Anyone export with help from UKTI?

[ReaderScars]

Was wondering if anyone has engaged with UKTI in order to export a product, or perhaps to get assistance with developing overseas contacts, exploring markets for example?

I'm just interested to hear any experiences that anyone might have.

[foliedouce]

We used them to try and sell into Germany, it didn't really work for us. The contacts they got us didn't prove fruitful, I'd suggest that they (the provided contacts) weren't really interested in the first place.

We did however get them to pay £3k towards a new website which was nice in start up mode. They also offered some subsidises for trade shows.

Overall UKTI do a very good job supporting businesses, their funding is limited but keep close to them and they do come up with good 'deals' from time to time.

[GT03ROB]

We are in regular contact with them out here in Kuwait. They are very proactive in trying to get data out of us in terms of upcoming opportunities for British companies. They have developed a good understanding of the local players & seem to me to do a good job of putting British businesses in touch with the right people here. They host regular social events for British businesses to get together & help each other out.

The other good thing they do is regularly guest me into the UK Embassy bar!

[ReaderScars]

Thanks for the overview on your experiences.

I'm enquiring from the perspective of a start up SME/possible first time exporter, with a UK designed and manufactured product in late stages of development which may possibly be of interest overseas according to the available market info provided by UKTI.

[StevieBee]

We're prolific users of UKTi and I can't speak highly enough of them.

Their abilities depend upon your sector and also the quality of staff in the trade divisions of the local consulate but as a business support I have found them to be excellent.

[StevieBee]

ReaderScars said:

according to the available market info provided by UKTI.

The service you need is called an OMIS (Overseas Market Intelligence Service). It will cost you - between £500 and £1800 but way cheaper and less risk than doing this independently.

[essayer]

We found their Tradeshow Access Programme very handy. provided the final push to attend a Tradeshow in Shanghai which turned a profit for us.

[ReaderScars]

Very interesting to read these responses, thank you for taking your time to post your experiences either way. I have an initial chat with an ITA before long so that gives me a little time to try and maximise potential and research some of the relevant procedures (although there are a lot, hopefully they can't all apply!).

[MarcoD]

Have you looked at any of the "Exporting is GREAT" material that UKTI are promoting at the moment? There's lots of useful information on here for FTEs (First Time Exporters).

Also have a look at the British Exporters Association exporting guides available on their website - these give a lot of practical advice too.

[ReaderScars]

Haven't looked at the British Exporter's Association site at all, was unaware of it - thanks for the suggestion. I've been taking a good look at the related pages on .gov.uk and Exporting is Great and it's good to see there's a lot of content (and funding) aimed at first timers.

[davepoth]

ReaderScars said:

Very interesting to read these responses, thank you for taking your time to post your experiences either way. I have an initial chat with an ITA before long so that gives me a little time to try and maximise potential and research some of the relevant procedures (although there are a lot, hopefully they can't all apply!).

Oh, they can. Many global exporters will likely have a lot of dealings with China just because of how big a market it is, and will likely tell you of the issues. I've exported paper, road paint, industrial valves for a little while, and currently I'm attempting to send cheese.

The Chinese market is very twitchy about imports. The government still has a lot of a isolationist mindset and is more protective than most of its internal market, so there are a lot of hoops to go through. I'm on a 3-6 month wait to be authorised to send my cheese into China at the moment. It is much better than it was a decade ago though.

[Superbad]

davepoth said:

Oh, they can. Many global exporters will likely have a lot of dealings with China just because of how big a market it is, and will likely tell you of the issues. I've exported paper, road paint, industrial valves for a little while, and currently I'm attempting to send cheese.

The Chinese market is very twitchy about imports. The government still has a lot of a isolationist mindset and is more protective than most of its internal market, so there are a lot of hoops to go through. I'm on a 3-6 month wait to be authorised to send my cheese into China at the moment. It is much better than it was a decade ago though.

Did you produce all of the things you've exported?

Just wondered how one went from road paint etc to cheese

[davepoth]

Superbad said:

Did you produce all of the things you've exported?

Just wondered how one went from road paint etc to cheese

I've just worked in various companies who do make those products - I've concentrated in the "putting it in a box, moving it, and taking it out of a box somewhere else" side of things.

[ReaderScars]

davepoth said:

..currently I'm attempting to send cheese... It is much better than it was a decade ago though.

You clearly have the highest regard for your client if you won't send your cheese until it's matured for 10 years. Very impressive forward planning, too

[Digga]

davepoth said:

I've concentrated in the "putting it in a box, moving it, and taking it out of a box somewhere else" side of things.

if you call it "logistics" you can free up some valuable space on your business card. HTH.

As for UKTI, we've found the OMIS is of mixed success, but they do offer some very good assistance in terms of expertise (some of the UKTI advisers are very knowledgeable) and referalls to some decent consultants. We also use their help with overseas trade shows too.

[ReaderScars]

Digga said:

..they do offer some very good assistance in terms of expertise..We also use their help with overseas trade shows too.

I'd definitely be interested in displaying overseas. Can you expand on how UKTI helps with this?

[essayer]

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tradeshow-access-progr...

[Digga]

ReaderScars said:

Digga said:

..they do offer some very good assistance in terms of expertise..We also use their help with overseas trade shows too.

I'd definitely be interested in displaying overseas. Can you expand on how UKTI helps with this?

They have a Trade Access Program (IIRC) part of which helps you to identify overseas trade shows and will offer varying degrees of grant for attendance. The grants are very simple; you simply need to show expenditure (for normal stuff, stand costs, travel, hotels etc.) of sufficient magnitude to receive a grant back. This is just part of the program though and there is some useful general advice plus the ability to tap into some useful advisers for key specific areas, such as IP or web communication.

[ReaderScars]

Thanks for the link essayer, had already taken a look at that and hadn't seen mention of the possibility of having travel and some other non material costs covered.

Good to hear that it's pretty straight forward Digga, and it seems a much more flexible grant than I had anticipated, thanks for clarifying (have made applications for matched funding in the past with a different organisation, was a bit of an undertaking). Appreciate your input.

[essayer]

Yup it's worth looking into.
We attended a show in Shanghai, UKTI provided a grant of £2k, some promotion effort plus arranged for a Chinese student to help us on the stand for three days.

In this instance the stand cost more than the grant, but they are flexible if it's the other way around (you can include associated costs like printed material, booth furniture etc)