Hello let's run business together, i live in Madagascar and i want doing international business especially in USA, Europa, South America

Hello let's run business together, i live in Madagascar and i want doing international business especially in USA, Europa, South America

I run a health and wellness brand. Our current SKU is an energy drink powder supplement, and we’ve recently started getting inquiries for export orders.

One company from the UAE has approached us and wants exclusive distribution rights for all markets outside India. From what I understand, they have a good understanding of the UAE market and also have contacts in South Africa and other GCC countries.

Their plan is to invest heavily in marketing and scale the brand internationally, with the intention of eventually exiting in a few years, as acquisitions by larger companies (like PepsiCo) seem to be a common trend in this space.

The proposed structure is that our Indian business remains completely separate. We would be the innovation partner, responsible for product development and manufacturing, while they would handle marketing and distribution for international markets. The JV would not operate the international business itself—it would only hold the brand assets and trademarks for markets outside India.

They’re willing to offer us a fixed production margin and form the JV, but they want to own the majority stake in it.

This is what’s concerning us. If they hold a majority stake in the JV that owns the international brand assets and trademarks, they could make key decisions without our consent, even though it’s our brand. At the same time, they don’t have a proven track record in this category, and we’re not yet a well-established brand internationally either. That makes me concerned about the long-term implications of giving up majority control at such an early stage.

Has anyone here been in a similar situation? Is this a standard structure for international distribution deals?

Hi everyone on reddit, My name is Kai from China.

I'm gradually taking over my father's cosmetics factory which also based in China, producing haircare products, skincare products, pet products and bodycare products, We been doing this for over 25 years and have received many large orders for international products.

In the past, all the international orders we received were through trading companies, but now I'm trying my best to cut out the middleman, but is so hard to reach the beauty brand founder.

I was wondering why is so hard to develop business in different country? I mean try to take orders independently...

We offer OEM/ODM/Private Label service, just write this post and see if I can get some advice.

Thanks everyone!

I’m currently studying and living in New York, and my parents run a small injection molding factory in China. I want to help them find overseas customers, but I honestly don’t know what direction to focus on or how to get started.

The plastic manufacturing and sourcing space feels very crowded, and it seems difficult to stand out or make any real breakthrough. At the same time, I’m also unsure about my own future in the U.S. Has anyone been in a similar situation or built a cross-border family business? I’d really appreciate any honest advice.

I work for an agency that supports brands with international marketing, overseas influencer campaigns and local creator execution.

One challenge I’m trying to solve is how to find companies that are genuinely ready to enter new markets, rather than brands that are only casually interested in “going global.”

For people working in agency sales, international marketing or business development:

• What signals tell you that a brand may need overseas marketing support?
• Where do you find these companies?
• Which job titles do you usually approach?
• What kind of outreach gets the best response?
• Are LinkedIn, cold email, trade shows, referrals or databases most effective?
• How do you qualify whether they have a real budget and timeline?

I’d especially like to hear from people who work with consumer brands, influencer marketing or cross-border e-commerce. Any practical advice would be helpful.

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Hi everyone,

I run a small business selling authentic handmade Tanjore paintings from India. The problem is that most galleries and middlemen ask for very low prices because they want to resell them for a higher profit.

I want to reach direct customers abroad (USA, UK, Canada, etc.) who appreciate traditional Indian art.

How did you find your first international customers? Which platforms or marketing strategies actually worked for you?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Studied in the US and honestly started out doing the opposite of what I do now — buying luxury goods and cosmetics for my sister back home whenever I could, shipping stuff over from the US.

After graduating I worked in LA for a while and ended up with many American coworkers and friends. Moved back to China after that, and pretty quickly realized the "treasure trove" was actually on this side the whole time — China is where most of this stuff actually gets made. Started helping some of my friends source things directly from factories here, and it just kept growing from a favor into an actual business.

Now work mostly with factories in Zhejiang, sourcing everything for small business owners overseas. Seen the full range at this point — great suppliers, scam suppliers, QC disasters, shipping delays, tariff headaches, MOQ negotiations, all of it.

Figured this might be a good group to open this up to.

Goal: Helping people with their international business questions and build business connections. AMA about factories, suppliers, shipping. Happy to contribute to this community.

I have an International Manpower agency. I supply workers/labors to foreign countries. My labors are carpenter, welder and construction worker.

So, I need someone from Israel who can help me build connection with Hiring agencies or direct companies.

If you are interested DM me.

Hi everyone,

I've been running a small freight forwarding business for the past two years, primarily helping businesses ship goods from Pakistan to the United States. We handle everything from freight coordination to customs clearance and work closely with exporters to make the process as smooth as possible.

The business has been growing steadily through referrals and repeat customers, which I'm grateful for. That said, I know there's a lot more we could be doing, and I'd love to learn from others in the industry.

For those of you who have grown a freight forwarding or logistics business:

What channels have brought you the best clients?

Have you had success with cold outreach, LinkedIn, trade shows, freight marketplaces, or partnerships?

If you were starting again today, what would you focus on first?

Are there any mistakes you wish you'd avoided?

I'm not here to pitch my company—I'm genuinely looking to learn from people who've been through this stage of growth. Any advice, resources, or lessons learned would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Maybe it's just me... but this has been driving me nuts lately.

Every time I start looking at a new market, I end up with this massive spreadsheet of "potential" customers. Then it's the same thing over and over... website, LinkedIn, Google, maybe check a registry if I can find one... make sure everything looks legit.

Then I spend 30 mins digging into one company, write a decent email, and then find out they haven't imported that product in ages... or they stopped buying overseas altogether.

That's the part that gets me. Getting ignored? Whatever. Happens all the time. Burning half my afternoon on someone who was never gonna be a customer anyway... man, that hurts 😂

How do you guys weed out the dead leads before you even start reaching out?

Please tell me there's a smarter way than playing detective on Google for every single company. 😅

Any ideas, comments, criticism would be much appreciated!

I have a service I want to market to the Gulf market—specifically Saudi Arabia—while based in Egypt. What is the best way to acquire clients from the Gulf?

Background: fluent in Somali and Swahili, conversational in Arabic, CS degree. Trying to figure out whether the language/regional piece is a real differentiator for roles like this, or whether it only matters once you're already senior.

Do companies like Cargill, ADM, Corteva, or other large U.S. agricultural and commodity companies place U.S. citizens in African countries? I'm thinking about roles involving supplier relationships, sourcing, trade operations, compliance, logistics, quality control, or coordinating between U.S. headquarters and local African operations.

Are these usually expat positions, regional assignments, or locally hired roles? What are the actual job titles, and what experience normally leads to this type of work?

Not asking about executive positions — more interested in realistic career paths for someone who wants to eventually represent a U.S. company on the ground in Africa.

When buying from overseas suppliers...

what's your current process before approving shipment?

Factory photos?

Video calls?

Third-party inspections?

Local sourcing agents?

Or simply trust built over time?

Interested to know how different companies handle this.

I’m looking for a business broker /M&A advisories to assist with selling a big agribusiness assets mid-high market..

Target markets(regions): Gulf countries (Middle East) - China - India (or Asia generally).

One important point is: Success fee ONLY.

Any advice/info would be appreciated. Thanks.