Advice and training to boost international sales
Sarah Peak, Export Manager (DIT, CLEP)
Cumbrian businesses looking for information about how to export their products and services internationally are now able to access a range of free advice and training.
Available support includes The Export Academy – a free training programme across 10 x 1-hour sessions to help small and micro businesses understand all they need to know about selling internationally.
Sarah Peak, Cumbria’s Export Manager who works for the Department for International Trade (DIT) with Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership (CLEP), said small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were able to take advantage of the resources.
She said: “I’m delighted to see that this innovative partnership between Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership and the Department of International Trade North West continues to flourish. I’m here to help Cumbrian businesses grow their potential for international sales and there’s a lot of support available to help them do that.”
SMEs can also apply for up to £9,000 of matched funding from the DIT’s Internationalisation Fund to prepare for overseas trade.
The funding has a range of uses, including advice on market research, market selection and entry, cross cultural negotiation, translation, intellectual property rights, international law, marketing, social media, routes to market and due diligence.
Sarah said DIT can help companies export and grow into global markets. It can help businesses create an export plan, find an export market, choose a route to market, get export finance, manage payment for export orders, prepare businesses to do business in a foreign country, prepare businesses for export procedures and logistics, sell services overseas and manage risk of bribery and corruption.
She said: “My role is to engage and drive collaborations with key trade and business support parties to ensure maximisation of existing export services and the development of programmes and activity to increase international trade across the region.
“We can introduce businesses to overseas Embassies, involve businesses in Trade Missions and exhibitions, share our knowledge with businesses through a wide range of webinars and we have an e-commerce team who can help with online marketplace selling overseas.”
Sarah has 35 years of business industry experience working for SMEs and large enterprises as well as establishing and operating her own business for the last seven years. Her wide breadth of knowledge and experience is across a range of industries from tourism and hospitality to manufacturing and retailing both in the UK and Ireland.
She can be contacted at sarah.peak@tradenw.org or by phone at 07980 769881.