Region’s bigger businesses seek out export support
A BIG increase of the number of medium-sized businesses working with the government’s international trade body in the last year means almost one in three of those businesses in the region now have an overseas strategy.
Across Yorkshire and the Humber, 196 medium-sized businesses – those with turnovers between £25m and £250m – are now working with the regional UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) team to explore new markets and expand existing export operations. Of those, 66 have signed up to programmes in the last year.
The Government has targetted businesses of this size as being ripe for export-driven growth, but they can sometimes be reluctant because of a lack of knowledge of how to develop their overseas trade.
UKTI provides guidance on export strategies, routes to market, international business culture and sources of additional expertise, and access to its global contact network.
Mark Robson, UKTI regional director for Yorkshire and the Humber, added:
“In Yorkshire we have been quick out of the blocks to support medium-sized businesses and it is hugely encouraging that just under a third are now working with UKTI to grow their overseas business.
“It is a healthy total, especially in the context that a substantial number of the remaining two-thirds are less likely to require our support because of the nature of their business.”
Nationally, more than 3,000 medium-sized businesses are now receiving support from UKTI, which has increased by nearly 2,000 since trade minister Lord Livingston wrote to all the UK’s businesses of that size last April to ask them if they would like trade support.
The letter was supported by a programme of marketing and events with a number of partners, including the CBI.
Simon Moore, CBI’s international director, said: “We have worked hard to unlock this growth potential, so it’s good to see Government providing more support to help these types of businesses improve their export performance.
“It’s imperative Government and other businesses continue to help medium-sized businesses sell their products and services into high-growth markets around the world.”
