Export Marketing Development Grant (EMDG)
The Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) is a Government program that provides organizations with substantial cash rebates for overseas marketing expenditure. The scheme is designed as an incentive to encourage Australian exporters to develop overseas markets for their goods and/or services (including tourism and education).
The scheme provides reimbursement of approximately 50% of the eligible expenditure incurred to a maximum of $150,000 per annum. Applicants must be Australian resident entities with a total annual turnover of less than Aus$50 million and must have spent at least $15,000 in overseas marketing.
Unlike other Government grants EMDG is a non-competitive program which means if you are eligible and make an application you will receive a grant.
Eligibility
To be eligible, the business must have:
> income of not more than $50 million in the grant year
> incurred at least $15,000 of eligible export expenses under the scheme (first-time applicants can combine two years expenses)
> principal status for the export business (some exceptions apply, eg. non-profit export focused industry bodies)
The business also must have promoted one of the following:
> the export of goods and most services
> inbound tourism
> the export of intellectual property and know-how
> conferences and events held in Australia
Eligible expenditure includes:
> Overseas Representatives - the costs attributable to maintaining an overseas representative on an ongoing basis to market your business overseas. Eligible costs include salaries/fees, office expenses, travel and accommodation.
> Marketing Consultants - expenditure incurred in engaging independent consultants who provide service relating to market development and market research. Consultants may be located either in Australia or overseas, but must be unrelated to the applicant.
> Overseas Marketing Visits (Travel) - the cost of airfares and ground travel plus a daily allowance of Aus$300 to assist with accommodation and meals.
> Communication - the communication costs including IDD telephone, facsimile and email all of which are necessary to access export markets.
> Product Promotion (Free Samples) - the actual cost of providing free product samples to potential overseas buyers including the cost of providing FOC’s in the tourism industry.
> Trade Fairs - the external costs associated with participation in overseas trade fairs, conferences, in-store promotions, international forums, private exhibitions or similar promotional events.
> Promotional Literature & Advertising Material - the external costs associated with brochures, promotional videos, CD ROM’s, advertising and other promotional material are eligible. Reasonable external costs associated with the development of promotional websites and a percentage of website hosting costs are also claimable.
> Patents and Trade Marks - the cost of registering patents and trademarks outside of Australia and NZ is eligible including patent attorney expenses.
> Overseas Buyers Visiting Australia - airfares, transport, accommodation and meal costs associated with bringing overseas buyers, or potential buyers, to Australia to evaluate goods, services or intellectual property are eligible.
How much money will we get back?
You will get back 50% of eligible expenditure in excess of $5,000. For example if your eligible expenditure was $75,000 then your rebate would be $35,000 calculated as follows:
Rebate = ($75,000 – $5,000) x 50% = $35,000
Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC)
EFIC operates on a commercial basis and partner with banks to provide financial solutions for:
> Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are exporters
> Australian companies in an export supply chain
> Australian companies looking to expand their business operations overseas to better service their clients
> Australian companies operating in emerging and frontier markets
EFIC is a specialist financier that delivers simple and creative solutions for Australian companies to enable them to win business, grow internationally and achieve export success.
There are many financial challenges faced by small business exporters – stretched working capital, varied payment terms, not to mention the significant lag between production and payment. Often your bank is unable to provide the financial support required, making it difficult to compete and grow in international markets
EFIC has a range of solutions for exporters to help them win more business, grow internationally and achieve export success.
EFIC provides various financial instruments, e.g. loans, guarantees, bonds and insurance products, to assist Australian exporters and subcontractors in export supply chains to take advantage of new contract opportunities that may otherwise have been otherwise unattainable.
These include:
> Direct loans can help an overseas buyer to finance the purchase of Australian capital goods or services, either as buyer credit to offshore companies or governments or as project finance.
> Export finance guarantees can be provided to a bank to guarantee a loan to an overseas buyer of Australian capital goods or services. Similar to a direct loan, an export finance guarantee can be provided either as buyer credit to offshore companies or governments or as project finance.
> Bonding and guarantee facilities can help Australian companies with their security obligations under overseas contracts. We can either issue bonds directly or provide a guarantee to a bank issuing a bond. These can include advance payment, performance, warranty and US surety bonds.
> Bond insurance can be provided to Australian exporters when an overseas buyer requires an unconditional advance payment or performance bond. Bond insurance protects the Australian exporter from loss when an unconditional bond is wrongfully called due to events or circumstances beyond an exporters’ control, including embargo, licence cancellation or certain political events.
> Political risk insurance can help Australian investors and contractors and their lenders that are exposed to political risks in emerging markets. We can mitigate against potential losses due to certain political events, including expropriation, political violence, currency inconvertibility and transfer risks.
> Overseas Direct Investment can assist Australian companies investing in business operations overseas, such as sales and marketing operations, where the investment is for business growth purposes and for the economic benefit of Australia.
> Documentary credit guarantee can enable Australian exporters to rely on their bank in Australia for payment for their goods or services, rather than their overseas buyer’s bank, if the Australian exporter’s bank is unwilling to take the risk on the buyer’s bank for payments due to the exporter under a documentary letter of credit.
> Export payments insurance can protect Australian exporters against the risk of non-payment due to certain commercial and political risks for export contracts that have a payment term of more than two years.
Eligibility
EFFIC can assist and offer solutions for businesses with:
> annual revenue from as low as $250,000
> that have been established for at least two years
> have exported goods or services within the past 12 months
> minimum guarantee value of Aus$100,000
> participating bank unable to assist with transaction
> satisfactory due diligence and credit approval obtained by EFIC
