Hussey, Gay, Bell & DeYoung, an engineering and construction management firm based in Savannah, already has far-flung offices in Saudi Arabia and Bermuda. But company executives are looking to cast an even wider net, traveling early next month to a trade show in Istanbul called Turkeybuild 2012, in the hope of finding additional business opportunities.
Principal engineer Rich Hallman said the reason's simple: "You gotta' fish where the fish are."
Looking abroad for business prospects is a way of being for many Georgia companies today as they look to expand or diversify in countries with fast-growing economies.
A half-dozen Georgia businesses are expected to attend Turkeybuild 2012, to be held May 2-6, or Trade Winds-Asia, a business development conference in Singapore May 16-18. The purpose: to learn more about foreign markets and to develop business and governmental relationships, said Alice Carson, international trade manager for the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
Trade Winds Asia can help companies of all types enter or expand in some of the fastest-growing economies in the world, the department said, including Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.
Turkeybuild 2012 provides a way for the building, construction and technology companies to do business in Turkey, the department said, and also to establish relationships in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Russia and North Africa.
Ryan Silberman will be at Trade Winds Asia. The director of global business development for RefrigiWear, a Dahlonega-based maker of insulated clothing and accessories, said, "We're always looking for more distributors in southeast Asia."
The company is focused on selling in China, and Trade Winds, he said, could provide a sense of the business climate there.
Eric Rojek, vice president of sales for Thrush Aircraft also will attend Trade Winds. The Albany-based manufacturer of planes used for crop dusting already does 60 percent of its business outside the U.S. Now it's interested in selling its planes to banana growers in Asia.
The conference, he said, offers a good way to learn about a country's business culture, regulations and tax system.
Hallman said his firm has "chased work all over the world," and that its business in Saudi Arabia has helped the company during the U.S. economy's hard times.
The trip to Istanbul made sense, he said, after he learned about the fast-growing Turkish economy.
"We kind of looked at that," he said, "and saw a potential market."
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