Partner Article

£45m investment to boost UK exports

Businesses across the North East could be set to benefit from a share of £45 million, after the Chancellor pledged to do more to get more firms exporting.

Of the 10,00 medium sized firms in the UK, only 25% are believed to export. Now £10million in funding will be dedicated specifically to this group, and could help an extra 500 businesses move into new markets.

The remainder of the funding will be used to help double the number of SME exporters to 50,000 by recruiting new trade advisors and extending support programmes.

By extending their presence outside of Europe, SMEs could generate an extra £20 billion for the UK economy each year.

David Coppock, Regional Director for UKTI in the North East, said: “The North East has a long and proud history of exporting which continues to this day, as the record export figures posted in the last 12 months have shown. But while it’s right to shout about this success, the reality is that only a small number of SMEs export their products.

“We’re already working hard to encourage more of the region’s businesses to export with a wide range of support services and the new Exporting for Growth competition unveiled last month.

“This funding will enable us to provide further support and encouragement to companies to take up the export challenge.”

Thanks to the new funding, more businesses will have access to the Passport to Export scheme which helps firms which are new to export to identify appropriate markets and strong contacts.

It will also go towards Gateway to Global Growth, which helps more experienced exporters to get into high growth markets.

Chief Executive of UKTI Nick Baird welcomed the support package. He commented: “The funding will put a special focus on support for mid-sized businesses as part of our suite of support services for businesses of all sizes and sectors; and help us to develop closer partnerships with Chambers of Commerce, Trade Associations and Local Enterprise Partnerships.

“These new initiatives will help us with our declared aim to double to 50,000 the number of companies we support each year, as part of the Government’s drive to get 100,000 new companies exporting.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .