Teesside businesses funded to expand abroad

Two Redcar and Cleveland businesses have been selected as the winners of the ‘Get Set to Export’ competition hosted by Wilton Centre, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI).

Evil Technology Limited and Switch Growth Limited will benefit from the UKTI Passport to Export Programme and receive advice from a local International Trade Adviser and access to a range of UKTI export support services.

Evil Technology describes itself as an ethical north east-based business promoting sustainable digital and technological solutions to real business problems.

Its Stockhandler.com product is a cloud based software application which aims to make it easier for business to trade across online markets, not only domestically but also abroad.

The platform already includes support for ecommerce websites, Ebay & Amazon and the company is currently developing connectors to various overseas marketplaces which it plans to add to the portfolio in the next few months.

Paul Sheperia, managing director of Evil Technology said: “This is a real boost to the work we’re putting into making stockhandler.com a success, and helps us realise the export potential of this innovative solution for retailers. We’re very grateful to Redcar & Cleveland Council for its continued support.”

Switch Growth Ltd partners with organisations to make sense of their data by developing effective procedures and systems for information management.

Its aim is to support improvements in teaching and learning by designing training for the education sector which will allow schools to become effective data organisations.

Jean Bell, Director at Switch, said: “This will help launch our service into those international markets which value the strengths of the UK education sector.

“As a new venture supported by Redcar and Cleveland Enterprise Team, this is a significant boost to the growth we have achieved so far.”

The winners were selected by a panel of experts including representatives from Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, Tees Valley Unlimited, UKTI, Wilton Centre and Guardian Marine Testing (GMT) which was named as North East exporter of the Year in 2011.

Wilton Centre site director, Steve Duffield commented: “This is a fantastic opportunity to grow a business in established and key emerging markets overseas and we are proud to be able to sponsor it.

“The guidance and expertise on offer from UKTI has proved invaluable to many of our tenants and we are firmly behind any initiative that will help drive business success in this region.”

Mark Hannon, the council’s cabinet member for economic development said: “International markets offer huge opportunities for Redcar and Cleveland businesses and we are delighted to be able to help these two promising local companies take the first steps towards trading overseas.”

Stephen Muir, UKTI’s international trade adviser for the Redcar and Cleveland area, added: “It has been proven time and again that exporting helps companies to grow and that they do better with UKTI’s help, so we were delighted to be able to support this competition.

“We now have two worthy winners and look forward to working with them to achieve their exporting ambitions.”