My journey started on 15th Of April 1998 when I visited Thailand as a guest of the DEP (Dept of export promotion) The DEP was helped in getting set up in the 1970s by a great mayo man Prof Aidan O Reilly who introduced me to the top brass there. I spent almost one month in Thailand visiting trade shows and various factories. It was a fantastic experience and gave me a huge appetite to learn the business even more.

From that initial trip USSI got our first two jobs which were significant. We had a request to source brack rings for O'Hara’s bakery in Foxford for Halloween bracks whilst in Thailand. We ended up doing so and got our first order for 100,000 rings. This barm brack business is now a huge part of USSI’s total business and we are now the largest supplier of brack rings in the Irish market with almost 1 million rings sold last year. From that Thailand trip. We also sold three items totalling 60,000 pcs to Supermac’s fast food chain who have remained a huge client for USSi since

In April 1999 I went to China for the fast time I realized whilst Thailand had excellent opportunities they were mostly concentrated on housewares and crafts and China was the home for premia and retail gift items. Two of my most vivid memories of visiting the Canton Fair for the first time in old the "Liuhua complex " was the sheer scale and size of it all. I distinctly remember queuing up to register for the Canton Fair in October 1999 with about 120,000 others in 28 degrees’ heat with people fainting left right and centre. Now once you register your badge can be used indefinitely. The second was getting a lift in a taxi in Ningbo and seeing the actual road in the back seat with a large gap in the floor of the car. 

Of course, the Canton fair and China itself has grown dramatically over the years. The Canton Fair (the world’s largest trade fair) is now held in the state of the arts Pazou halls with almost 200,000 visitors from over 200 countries and 25,000 exhibitors held twice annually. Guangzhou especially has grown and now hosts a fantastic metro system and hundreds of hotels. I visit China at least twice a year and often more if we need to follow up on large orders. We have built up a large databank of factories since 1998 with up to 3000 contacts in all genres. USSi use around 250 factories on and off in all genres. All factories are regularly audited and pass all Social and responsible and ISO 9000 and CE mark standards. We are proud of the fact that we have yet to be beaten on a request to find an item from China.

If you are looking to have an idea developed. Why not contact USSi (excuse the pun!) and let our experience help you navigate the tricky road map throughout China. We look forward to hearing from you and hope that our experience of doing business in China for almost two decades’ will count for something.

Seamus Greaney