Category Archives: SME

Leigh Turner

Turkish-British partnership hits a high

In late March, the sun beats down on metre-deep snow. On slopes above, skiers glide. At a hotel in the town centre, over 500 top Turkish business people and opinion formers have gathered. Welcome to the Uludağ Economic Summit in Bursa – … Continue reading

Martin Oxley

2013 Business is GREAT!

If you believe a number of our banking friends, 2013 is going to be an even better year than 2012 in Emerging Europe. Set right at the heart of Europe, Poland is set to have a robust year even if … Continue reading

Martin Oxley

Thoughts from the Emerging Europe Event – Live @ the CBI

Martin Oxley, Director of UKTI Warsaw blogs from the Emerging Europe Event on 8th November 2012 at the CBI – UK’s Voice of Business A packed event right now in Central town at the CBI in the Centrepoint Building opposite … Continue reading

UKTIWebteam

Forging ties in India

Sometimes culture change is startling.  24 hours ago I was in deep snow in the upper Connecticut valley in New Hampshire, -18c and the car stuck in a snow drift.  Now I am in Mumbai and it’s 28c, the sun … Continue reading

UKTI Australia New Zealand

Business Development Diaries 4 — Exeter

This is my first time in Exeter. I enjoyed the drive down through Somerset and into Devon. I tried out my best West Country accent in the car on the way down with lots of drawn out vowels. Glaaaaaastonbury, Yeooooooovil and salvaaaage! Probably good that it stayed in the car! Continue reading

UKTI Australia New Zealand

Business Development Diaries 3

I have a soft spot for Bristol. A great combination of old and new UK and lots of innovative SMEs!
We have seen large numbers of companies from the South West in Australia in recent months and they have demonstrated many times that smart companies with good products who prepare well often do good business in Australia.
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UKTI Australia New Zealand

Business Development Diaries 2

I had forgotten how beautiful the scenery is across the North West of England and into Southern Scotland. Even the heavy, dark sky did not take away from the majestic vistas. The journey put me in a great mood for my first working visit to Glasgow. I met with five fantastic companies all looking to build their export markets into Australia. They told me that the retail sector had been hit quite hard by the recession. But they, and many other companies, were seeing great opportunities for export. The weaker pound meant UK exports looked better value in overseas markets and that UKTI could support them to make the most of these opportunities. Continue reading

Bonza trip!

Whilst I was walking the exhibition at Ausbiotech yesterday I received a call from John Grace who works for RDA Illawarra in NSW. A colleague of John’s, Roger Summeril, had attended the reception at the Consul General’s residence on Monday night in Sydney, and had not managed to get around to speaking to our Regional Director Russell Jones, so the point of his call was to see if we could set up a meeting. Well sometimes trying to catch Russell is like trying to nail jelly to the wall! Russell is relentless in his pursuit of opportunities for our South West companies and had already flown off to Bangkok where he has a series of meetings and was chasing a hot lead! Continue reading

Australia – it’s a long way!

G’day from down under! Yesterday was a hugely successful day, our missioners and the staff at the Consul General were all beavering away making plans, talking through worries and concerns and generally getting business underway. Continue reading