It’s Export Week! Get on board!

Posted on: 11/11/2014 in: Export, New markets, Opportunities for SMEs, Recent Developments

The UK GDP may be growing steadily as the economy gradually improves, construction and manufacturing are on the rise and unemployment falling, but export remains key to the continued recovery of the UK economy. The UK government is always keen to encourage businesses to either grow their business overseas or expand their export operations by looking to new markets. The Chancellor, George Osborne, has set a target of doubling the value of exports to £1 trillion by 2020. The Government aims to get 100,000 more companies exporting by then. Hence UKTI’s 6th Export Week which is happening this week all over the UK.

Export Week – what’s it all about?

Export Week sees UKTI hosting a range of free events around the country with the aim of encouraging companies, especially SMEs to make the most of their overseas potential, either by branching out into exporting for the first time or by adding more countries to their export portfolio.

Information and advice on exporting…

At seminars, networking events, workshops and via one-to-one meetings, businesses are able to obtain information and advice which will hopefully inspire them to give overseas markets a try.

Each area has its own specific focus, for example, in the North West, the focus is on getting current exporters to reach out to one more market on the basis this could increase the area’s GDP by around £2 billion. In the South West, UKTI are calling upon women entrepreneurs and business owners to turn to international trade to boost their profits.

….for small businesses too!

More often than not, it’s about encouraging small businesses that export is not just for the large corporates. UK Export Finance, which has been working in various forms for nearly 100 years to boost UK exports as a means of keeping the economy buoyant  is increasingly focusing upon helping small businesses to obtain financial support to enable them to tap into fast growing markets, such as Kazakhstan.

We’ll be attending UKTI South West’s ExploreExport event in Bristol on Thursday 13th June, so if you’re planning on attending, look out for our MD, Graham Potts, who will be happy to talk to you about current opportunities for export to Kazakhstan. Alternatively, get in touch via our website.

Why not get out there and give exports a try?!