Round Two Grants for Asian Market Export

Asian Market Success
Grants for Asian Market Export
Round Two Expressions of Interest submission
guidelines
Round Two Expressions of interest (EOI) are now open for the Grants for Asian Market
Export.
The Grants for Asian Market Export is a major component of the Asian Market Success
Royalties for Regions (AMS) Project managed by the Department of Agriculture and
Food, Western Australia (DAFWA).
The Grants for Asian Market Export (“grants”) will invest up to $3 million, over two
rounds of funding.
Up to $1.5 million will be invested in Round Two. Individual grants are available
between $20 000 - $200 000 (excluding GST).
The purpose of the grants is to better equip Western Australian agriculture and food
(“agrifood”) exporting businesses to develop and implement strategies to capture
export market opportunities and attract investment.
Before submitting your application, please read the ‘Round Two Information toolkit for
applicants’ which provides additional details, including what to expect if your application
is successful.
Please note that the guidelines and toolkit have been updated since Round One of the
grants was completed and you will need to read the latest versions of these documents
carefully before preparing your application material for Round Two. The toolkit and
other documents related to Round Two can be found at the Grants for Asian Market
Export webpage.
Round Two Expressions of Interest close 5.00pm (WST) Friday, 25 November
2016.
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Essential criteria
1. Entities that meet the following criteria are eligible to apply for a grant:
a.
Australian based legal entities with an Australian Business Number (ABN)
and registered for GST that are capable of entering into a legally binding
agreement with the Western Australia (WA) State Government.
b.
The main source of income (50 per cent or more) for these entities must be
related to the sale of food and beverage-related goods or services.
c.
At the time of applying, these entities:
i.
must be exporting or seeking to export goods that are produced,
grown or manufactured in WA
ii.
must have been in operation for over three years and already
undertaking some export-related activities*
iii.
should have established relationships with one or more in-market
business partners*.
d.
The products or service that the entities are exporting or seeking to export
must be positioned for premium* markets in Asia which is broadly defined to
include the Middle East.
e.
Entities that meet criteria #1a (above), have been in operation for over three
years and whose main source of income is to provide a service that directly
supports the export of food and beverage-related goods that are produced,
grown or manufactured in WA are also eligible to submit an application.
*Notes and explanations:
 Besides ongoing export of goods to overseas markets that contribute to the
entity’s annual turnover, export-related activities undertaken prior to
application submission can include activities that demonstrate that the entity
has made substantial efforts to expand existing business activity into
overseas markets. This can include but is not limited to test product
shipments, trade exhibition participation, export registration, existing business
plans that factor in an overseas market strategy, and ongoing discussions
with potential in-market business partners.
 In-market partners refer to business relationships an entity has established
with another entity specifically to access overseas markets for its products.
These in-market partners can be based in Australia (with access into targeted
market/s) or overseas and could be used by the entity to provide networks or
contacts, supply channels, joint ventures and/or other complementary
capabilities to assist the WA entity to compete within overseas markets.
 Premium markets are those where the consumer recognises and is willing to
pay for an additional margin in recognition of the distinctive attributes
exhibited by the product. Such attributes are differentiated from commodity
products.
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2. All successful applicants will be required to make a total co-contribution (cash and
in-kind), of at least 25 per cent of the value of any grant obtained from the Grants
for Asian Market Export program.
3. Grant applications are required to address how the proposed project will contribute
to economic development and growth in regional WA.
Desirable criteria
Grant applications should address how the proposed project will contribute to the
overall objectives of the Asian Market Success project, which are to:
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provide WA agrifood businesses with confidence to invest in accessing and
developing premium markets in Asia and
help transform the approach WA agrifood businesses apply to exporting so
that they are internationally competitive and therefore able to capture high
value, premium export markets.
Higher preference will be given to grant proposals that demonstrate strong alignment to
one or more of the following:
1. Opportunities identified in the Target Market Opportunities report commissioned by
the Asian Market Success Project. This report is available at
www.agric.wa.gov.au/TMOreport
Additional research has been conducted and complied in detailed reports for each of
the twenty key opportunities identified in the Target Market Opportunities report. These
detailed reports are available to support and enhance the evidence base for
applications in Round Two. If you are proposing a grant project that aligns with one or
more of these opportunities, we encourage you to request a copy of the relevant
report/s. The request form is available at: agric.wa.gov.au/TMOreports_requestform
Important note: we require up to five working days to respond to your request for the
reports. Please ensure you factor this into the time you require to submit your EOI
application by the closing date. No extensions of the closing date and time will be
granted on the basis of having not received the requested report.
2. Activities that build:
a. value or supply chains into high growth premium markets, leveraging high
quality (i.e. beyond transactional) in-market relationships that the WA agrifood
business has established to enhance its consumer focus and provide
complementary capabilities and resources
b. new business models or closely aligned value chains that increase the
international competiveness of a WA agrifood business and enable it to
become more attractive to financial investors or
c. business improvements in scale, product quality and capacity to meet
demand expectations from overseas consumers of premium products.
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Please note that other factors will be taken into consideration in the assessment of the
applications at the discretion of the panel, including but not limited to:
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whether the budget of the proposed project and the intended specific use of the
grant funds represent value for money
the percentage of cash in the total co-contribution from the applicant
the extent to which the project is designed on sound evidence based information
and knowledge
the innovativeness of the project and the extent to which this may assist the
entity to establish a distinctive advantage in premium export market/s
the degree of business value or market share improvement enabled by the
proposed project
the degree to which the project will contribute to economic development and
growth in regional WA.
Application and selection processes
The grant application is a competitive merit-based process. Applicants are required to
submit proposals which will be reviewed by an assessment panel.
A two-stage selection process will be used for Round Two:
Stage 1 Expression of Interest – an expert assessment panel will assess each
application and recommend a shortlist of projects to progress to Stage 2.
Stage 2 Full Project Proposal – only shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit
a more detailed proposal for assessment by the panel.
Applications from eligible organisations must be submitted online using the
SmartyGrants application form.
All applicants will be notified by email that their application has been received.
To be considered for Round Two funding, completed EOI applications must be
submitted before 5.00pm (WST) on Friday, 25 November 2016.
Successful projects will be selected through a competitive merit-based process.
DAFWA will appoint an expert selection panel (3-5 members) to provide industry
expertise in the assessment of applications and make recommendations to the Asian
Market Success Project Steering Committee.
Projects may be funded wholly or partially, and may have conditions or
recommendations attached which need to be addressed before funding is granted.
Decisions on funding are final. All applicants will be notified in writing of the outcome of
their application, and provided with feedback if requested.
Further information
Contact the Asian Market Success project team, DAFWA
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +61 (0)8 9368 3725
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