A SWAN and Bassendean business are recipients of a state government funding program to advance export and trade activities in new Asian markets.

Under round six of the Access Asia business grants, 16 local businesses will share in more than $325,000 to help expand into Asia.

The businesses receiving funding were Old Young’s Distillery in Henley Brook and TraumaSim in Bassendean.

Old Young’s distillery founder James Young said they welcomed the funding which would help them research new business partners and find ones that were the right fit.

“We export to Singapore currently but we’re looking to open up a couple of markets on top,” he said.

“India, middle Asia, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Thailand are some of the markets we’re looking at expanding to, off the top of my head.

“We’re not just funding the right markets. It’s also about really getting to know which distribution partners will align with our hopes and dreams for the brand.”

Mr Young said being based in Western Australia had a strategic appeal for Asian businesses who favoured the west over the eastern states.

“From a shipping point of view, it’ll be more attractive to Asian markets to ship from the west coast instead of Sydney and Melbourne because we’re closer, so we’ll be leveraging our proximity,” he said.

“We’re also working with Scott Conchar as part of our strategy, and he’s helped brands like Stauning Whiskey get backing and expand into Asia.

“We’re really lucky to be working with Scott and really excited to get it up and running.

“(The funding will) allow us to do all of that work: the market research followed by the identification of partners and supporting marketing materials to go with it.

“It’s a really nice boost for our company.”

TraumaSim is a WA based business manufacturing medical and emergency training aids in Bassendean.

TraumaSim founder Nola Pearce said their products were used by emergency services, militaries, universities and first aid trainers throughout Australia and internationally, but Asia was an untapped market.

“We have existing sales pathways in Europe, Middle East, USA but until recently haven’t had avenues into Asia,” she said.

“Prior to this grant we had been communicating with a business in South Korea with synergies who we felt could make a suitable distributor in South Korea.

“We visited them in May and jointly exhibited at a fire and rescue exhibition where we introduced our products to a new audience.

“This grant will enable us to revisit South Korea in October this year this time to exhibit at a defence industry exhibition.

“This is a great opportunity to reach this very important defence audience.”