”I am extremely excited to have Geoff Green, president of Pegasus Global Initiatives (PGI), as a strategic business development partner on board to help open the doors to the Canadian marketplace.

Pegasus Global Initiatives is a Canadian corporation, which supports international companies entering the Canadian/North American markets or North American companies entering European and Australian markets to develop new or expand existing markets through strategic alliances. Geoff Green, the founder of PGI, brings over 30 years of international business experience including 19 years as the Senior Business Consultant for the Ministry of Economic & Trade for the province of Ontario.

The firm specializes in: Manufactured equipment and products, Alternate energy, Biotech, Oil (particularly oil sands) and resources industries, Environmental technology and new technology.

BBD’s founder, Mark Lesselroth, has experience in business development within a wide range of industries – from financial and pharmaceuticals, to telecommunications, building construction and medical devices. While BBD’s core focus is on promoting bilateral trade between the USA and German speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), the firm has come to appreciate the value that other consulting firms can bring to the table, when trying to help an existing or new clients expand into other foreign markets.

Geoff Green remarked, “Pegasus and BBD, working together, can offer American and European clients a global reach, enabling them to access markets and extend supply chains worldwide.”

When a customer runs into problems and these issues cannot be effectively dealt with in part because you are dealing with off-shore customer service agents, I believe the end result could cost the company not only the loss of that customer but bad publicity thanks to the power of word-of-mouth marketing.

I wonder if the percentage of lost business due to off-shoring customer service with no access to a U.S. representative is equal to the potential cost savings by off-shoring this critical piece of the sales process. I wonder how many CFO’s have taken the time to do some kind of analysis or if they can’t be bothered by it.

I think if enough American consumers have a bad experience the company in question will find out soon enough.

The Messe anticipates hosting 6500 exhibitors (from 69 countries*), 220,000 attendees (from 90 countries.).

A show like this offers new forms of cooperation and collaboration for productivity based economic growth. Whether you are a business looking to expand your product reach or service offering or you are an economic development agency looking to attract foreign direct investment, attending the Hannover Messe can provide opportunities for success.

Brenner Business Development, an international business development consulting firm will be organizing a matchmaking trip to Hannover next April to help facilitate introductions for US based companies interested in growing their business. The trip will be limited to 5 companies as our intent is to offer one-on-one supervision of the meetings, and over all experience at the show. While there is no commitment beyond the show we’d be more than happy to assist with follow-up in an effort to secure a business deal.

Delegation Premium Package
This package includes all travel** & lodging, and transportation, transfers to and from the airport, transportation from the hotel to the trade show, entry into the show, organizing up to five meetings with interested target partners, as well as one-on-one participation in these meetings with BBD’s principal and partner who are both native German speakers. Meetings may take place at a potential partner’s booth or at a designated private meeting area which will include food and beverages. This package also includes access to the opening night ceremonies which will include a key note speech by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Price $6000.

Should you wish to make your own travel arrangements please deduct $1300 from total price.

* 50% are international
** Price may vary depending on where your flight is originating from.

All interested parties please contact Mark Lesselroth at (315) 455-7404 or email obscurred; JavaScript is required.

“I am thrilled to have the former German representative working on behalf of Empire State Development to promote German Industry to New York State on my team” said Mark Lesselroth, principal of Brenner Business Development. Gabriele Schwinghammer, president of IMC brings nearly 20 years of experience promoting Foreign Direct Investment for countries, states as well as individual companies from the private sector. With IMC as a partner, BBD will be able to offer greater value to both German and US interests involved in economic development who are looking to attract Foreign Direct Investments. Ms. Schwinghammer noted that “having BBD as a strategic partner will help IMC better support their international client base that are looking to gain entry into the US marketplace.”

This new partnership will enable US and Foreign companies to take advantage of the vast network of contacts and keen understanding of the respective countries and cultures to achieve greater success.

Our range of services will include but not be limited to: Trade Missions, Market Entry and Launch Strategies, Market Viability and Segmentation Analysis, Marketing and Logistics Assistance and Partner Search. We had common interests prior to signing this agreement” added Gabriele Schwinghammer. “Having a permanent presence in the USA will allow us to better manage our international client needs that are looking to expand into North America.” IMC in turn will offer the same service to US companies, regions or States looking to gain the attraction and attention of the global marketplace.

”I am extremely excited to have Charles Krakoff, founder of Koios as a strategic business development partner on board to help open the doors to these emerging markets.” Krakoff, the founder of Koios, brings over 20 years of market development experience to the table having worked in 50 countries, lived in 12 countries, and visited over 100. His firm has consulted with the likes of the WTO, McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, and the World Bank. He is an expert in the development of industrial and techno parks, special economic zones and free trade zones, as well as in export development, investment promotion, and corporate finance. Charles advises both government and corporate clients on market and investment strategy, risk assessment, project feasibility studies, and raising capital.

BBD’s founder has experience in business development within a wide range of industries – from financial and pharmaceuticals, to telecommunications, building construction and medical devices. While BBD’s core focus is on promoting bilateral trade between the USA and German speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) the firm has come to appreciate the value other consulting firms can bring to the table when trying to help an existing or new clients expand into other foreign markets. Charles Krakoff remarked, “Koios and BBD, working together, can offer American and European clients a global reach, enabling them to access markets and extend supply chains worldwide.”

With the alliance in place, both companies will extend their service offering to new and existing clients who are searching for entry into either the Eastern European or US marketplace respectively. “We are proud to provide easy access to our existing and prospective European customers who have an interest in the US market” said Svetlana Alexieva, General Manager of Advisea. “Our valuable and affordable services are now available through BBD in the US and BBD’s services here in Eastern Europe. Even US federal states can take advantage of our service offering to help settle Eastern European firms in their territory.”

“We had common interests prior to signing the agreement today” added Mark Lesselroth, Principal of BBD. “Having a permanent presence in Sofia, Bulgaria will allow us to better manage our US client needs that are looking to expand into Eastern Europe.”
About Brenner Business Development

Brenner Business Development, based out of Syracuse, NY, is an international business development and marketing consulting firm serving small to Fortune 500 companies in the United States and Europe. Its core focus is on facilitating relationships between two parties who can mutually benefit from one another.

About Advisea
Advisea is a business and legal consulting firm based in Sofia that offers a wide range of market entry and business development services to foreign companies and organizations, willing to benefit from the untapped opportunities of the Bulgarian market, as well as of other SEE markets.

While I’m a huge fan of technology I also realize that there is a lot on the web which is not age appropriate. Facebook is one of them. Yes, I can hear it now, “but it’s the greatest social engineering tool to allow mankind to communicate with one another since the invention of the telephone.” That may be true but even Facebook has an age restriction prolicy indicating that no one under the age of 13 is allowed to open an account. Wonderfull. The problem with this is that a child under the age of 13 can lie about their age and establish an account. So Facebook’s lawyers have done a great job in dealing with the obvious. What I don’t understand is why this wonderful technology company has not been able to implement additional safeguards.

Upon discovering that my 12 year old daughter had opened an account I found out that half her grade was on facebook which made me wonder how many children under the age of 13 are on Facebook. I don’t have to tell all you parents how many child predators and deviant individuals exist in this world. It doesn’t even have to be a predator. I saw where one of the girls in my daughters group was connected to a 35 year old businessman who thought the girl was 27. In reality she was 12.

If Mark Zuckerberg could come up with such a wonderful tool you can’t tell me that he and his tech wizards weren’t able to find a way to police Facebook for inappropriate behavior or accounts that were opened by underaged kids. All you have to do is look at the pictures of some of these kids who say they are 32.

What makes matters worse is that when I went to delete my daughters profile Facebook makes it real easy to reactivate the account. I literally had to change the password on my daughters account to make sure she couldn’t reactivate it. Come on Facebook you should be working with us parents.

i realize that Facebook has some safeguards in place but that is assuming you know what your kid is doing 24/7 which is not going to be the case with anyone.

As a parent I try very hard to do the best job I can to raise my children; to teach them right from wrong; but I also know there will alawys be curiosity as a child grows. After all I remember what it was to be 12 and 13.

All I’m asking on behalf of all parents is for Facebook to help us out a little bit.

What have our non-for-profits come too when they can’t accept a perfectly good piece of furniture that has resale value only because it has some dog hair on it which they are unwilling to remove themselves. Frankly I call it irresponsible and lazy. Here I’m willing to give something of value away which they can make money off of and all they need to do is spend maybe 15-20 minutes cleaning it.

I can appareciate that they don’t want to collect anything that is damaged as it won’t allow them to resell it. Some scratches are o.k. but dog hair, God forbid.

If you are wondering what happened to my dad’s old couch…I wound up unloading it at the municipal dump, something I felt terrible about but I felt I didn’t have a choice. Yes I suppose I could have spent a half hour cleaning it so that it was in perfect shape for the Salvation Army to pick up and turn it right around for sale. But frankly I didn’t have the time and I thought I was doing something good by donating the couch to begin with.

I think it’s great that we have organizations like the Salvation Army and the Rescue Mission but I think it’s time for them to be a little more tolerant with regards to what they take in an effort to help others and themselves.

I didn’t even stay up to see who lit the torch.

Worst opening ceremony that I can remember.

Let the games begin, and let’s hope for some excitment in the course of play.