The “Trade Heroes” series highlights Edmonton Region companies who have ‘exportitude’ — the mindset and commitment to think globally when it comes to their business.
Today we are featuring RUNWITHIT Synthetics, a company that provides synthetic modelling solutions across the industry and an alumnus of the Trade Accelerator Program (TAP). TAP is a 4-day hands-on program designed to accelerate the strategic development of businesses and to better them for expansion into international markets. The TAP Alberta Cohorts of TAP Canada was created by the Toronto Region Board of Trade, and it is supported by the Mobilizing SMEs to Export initiative to assist in delivering Canada’s Export Diversification Strategy. The program is supported by national partners including Calgary Economic Development, the TAP Alberts stewards in partnership with Edmonton Global.
Myrna and Dean Bittner, RWI Synthetics founders
Export journey
Myrna Bittner, CEO and Founder of RUNWITHIT Synthetics, shares that their exporting journey started quickly after they began creating their platform nine and a half years ago. While they had some early adopters in Canada, they quickly realized the need to expand outside Canada if they wanted to grow. They were encouraged and supported with this through Canadian trade acceleration programs, as well as specific trade missions. Myrna says that trade missions in particular were critical in the early stages of their growth as they helped RWI to learn about challenges they might face.
Now, the company is doing business in the EU and Switzerland, with plans for more growth in the Caribbean, UK and SE Asia. They are also building their knowledge and context in South America.
Mapping risks of COVID-19 within a city using synthetic modelling
Myrna says that it was extremely exciting for their team to be able to get an in-depth understanding of how other places in the world work, their advances, and share in this cross-border knowledge sharing. COVID was a great accelerator for them internationally as they didn’t have to travel and there was a level playing field with doing business virtually. It gave them a chance to do everything in the Edmonton Region and from the Edmonton Region.
The Trade Accelerator Program (TAP)
RWI credits the TAP program with providing them an opportunity to connect with other professionals in the industry. “One of the biggest things that I find in many programs is that they are pulling entrepreneurs together. I learned so much from the other people, our peers in our sector and what they have experienced and found opportunities and shortcuts for.”
The program provided an opportunity to connect with other professionals in the industry. “One of the biggest things that I find in many programs is that they are putting entrepreneurs together. I learned so much from the other people, our peers in our sector and what they have experienced and found opportunities and shortcuts for.”
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