Northern Ireland’s CIGA Healthcare is on a mission to become the world’s ‘one stop shop’ for rapid test diagnostics.
Ballymena-based business CIGA Healthcare Ltd is at the forefront of making diagnostics rapid tests globally accessible.
Over the past two decades, there’s been major developments into the accuracy of point of care tests, which can now provide pivotal healthcare results in under 15 minutes. That means getting immediate results close to healthcare professionals, without having to wait on labs.
The company’s products also include diabetes monitors, fertility tests, blood pressure monitors, blood glucose monitors and strips, and thermometers. And it’s also doing research and development into new tests and equipment to meet changing market requirements.
CIGA Healthcare started exporting in 2010, and now has key distributors in over 80 countries – not to mention over half of its sales coming from exporting.
Last month, CIGA Healthcare was announced as the winner of the ‘Healthcare’ category in our Made in the UK, Sold to the World Awards 2024, which celebrates the exporting success of businesses across the UK.
1. What opportunities has your business had from selling overseas?
We’ve found that every country in the world has a demand for the products we offer, but they normally have their own regulatory system. We did our research and targeted those unique requirements.
For example, we identified that diabetes was a fast-growing sector, especially in Asian markets, and targeted those markets. That resulted in sales of over £2m to Turkey in 2023, with further sales opportunities projected this year.
We also found out a major supplier to the North American market was withdrawing its product from the fertility market, so we targeted their customers. This resulted in contracts with major retailers in Canada, including Walmart and Shoppers Drug Mart.
2. How has your business expanded since exporting?
The expansion in exports has been the catalyst for the growth in the company. We’ve seen major changes across the business to support our growth. We’ve created many new jobs, both internationally and locally, and increased our project management team to ensure that the set-up and management of new distributors, local product regulations and interactions with CIGA Healthcare, are handled efficiently.
We also added new products specifically for export markets, as well as forming partnerships with US and Canadian companies to manage our imports, storage, and distribution throughout the US and Canada.
Following the success of our Urinary Tract Test in Europe, a similar product was developed and certified to specifically target the North American market and we are working on other new products that are not currently available in the US marketplace.
3. What have you learnt about selling to different international markets?
We identified at an early stage that sales in the UK and internationally required very different strategies, not only in terms of language, but also in terms of product specification and regulation.
It quickly became apparent that we needed to provide contacts that matched the time zones in the various regions. We appointed salespeople in the Middle East, with local language skills, to service the Middle East/East Africa. We also set up a company in the US to service North and South America.
We found that the approach to selling in the various countries is very different. In the Middle East and Africa, relationship building is very important before selling takes place, whereas in Europe and North America, it is much more formal.
4. How has the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) helped your business?
Working together with DBT and Invest Northern Ireland has helped us locate new distributors around the world and get advice on local market conditions.
5. What’s next for CIGA Healthcare?
We’re looking to expand our product range with new electronic diagnostic equipment and diagnostic chemistry tests.
We are also investigating the use of AI to improve the accuracy and speed of testing.
We also have ambitious growth plans, and exports play a very significant part in that. We’re in the stages of entering new markets in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Argentina.
Our plan is that by the end of 2024, we’ll have distribution in 100 countries, with export sales across new partners in South America, Africa and the Far East. We also took part in a trade mission earlier this year to the Far East to build our connections in the region and that is already yielding positive results.
