Training firm says Good Morning Vietnam as it concludes first export order
A BIRMINGHAM leadership and management training company has secured its first export order with an agreement to deliver its courses in Vietnam.
Business Development Midlands Company will partner with an Hanoi-based training provider in launching its first tranche of courses, which will be delivered with the support of the Institute of Leadership and Management, in the autumn.
The firm recently participated in a nationwide Open to Export competition held at the International Festival of Business.
More than 100 companies entered the competition to pitch their export plans to a panel of international judges and the firm won free membership to the Institute of Export and free access to the global business-to-business portal Great British Store after securing fourth place.
Andy Munro, business development manager at Business Development Midlands Company, said the positive feedback from the panel had boosted further its ambitions to go global.
The New Market Street-based company has spent the past 12 months working closely with UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) West Midlands, learning how to access the international market.
It has now signed a Memorandum of Understanding with is experienced Hanoi-based training partner, which is the first stage of taking the ILM-branded courses to Vietnam.
As the company’s training and development portfolio grows in the country, it plans to move towards a structured development programme and aims to set up the first fully accredited centre for Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) training delivery.
Mr Munro said: “Our courses are different from those normally delivered in Vietnam because they include work-based assignments, which we have found is an attractive proposition to businesses out there.
“We are a very small company of 12 so it was a bold step for us to decide to take our courses out to an audience out of the UK but we are very pleased with how everything is going so far, especially because we know that offering ILM-accredited courses is a real kite-mark of quality.”
Ann Cook, the international trade adviser at UKTI West Midlands who worked alongside the company, said: “It’s great news that the company is forging ahead with exporting its training courses to Vietnam and that we have been the catalyst in enabling it to find a suitable partner over there.
“It shows that even very small companies can make an impact on the international stage and although it’s not always a quick process, Andy and his team clearly demonstrated a need in the market over there.”
