business Avenues programme not only kickstarted this turn of events, but it also sped up the process so that the company could start doing business quicker.
Besides saving time and money, thanks to the programme, the company’s representatives were equipped with the necessary tools to understand the market and to move fast to close deals.
EU Gateway | Business Avenues helped to enlarge Meden's footprint in Asia a lot, even if it meant relief from a lot of tedious work or financial effort in one country (…) let alone provided an opportunity to meet and discuss business with other nationals. – Tomasz Gorecki, Export Sales, Meden-Inmed (Poland)
To guarantee successful outcomes, participant companies receive backing [2] well before the mission even takes place, as well as during the event itself.
Companies get promotion on the local markets, help with meeting the right contacts and bringing their offerings in front of the right people.
The financial relief and logistical support helped bring Meden-Inmed closer to its goal, that of successfully exporting to Asia.
Thanks to the EU Gateway | Business Avenues, the company managed to forge a contract for 200 of its devices for the Malaysian market, worth over EUR 100,000.
This has been possible thanks to the swift matchmaking process implemented through the programme. It not only reduces processing times, but it also guarantees that participants are forming quality, long-lasting relationships.
One cannot overlook the impact the missions have on the markets, the businessmen there, but most importantly on the participants. We could focus on the more important issues: human contact, especially that the matchmaking tools made it a snap. – Tomasz Gorecki, Export Sales, Meden-Inmed (Poland)
The matchmaking process also warrants that the European companies meet with high-level representatives from handpicked local companies.
In Meden-Inmed’s case, this meant it met potential partners for each of its speciality products.
The quality of the companies met is very good. We met quite a lot of very, very good possible partners for our equipment. We are very happy they are not uniform, so we have partners for every line of our products, and those partners are very experienced. – Tomasz Gorecki, Export Sales, Meden-Inmed (Poland)
On the whole, the EU Gateway | Business Avenues programme put Meden-Inmed on the fast track to establish the right business relationships in Asia and produce sales in a little over a year since the missions.
Could your company benefit from receiving such support to expand to Asia [3]?
Check out upcoming EU Gateway | Business Avenues openings [4] and apply!