The Ministry of International Trade in British Columbia is helping local businesses break into the international market.

According to the Ministry, their representatives have helped set up or support more than 160 inbound and outbound trips involving B.C. companies and organizations in the last year.

During that same time, they facilitated 271 international agreements, almost four times their target of 60.

One business in Kelowna has seen benefits of working with the Ministry of International Trade first hand.

WTFast is a Gamers Private Network based in Kelowna, with a second office in San Francisco.

CEO Rob Bartlett launched the company in December 2009, when he saw the need to improve performance of game connections.

“After tons of research and development, and six years later, we are the clear market and technology leaders in this space,” said Bartlett.

Photo Credit: Rob Bartlett.In that time, they’ve worked with the Ministry of International trade to grow a wider base.

“They have been very helpful from a business to business, networking perspective, supporting WTFast on trade missions, conferences, and events,” said Bartlett. “We have found it invaluable to make face to face connections with other businesses, helping us to close business to business deals and strengthen existing relationships.” 

WTFast has a global user base, and international partners have helped them to get further in the global market.

“The Internet really has shrunk the size of this Earth, especially for Internet businesses,” said Bartlett. “There is a massive global market to be tapped into.”

This is something he said pays off for both the business and the province.

“This means more revenue and more jobs for the local economy.”

Bartlett said he would definitely recommend other business owners reach out to the Ministry of International Trade.

“If you want help growing your business outside of B.C., it is definitely worth looking into,” he explained. “It is also worthwhile looking at if you want to connect with local companies as well, as they will likely be at many of the events supported by the Ministry of International Trade.”

Photo Credit: Rob Bartlett

The Ministry has helped them get investors in the past, and that continues today.

The province’s EBC program gives investors an incentive to look locally, by returning 30 per cent of their investment into B.C. businesses back come provincial income tax time.

This allowed WTFast to have a selection of angel investors in the province.

Now, they’re looking into investments on a larger scale, raising funds of a larger amount from venture capital. What they’re calling their current Series A raise has been supported by the ministry through their connections to investors.

According to Bartlett, their goal, and next step, is to make the fastest and most secure network on the Internet. 

“We want to keep pushing our technology and doing really cool things,” he said. “We plan to really ramp up this year and make some significant business to business distribution deals that I think will impress a lot of people in Kelowna.”

Photo Credit: Ministry of International Trade.The Ministry has representatives in 11 offices around the world.

This focus, he hopes, will help them both within the province and in the global market.

 “While we are seeing strong growth worldwide, one of the key challenges we need to tackle to grow is localization of our technology, marketing and payments,” said Bartlett. “We anticipate requiring regional partners to be able to really grow in non-English markets.”

The Ministry of International Trade said they have a number of tools and services to help B.C. businesses reach new markets, like specialists who help connect B.C. companies to programs, services and contacts.

The specialists focus on areas in natural resources, clean technology and green economy, technology, and transportation.

The B.C. government also has a team of international trade and investment representatives located in 11 offices around the world including in China, Japan, South Korea, India, Europe, and the western United States.

To help businesses in the province, the B.C. government started a new online registration system and database for business owners to help make connections and give information for international business trips.