In terms of starting to build the relationship with Japan, we need resources that are closer than a Canadian consulate on the other side of the world. Our suppliers, our manufacturers, our local regulatory people, our Japanese representatives, and our government representatives here don't have enough information on what the standards are there. It's as though it is their responsibility as distributors for the red tape and the standards, except if I want to do business with them and then it becomes my responsibility as the owner of the product and as the representative of Canada around the world as an exporter. Whether it is my responsibility or not, it's my problem and it's my opportunity as well. I think the government resources that I need have to be closer and more easy to access, with extensive regulatory knowledge in the Japanese markets in all sectors that we want to export.
Skin care beauty detergent is a massive global market, so I definitely think that's a place where the resources should be in place. I need someone here who I can call, someone who wants me to be a successful exporter, who will help me find the actual regulatory standards related to my product in the Japanese market.
I had a meeting with the fourth generation president of Olympus Japan, which is one of the largest manufacturers, exporters and importers, in Japan. He very politely told me that I should have been more cognizant of Japanese regulatory standards when I made my product. I could only reply that if I thought three years ago that I would have a distributor in Japan, if it had ever crossed my mind that I would be able to make the proper preparations for exporting to Japan—because I'm smart enough to know that I'm not, that I don't know the answers to those questions—then I would have taken into consideration Japanese regulatory standards.
We have distributors in Australia, the U.K., Portugal, and Germany, all countries that are interested in our products. I don't have access to the information about what the regulatory standards are. I don't have the resources that a really large company has to deploy people to find out the answers to those questions. With all the local government resources that I have, and we're fairly well connected, I can't find the answers that I need.