Gloucester MP, Richard Graham joined the ‘You Can Export’ event led by Business West and hosted by the Gloucestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) on 23rd March 2018. Mr Graham is Trade Envoy to the ASEAN Economic Community and encourages businesses to look further afield when seeking new customers.
Speaking at the event, Mr Graham said:
“Today’s event at the Gloucestershire Growth Hub brought together some great case studies of our county’s exporting successes, expertise to help companies who have export ready offerings and highlighted that there is still a huge opportunity for businesses here to realise.”
Local businesses were invited to join Business West in hearing about how exporting their goods or services can boost their sales and profits. The 'how to sell internationally' presentation delivered by local International Trade Adviser Hilary Green, takes companies through a 4-step guide on how to identify the right opportunities and find international customers.
Business West, who deliver the Department for International Trade (DIT) contract for the South West region, offer a variety of international services to support businesses on all stages of their exporting journey. For Business West, holding events like this ensures South West businesses are made aware of the support available from new to novice and experience exporters.
Ian Mean, Director of Business West in Gloucestershire, highlights how businesses can get the support they need:
“Gloucestershire firms are becoming great exporters, and in fact, during 2017, businesses here in the South West exported over £20.7 billion of goods to countries all over the world.
“Business West have a great team of international advisers like Hilary working for the government’s export arm-the Department of International Trade.
“We offer all new exporters a one-stop export service which includes a comprehensive export documentation service and Letters of Credit advice to guarantee payment”.
Attendees also heard from Gloucestershire-based Tudor Rose International who presented on their export journey to China, and Hugh Francis from UK Export Finance (UKEF) for winning contracts overseas and getting paid for exports. Businesses had the chance to meet with a team of specialists for advice on exporting, digital marketing for selling overseas and export finance.
After the day's presentations, the Growth Hub hosted a mini export fair where companies had the opportunity to speak to local partners about their exporting services e.g. freight forwarders, accountants and banks.
Speaking of the success of this event, David Owen, CEO of the Gloucestershire LEP, said:
“We were delighted to host Richard Graham MP at the Growth Hub today for this export event. It’s great to see so many of our Gloucestershire businesses keen to take that first step into exporting.”
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