Every mid-sized business in the country is to be offered tailored trade advice and an intensive support programme to help them start exporting or break into new markets.
Trade Minister Lord Livingston announced on 22 January that he would personally write to all the UK’s 8,900 mid-sized businesses by this summer to ask them if they would like support from UK Trade & Investment (UKTI). Research has shown that on average, mid-sized businesses can increase their sales by £1.8 million with UKTI’s help.
Currently, mid-sized businesses – defined for the campaign as those with a turnover of between £25 million and £250 million – make up 0.5 per cent of all businesses but contribute around a fifth of employment and turnover in the UK. However, only 17 per cent of UK mid-sized businesses generate revenues outside of the EU compared to 25 per cent in Germany and 30 per cent in Italy.
Lord Livingston said: “Mid-sized businesses have the potential to be economic powerhouses for the UK economy, creating jobs and growth for all regions of the UK.
“Their success is dependant on expanding beyond domestic markets so we will be making personal contact with all mid-sized businesses to find out what we can do to help them go up a gear and compete with the best the rest of the world has to offer.”
UKTI is also raising awareness of its services with smaller companies through a new national marketing campaign, Exporting is GREAT, which aims to generate 3,000 appointments for small firms with its advisers by April 2014 and lead to £1.2 billion in export revenue from leads generated.
