Businesses are being encouraged to sell their goods and services overseas as part of the drive to rebuild and rebalance the UK economy after the carnage unleashed by the 2008 crash.
Prime Minister, David Cameron, has set business a target of increasing exports by £1 trillion by 2020, but, if a recent reported comment by business secretary Vince Cable is accurate, businesses cannot expect any help from Government to do so.
So what is a small or a middle-sized business with little or no export experience outside the EU but with the potential to expand overseas to do?
Well actually, there is at least some Government help via the auspices of UKTI (UK Trade and Industry) which acts as a facilitator in organising trade missions to specific countries and pointers to local contacts and to the local issues to be aware or wary of.
Its website also has a very useful page called “where to go next” which details all the issues that a business will need to address to minimise and protect from risks. These include legal advice on local employment, tax and other issues, insurance, access to export finance (including services provided by UK Export Finance) and specialist advice on risk and security.
While a business may be able to find all this expertise relatively easily in London, it can be harder for businesses in the regions and the one glaring piece missing from the whole jigsaw puzzle is the existence of experts who can project manage or help a business to organise all these additional aspects.
Has your business considered moving into export markets? How difficult do you find organising all the elements? Where have you gone for help?