Business Secretary makes exporting call at IFB2016
BUSINESS Secretary Sajid Javid has issued a rallying call to small businesses across the Northern Powerhouse to start exporting.
Javid was visiting the International Festival for Business 2016 currently taking place at the Exhibition Centre in Liverpool, where he made his plea to SMEs in the region.
And he reinforced the message from central government that the big cities in the North must work together to create wealth, saying that economic success has happened in “isolated pockets”.
“A lack of co-ordination and shared infrastructure has meant that the north has been less than the sum of its parts,” he said. “And that has had a really serious impact on the region’s businesses.
“Between 1981 and 2013, economic growth in most of northern England was well below that of the UK average. Productivity is lower than the UK as a whole, 16% lower here in the North West 20% in Yorkshire and the Humber, nd a massive 27% in the North-East.
“A lack of investment in skills left the north-east with an unemployment rate more than twice that of the South East.
“And outdated, overcrowded transport links mean northern businesses are quite literally being left behind. That’s something this government is not prepared to tolerate.
“This is why we’re working with business and local government to create the Northern Powerhouse.”
He said the Northern Powerhouse was not “just being built with warm words”.
He went on: “It’s not some short-term marketing campaign. It’s a serious vision for the future of the North. And it’s a vision that has the potential to pay incredible dividends for the region.
“If the north grew at the same rate as is forecast for the rest of the UK the economic potential is huge. We could add £37 bn to the economy by the end of the next decade.
Here in the north-west it would mean a boost of £2,000 for every man, woman and child.
Then Javid moved on to his exporting theme, saying that for too long the big names, the high-street brands and the giant multinationals have monopolised the arena of international trade.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up 99% of all British businesses and provide the vast majority of Britain’s private sector jobs, he said. But they only account for a small fraction of exports.
“Only one in five British SMEs export at all – across the EU, the average is one in four,” he said.
“Things are particularly bad for the medium-sized firms. Only 34% of British mid-sized companies export.
“In Germany the figure is 68%; in Spain it’s 85%. It’s a huge missed opportunity.
“Last year, researchers found that up to 150,000 SMEs that could be exporting are not doing so.
“Yet if they embraced that opportunity, if they made the most of their potential, it wouldn’t just be good news for the exporters.
“The benefits of bigger sales would be felt all the way down the supply chain and right across the community.”
He said that too many British SMEs do not have a culture of exporting, and it was not something they’re used to.
He said: “If a UK business wants to export to its full potential, there should be nothing to stop it from doing so.
“That’s why this government is working hard to support SMEs that want to dip their toes into the international market. That support comes in many forms.
“At the top of the tree is a whole new approach to exporting. For years, governments saw it simply as a matter for my department, the business department.”
And he called on businesses to engage with the exportingisgreat.gov.uk.
He said: “So if you want to be a part of that, get hold of one of the UK Trade and Investment staff here at the festival.
“In fact, get in touch with UKTI if you need any help at all with exporting.”
