If you're an entrepreneur looking to do business in China, be prepared to be patient, and focus on relationship building.

That's a tip from Ray Joyce, President of The Joyce Group, which provides consulting and training services in areas of international trade.

He was hosting a seminar at the Holiday Inn Express in Red Deer Thursday morning, and says cultural differences are huge when it comes to international trade, especially in Asian markets like China.

“It’s very much a hierarchal culture where titles count. It’s also a team based culture, so we’re used to working as individuals, they are used to working as a team, so you’ve got a lot of consensus decision making taking place which expands the time it takes to do business. Which tends to make people in Canada very antsy, because we are used to doing things quickly.”

Joyce says places like India and China are incredibly lucrative for international trade, being one and two for largest emerging markets.

The seminar was hosted by the Central Alberta Access Prosperity (CAAP), a local organization which helps companies prepare for international markets.

Investment Attraction and Business Development Officer with CAAP Pam Steckler says it may seem like a huge undertaking for a local business, but it has huge rewards.

“We keep telling some of our clients that are in the agriculture sector, that even capitalizing on 2% of the Indian market, is the entire population of Canada. As large as certain markets are, like China and India, the fact that they are large shouldn’t be a daunting task because there are a number of resources available through different organizations and different partnerships that help companies expand and be successful.”

Steckler says along with pulse and protein crops, Canadian clean tech, such as recycling and renewable energy, are in high demand on the international market.