This is the 29th consecutive year that Helmo Sainte-Marie University has organised trade missions abroad with its 2nd year Foreign Trade degree students. The aim is to promote Walloon companies in foreign capitals and enable students to put everything they have learned into practice. This year, they went to Bucharest.
Companies such as Alcyon, Equi-nutri, Mammoth Drink and Brasserie d'Ebly agreed to entrust their promotion to these young apprentices. The students themselves contacted the companies to explain their approach and the companies saw an opportunity to expand their markets. The choice of these companies had to be approved by the Wallonia Export-Investment Agency (AWEX), which financed a large part of this visit.
Contact with potential future customers had already been made before the students left for Romania and they were able to use this research once they arrived. The teams had to report back daily to their teachers about their day. They also received advice from Christel Leentjens and Nicolas Ravenel, who represent AWEX in Belgium, and support from Anne Defourny and Adina Ihora, both residents in the country.
Belgian Ambassador Thomas Baekelandt, his delegate for the French Community and the Wallonia-Brussels Region, Eric Poppe and the President of the Chamber of Commerce in Romania, Professor Sorin Dimitriu, were keen to visit the trade fair in the hotel where they were staying. They were also accompanied by two Walloon deputies, Dimitri Fourny and Olivier Destrebecq.
All that remains for these students to do is wait for the results of their work.