High expectations for intern information and market research, as a foothold for overseas business development

Q.Why did your company decide to take on interns? What did you aim to achieve?

Since we first started in 2014, we have been engaged in infrastructure service development for food stalls, food trucks and pop-up stores. On intangible elements, we provide platforms such as websites to match event organizers and shops, and on tangible elements we are also handling infrastructure such as outdoor power outlets for food trucks. Since our inception, we have thought that we would like to advance into overseas markets, including Southeast Asia where food trucks are thriving; however, we were in a frustrating situation where a start-up company like ours lacked the organizational strength, market research capabilities and funding to compete overseas, yet if we waited until we had a complete organizational structure in place, it would be too late. At that time, we learned about this program and decided to conduct market research and creates channels utilizing the information and networks of the interns' home countries through internships. We requested interns who were technicians or engineers with English proficiency regardless of their Japanese language abilities.

After they experienced a wide range of operations, it led to market research and business proposals

Q.What kind of internship did you run? What difficulties did you face and how did you resolve them?

We first started our intern activity by having them grasp our vision, our proprietary systems and technologies and target areas. Furthermore, we had them engage in a wide range of activities to understand our business, such as visiting our business partner from large companies to sole proprietorships, handling customers at exhibitions, visiting universities and research institutions, and participating in collaborative workshops among companies, and had them work on the main objectives of market research and channel development in the interns' native countries and coordinate business according to the needs of their countries. During the internship period maintained close communication with the interns and coordinated activities according to their individual interests and strong points. In addition, we strived to have them not only learn the Japanese business etiquette and customs, but also to become familiar with Japanese culture such as the tea ceremony, hot springs, Japanese cuisine and Takoyaki parties. Both interns were Muslims and they requested mosque worship. We learned that, for Muslims, Friday was an important day for visiting a mosque, so we allowed them to go to the mosque on Fridays. We responded flexibly to their religious customs, checking with them at all times.

We discovered opportunities in Southeast Asia and created a vision for overseas expansion

Q.Comparing before and after the internship, what effects did it have on you, your employees, or your organization?

Firstly, by accepting two English-speaking interns, the frequency of use of English was increased, which led to improvement of English proficiency in the company. In addition, from the market research conducted by the interns, we discovered that there were big differences between the Japanese market and the markets of the interns' home countries in terms of the needs and orientation. Up to now, our overseas business plans have been vague, but the persuasive opinions and supporting data from the interns again showed that there are big opportunities in Southeast Asia, and our business vision for overseas expansion became much clearer. Specifically, by having the interns help us with presentations aimed at major companies, we have now entered the planning stage of collaboration. What is more, we had not anticipated it initially, but it might be possible to develop business channels for a trading business not found in our existing business through the relatives of the interns. We have maintained contact with the interns even after their return home, and from the end of January 2019 some of our employees have headed to Indonesia and Malaysia, and will conduct full-scale market research with their cooperation.