KANEKO SEEDS CO.,LTD. is an integrated agricultural company. Since its foundation in 1895, we have been engaged in the research, production and sales of seeds and saplings. Our products are also exported abroad and this is what motivated us to join the 2018 internship program. Out of several candidates, we made an offer to a person with the most suitable experience for our needs and found Huong from Vietnam. She joined our company the year after her internship. Huong and we have had no major problem so far and she currently works in the planning and promotion division newly established to accelerate global business growth with a different perspective from the existing sales department. She is responsible for conducting market research to find out popular vegetables around the world, as well as promoting our products in English. When she joined us as an intern, she could barely speak Japanese, but her conversational skills have improved considerably over time. We are well aware of the effort behind it.

We have communicated with personnel from abroad before the internship program, but in inviting global talent to work together was new to most of us. Huong did change our employees’ awareness towards people from other countries, driving their growth to work with an international scope. In regards to communication, our Japanese employees were reluctant to speak English at first, but they seem more comfortable and confident today. It has become natural for us to have global talent in the company. In PR material creation, we asked Huong to create a video for exhibitions in English aiming to increase product appeal for a wider variety of clients. She not only translated labels into English but also provided the English narration to help us communicate our products more efficiently to global customers. This resulted in an increase in the volume of inquiries from abroad.

Our internship experience made us realize the benefits of working closely with global talent. Going forward, we would like to increase the opportunities to expand into Vietnam with Huong, who will bring us closer to her country. We appreciate her joining our company; she has given us the strength to strive forward. We will make every effort to find our products that can appeal to overseas markets by making the best use of her unique perspective as a global talent. We are confident that the trustworthy relationship we have built since the internship will encourage a smooth transition to the new environment where a cross-divisional effort must be made to accelerate towards the goal. We will continuously work in cooperation with global talents to ensure further development of the company.