This month we have the special pleasure of interviewing Thierry Weissenburger, Consul and Senior Trade Commissioner at the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles. Thierry recently moved to Southern California to lead the work of a 16-member trade commissioner team based in LA and San Diego responsible for the Southern California, Arizona and Nevada territory. Thierry brings a wealth of experience to our region including past leadership roles for Canada in Northern California, Boston and Ottawa. In our interview, Thierry shares some of his incoming perspectives and profiles the work of the Trade Commissioner service on behalf of Canadian businesses and those interested in investing and expanding into Canada.
1. Welcome to Southern California, Thierry. How well do you know this region already - either personally or professionally?
In fact, I am so glad to be back to California after an interim period of 7 years. I have had indeed the pleasure to serve in the same Senior Trade Commissioner capacity at the Consulate General of Canada in San Francisco between 2007 and 2012. For our family this was clearly an unparalleled experience and for me a very a rewarding part of my career at which time I learned so much. I realize that Southern California has distinct cultural and market differences, so I would not pretend I know the region that well. I am still very much in a discovery mode, which is always the most interesting period when taking up a new posting.
2. As Head of the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service (TCS) in Southern California, Nevada and Arizona, what is the span of work that the TCS team undertakes for the benefit of those who may be less familiar with the department?
To put it simply, our job as Trade Commissioners is to help grow Canada’s economy in direct service and funding support to Canadian businesses and communities. We are connecting international market players to Canadian business, innovation and investment opportunities, using our network of close to 1000 Trade commissioners in 161 cities around the world, our teams being usually embedded in Embassies and Consulates. In the Southwest, our team of 16 trade commissioners operates from Los Angeles and San Diego and provides services to Canadian clients in virtually all sectors.
However, the Southwest market offers specifically more opportunities and generates higher client demand in sectors such as the creative industries, information technology, the bio-pharma industry, cleantech and infrastructure, aerospace and defense as well as the broader innovation and venture area. We are naturally concentrating our efforts towards these themes as we develop our programming, while leveraging numerous partnerships along the way with Canadian provinces, economic development organizations and trade associations in Canada and locally.
We also manage an active investment attraction program whereby we approach fast growing businesses located in our territory to present them with a compelling “Invest in Canada” value proposition, as well as to support their expansion.
Finally, we work as one team with other members of the Consulate, whether the Consul General, our Honorary Consul in Arizona, or our political and immigration colleagues as we share the common objective to grow the economy and prosperity of Canada.
3. In the time you have spent already at the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles, what are some of your initial impressions with respect to Canadian – Southern Californian (SoCal) business ties?
I have been in Los Angeles now for approximatively 3 months and have already experienced the visits of several trade delegations in our territory and talked to numerous clients. Needless to say that our clients’ interest is considerable and that the Southwest is a key market for Canada.
Numbers speak for themselves: Two-way trade in goods alone between California/Arizona/Nevada and Canada is more than $40 billion annually, not counting a very healthy trade in services and tourism.
Canada’s investment footprint is massive, although not always very visible, and concentrates in the financial sector, real estate, entertainment, and other services. As important, the SoCal market is a source of inspiration and a place for Canadian businesses to spot early emerging market trends, progressive regulations and business opportunities – this is particularly true in cleantech, mobility, entertainment industries and media, as well life-sciences.
I should add that Canada has a particular card to play in this market where we have so many friends and accomplished fellow Canadians. I cannot remember a place I visited since I arrived without at least a couple of Canadians: California seems to me like the lost province! Many of them share the desire to stay connected with fellow entrepreneurs and communities at home and to help out if provided with the opportunity.
4. Having represented Canada in markets such as Denmark, the Bay Area and Boston how have you seen businesses best utilize the resources of the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service?
While many businesses in Canada see the Trade Commissioner Service as an organization which organizes trade missions and operates at a very transactional level, clients who have been working with us for a long time appreciate our customized and individualized services.
Engaging in a strategic relationship over a long period of time and in multiple markets is probably where we add the most value to clients. This allows us to understand in more depth the needs of a particular client, build necessary commitment and mutual trust, hence supporting more purposefully the client's business growth around the world. This is certainly an approach that we will amplify over the next years, building on successful experiments I had the pleasure to develop with many colleagues, such as the Canadian Technology Accelerator launched in the Bay Area 10 years ago, or more recently, the management of high-impact clients through Key Accounts Managers.
5. At what stage should a business be at before seeking to engage the help of the Trade Commissioner Service team? And when they’ve reached this level, what is the best way for them to connect?
Typically, TCS works with “export-ready” clients. This statement however can be subject to numerous interpretations and variations depending on the sector, the maturity of the industry, the experience of the founder, company growth rate, let alone that a number of our clients actually do not export anything and rather need to access money, talent, inspiration, partnerships or technology available abroad to grow their company. So, there is clearly an element of judgment, placing the client’s best interest in the middle of the equation. Coming to a market too early and unprepared may be too risky and detrimental to the client’s best interests. Likewise, waiting too long until the product is perfect and has been sold in a few places in Canada could be too late either for competitive reasons or because the market actually does not need it.
The TCS has a no-wrong-door policy, meaning that our clients can reach us either in Canada or directly at our missions abroad. However, if new to the service, I’d recommend clients to contact first one of our regional offices and discuss the best course of action for their international business expansion.
6. Without necessarily getting into any sector specifics, what might a Southern California business seeking to expand internationally be surprised to learn about what Canada offers as a market opportunity?
Since you kindly invite me, I’ll give you what I believe are Canada’s key selling points for investment:
Highly skilled talent: Canada is the most educated country in the world with over 55% of Canadians having graduated from post-secondary institutions, among whom are 2.8M graduates in STEM. If specialized skills cannot be found, investors can quickly bring in top international talent through the Global Skills Strategy. For example, through the Global Talent Stream, eligible workers can receive work permits in as little as two weeks.
Global market access: Canada is the only G7 country that offers investors preferential market access to over 1.5 billion consumers in 51 countries. We have signed trade agreements with top trading blocs: we are partners with the US and Mexico in the USMCA (formerly NAFTA) and we signed the Canada Europe Trade Agreement (CETA), and the CPTPP (between 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific region). The latter two regions do not have yet a similar agreement with the US.
Transport infrastructure: Canada is well placed to serve as a central hub for global trade. Our air transport infrastructure is the best in the world and our coastal ports provide direct maritime access to Asia, Europe and South America. The Great Lakes also provide easy access to the U.S. interior. Combined with secure trade corridors and gateways, our infrastructure facilitates continual supply chain and business operations.
Lower costs: Canada has the lowest overall tax rate on new business investment and lowest business costs in advanced manufacturing and corporate services among G7 nations. Our public health care system also clearly confers a cost advantage to businesses established in Canada.
Innovation: Scientific Research and Experimental Development Program (SR&ED) - Canada’s largest R&D tax credit program provides billions in tax credits and incentives to businesses conducting R&D in Canada. The Strategic Innovation Fund bolsters business investments in Canada's most dynamic and innovative sectors by supporting business activities such as R&D projects, Firm expansion, Attraction of large-scale investments, Collaborative R&D and technology demonstration projects. In addition, the new Innovation Superclusters Initiative connects businesses, academic institutions and not-for-profit organizations to generate bold ideas, drive economic growth, attract top talent, advance innovation and transform regional ecosystems.
These core assets and incentives definitively produced an impact: At a time when foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into developed economies dropped 40%, FDI into Canada increased 70% in 2018.
7. The Canadian diaspora is large and multi-faceted in Southern California with social expatriate associations, business networking through MAPLE Business Council, and simply a large number of Canadians living, working and growing businesses here. What kind of benefit does this ‘Canadian mosaic’ in Southern California offer Canadian companies interested in doing business in the region?
As alluded to earlier, this massive and largely untapped Canadian diaspora in Southern California is a terrific asset for Canada if activated. I have seen it working very well with volunteers from the C100 in the Bay Area or in Boston with the CENE, providing mentoring to promising Canadian entrepreneurs from hard learned lessons. In both cases, these activities were symbiotically aligned with the Consulate’s support to Canadian entrepreneurs, adding a credible and high-value advisory service to the existing suite of TCS services, and in many cases making a huge difference in our clients' success in the market and beyond. There is no reason this approach cannot be deployed in Southern California as well.
8. We have a vibrant wellspring of innovation in Southern California with many innovation nodes nurturing start-ups and new ideas. Given your experience connecting Canada with innovation centers in Silicon Valley and Boston, to name a couple, what has struck you so far about the innovation ecosystem here in Southern California?
I confess that my perspective on that is highly conditioned to what I have been exposed to so far. I witnessed remarkable innovative ideas and marvels of engineering in areas as diverse as the space business, high-speed transportation, biotech, and the creative industries. This being said, I have been particularly impressed by the current public and private sector drive towards building smart cities, mobility (people and goods), and overall considering the sustainability of our infrastructures. Several Canadian companies are active in the market offering their solutions, for example, supporting the transition to carbon free transportation. Facing daunting challenges, this is clearly an area where the Greater LA region in particular is investing a lot of resources and ingenuity. As goes the saying, necessity is the mother of invention!
9. From a personal perspective, what are you most looking forward to about living in the Los Angeles region?
Meeting all Canadian Hollywood stars and learning how to surf of course (smile)…and if I still have some time left, discovering the local wineries and the outstanding LA food scene.
Thierry - thank you for sharing your perspectives and for making Los Angeles and Southern California your new home.
Welcome/Bienvenue!