Yorkshire first-time exporters offered UKTI trade visits

Businesses in Yorkshire and the Humber aiming to enter the export market will be given the chance to join UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) visits to The Hague, Lisbon and Madrid in early 2016.

The trips are available to small and medium-sized businesses with little or no international trading experience and not already selling to the markets they are wanting to target.

As part of UKTI’s First-Time Exporters package of support, the visits to Lisbon and Madrid runs from 18th to 20th January 2016 and that to The Hague for firms wanting to export to Benelux countries is between 16th and 18th February.

One company to benefit from the Export Insight Visit programme is Bob’s Business, an information security awareness training provider with 10 staff based at the Digital Media Centre in Barnsley, South Yorkshire that joined a recent visit to Riga in Latvia.

The firm’s specialist training provides the staff of its clients with the skills to become a ‘human firewall’ enabling them to surf the web securely, identify risks online and protect sensitive information.

Bob’s Business visited Riga in November 2015 because it wanted to develop a relationship with a Latvian partner business.

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 or product for testing in the local market.

“The whole experience was really positive and has given us the confidence to explore other markets with the reassurance of knowing the support and assistance is there through UKTI.“

Other Yorkshire companies to have joined a previous Export Insight Visit to Iberia include giftware provider 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.

The programme forms a key part of the Government’s wider Exporting is GREAT campaign to inspire another 100,000 businesses to export by 2020.

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.“