Green Worldwide Shipping is the presenting sponsor of Global Atlanta's Trade Channel. Sign up here for monthly global trade updates.
Editor’s note: This story is to be included in Global Atlanta’s Export Stories special report, for which a free launch event is to be held Thursday, Oct. 9. To attend, click here.
AdEdge Technologies’ board of directors was against exporting to China. And, they were right; it was a disaster. They also weren’t happy when the Buford-based company decided to continue to seek new markets overseas.
Today, about 44 percent of the company’s business is international.
“Our joint venture in China was our first attempt at exporting and we bought into the adage of if you only get 1 percent of the market, then you’ll be gigantic. We spent a year and a half cultivating relationships in China. We were not comfortable with how they conduct business. So we decided to take on the Western Hemisphere — from Canada to the tip of Chile.”
Founded in 2002, AdEdge removes contaminants, such as arsenic, iron, fluoride, uranium, manganese and others, from water supplies. The technology is used in a variety of ways including purifying drinking water, industrial process, environmental, chemical, energy, medical and general waste water industries.
AdEdge got its start taking arsenic out of drinking water using technology developed in Europe and designing water treatment systems. The first couple of years their customers were small projects — in the $10,000 to $15,000 range — including a lot of residential customers. As their reputation grew, they became involved in several projects for the Environmental Protection Agency.
By 2010, the company was growing at a fast pace, helped by American Stimulus Funding program. But as the stimulus funding starting drying up, AdEdge decided to look to China.
“We didn’t have a lot of management buy-in but we told the board to be open minded, and it didn’t work out in China,” says Richard Cavagnaro, president and CEO. “But we realized that if you don’t take a risk, you’re not going to be successful.”
The company decided to further pursue international markets because “we were able to recognize the pitfalls and why we didn’t succeed in China,” Mr. Cavagnaro said. “We identified those issues and changed how we approached the international market. We also had several U.S. clients help us get international opportunities.”
They decided on the Western Hemisphere because the time differences weren’t as dramatic as China, and Europe’s infrastructure was too sophisticated. In addition they hired Spanish-speaking engineers. In 2010, they had no international business; now it accounts for almost half of revenues.
A few of AdEdge’s projects include:
-Designed, manufactured and started an arsenic removal system for Quilicura in Chile.
-Added an arsenic treatment unit to the existing water treatment system in Pago de Gomez, Arica-Chile.
-Created a multistage treatment solution to address arsenic, iron and manganese, aluminum and total organic carbon in the water supplies at The Hamlet of Little Smoky in Alberta, Canada.
-Created a stye to remove arsenic, iron and manganese from the Ross River Water Treatment plant in the Yukon, Canada.
“They are a great company doing a lot of good,” says Amy Ryan, senior international trade specialist with the U.S. Commerce Department in Atlanta. “It’s water technology — helping people have clean water. Their challenge is going to be going into countries with all the various regulations and standards. Each situation, each country is different.”
AdEdge recently signed an agreement to go into India, and Bangladesh is also in its sights. “We see a lot of business opportunities there,” said Mr. Cavagnaro. “There are lots of drinking water opportunities and we know our strengths in that market and will tackle it.”
So far the company has been able to fund projects with letters of credit or a sizable down payments from buyers. “We haven’t yet had to close a deal with the Ex-Im Bank. We’ve come close several times,” Mr. Cavagnaro said. “I think that program is critically important to small companies because it eliminates the risk factor of getting paid.”
AdEdge received a lot of assistance from a variety of government and private agencies including the U.S. Commercial Service, Georgia Cooperative Extension Service, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Georgia and the Metro Atlanta Chamber. “They all helped us with marketing, networking, getting us involved in trade shows, making introductions and helping us find professional services such as lawyers,” Mr. Cavagnaro said.
For the future, AdEdge intends to grow its network of independent sales reps. “We need good partner companies to align with and help keep our costs down,” he said. “We have 30 people now and we can’t put people on the ground in each country.” In five years he intends to building a manufacturing facility in Latin America to keep his competitive advantage.
“It was challenging initially but we’ve since had a lot of international opportunities and it’s now a large part of our business and future.”
Mr. Cavagnaro was named businessperson of the year by the Metro Atlanta Chamber in 2013 and was featured as a speaker at this year’s Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce global trade summit.