Yorkshire companies get tickets on UKTI European trade missions
BUSINESSES with overseas ambitions have been invited on the UK Trade and Investment’s visits to The Hague, Lisbon and Madrid to kick off the new year.
SMEs with little or no trading experience are the target of the UKTI’s trade visits, as the Government’s Exporting is GREAT campaign puts pressure on them to get another 100,000 businesses to export by 2020.
The short trips are open to small and medium-sized businesses with little or no international trading experience and not already selling to the markets they are visiting and want to target.
Businesses have already undertaken missions under the UKTI Export Insight Visit programme. Bob’s Business, a Barnsley security awareness training provider with 10 staff, based at the Digital Media Centre, recently joined a cyber security-focused visit to Riga, Latvia.
Melanie Oldham, managing director of Bob’s Business said: “The Visit gave us the opportunity to work with Latvian businesses to enhance our current product range and also to develop a ‘localised’ version of our product for testing in the local market.”
Giftware company Pigment Productions and business and consumer services providers Adigi and Saxton Partners, all three of which are based in Harrogate, Bradford mechanical and process engineering firm Chanter Biomed and Aventus Law of Leeds have all joined Iberian visits as well.
Mark Robson, UKTI regional director for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “The Export Insight Visits have proved to be a great way for first time exporters to open the door to potentially lucrative markets overseas for their goods and services.
“As we strive to hit the Government’s target of getting 100,000 more businesses nationwide to export in the next five years we would urge those considering international trade to reach out to new markets and customers overseas.”
The mission to Lisbon and Madrid runs from 18 to 20 January 2016 and the mission to The Hague for firms wanting to export to Benelux countries is between 16 and 18 February.
