Realizing upon their return from an educational trade mission in Malaysia in the summer of 2001 that the economic impact of their stay could have been tenfold had it been done in a business context, Hugues Mousseau, currently a student in public affairs and political science at Concordia University, and Louis Dorval, a student in mechanical engineering at McGill University, decided to found Mission CommEx. With the aim of diversifying the Canadian economy by stimulating the export activities of Canadian SMEs while offering professional research, representation and escort services, CommEx has already carried out two missions abroad: one in Mexico in 2002, the other in Costa Rica in January, 2003. Made up of students from different universities in Quebec and Ontario with a passion for international trade (they are a dozen to date), the CommEx delegations represented eight Canadian SMEs during these two missions, including Groupe INEO, Aviation Strategies International and Alis Technologies. Most of these companies are starting procedures to export to the visited markets.