China - Being Serious About International Trade Thursday 9th June 2011  On the 9th June 2011, The Midlands World Trade Forum hosted a successful free seminar on behalf of UKTI focusing on exporting to China, at Cranmore Park, Solihull. China is one of the largest emerging markets that offer enormous opportunities and growth for the UK businesses. As well as having the largest population of 1.5 billion people, China has also the second largest economy in the world.                                                                                                                      Pictured (left to right): Stewart Ferguson, Claire O'Brien, Charlotte Crowhurst and Karen Mercer-West Karen Mercer-West, Business Manager of the Midlands World Trade Forum, opened the seminar and introduced Mark Eaton - Director of China Trade Liaison Office. Thereafter, Stewart Ferguson, China Business Advisor from China-Britain Business Council, gave a presentation on the Market Development and Challenges in China. Delegates were informed of all the differences in the provinces and their nature of businesses in particular regions of China. This was followed by a presentation by Charlotte Crowhurst where she gave an overview of Intellectual Property (IP) protection in China. Claire O'Brien also spoke about the aspects of IP enforcement, in order for delegates to gain in depth knowledge of IP and how to adopt procedures and be aware of any risks that they might face when exporting to China.  An Q+A session was facilitated by Karen Mercer-West where delegates were keen to raise their queries and a networking lunch ended the successful event where much positvie interaction took place between delegates and the UKTI.       'Bungs, Bribes and Brown Paper Bags' - The Bribery Act - How to Manage Risks and Ensure Compliance Thursday 2nd June 2011  Following the previous Bribery Act seminar held on 6th April 2011, the Midlands World Trade Forum hosted yet another successful seminar sponsored by law firm Squire Sanders and Hammonds on the 2nd June 2011. Facilitated by Karen Mercer-West of the MWTF, this was another excellent event with great turn-out of attendees.                                                                            Pictured - Karen Mercer-West, Andrew Sanderson and Amanda Beaton                                                      The audience of West Midland exporters were engaged by the interactive presentations given by Bribery Act experts Amanda Beaton and Andrew Sanderson. Both speakers addressed a number of key issues when dealing with the risks and informed the delegates of the processes and procedures that they can adopt to protect themselves in this area.    The seminar ended with a survey led by Karen Mercer-West where a surprise 0% of the audience considered their companies currently correctly and adequately protected. All delegates felt that further to attending the event they were in a better position to make changes and improvements in the area. We hope that by facilitating these two Bribery Act events and raising awareness of this area, MWTF members will take this opportunity to start taking steps to have policies in place by the 1st July 2011.

'Bungs, Bribes and Brown Paper Bags' - The Bribery Act - How to Manage Risks and Ensure Compliance Wednesday 6 April 2011 On the 6th April 2011, The Midlands World Trade facilitated an event introducing the new Bribery Act, sponsored by global law firm - Squire, Sanders and Hammonds. The successful event enjoyed a great turn-out where attendees were keen to engage in the informative seminar led by Bribery Act experts Amanda Beaton – Associate Litigation, based in Birmingham and Andrew Sanderson – Associate Environment, Health and Safety, London. The event was facilitated by Karen Mercer-West of the MWTF.                                   Pictured - Karen Mercer-West, Andrew Sanderson and Amanda Beaton Amanda and Andrew both gave informative and interactive presentations addressing a number of issues that companies and businesses in the UK should be aware of regarding the Bribery Act. Delegates were also informed of the procedures organisations need to adopt in order to minimise their risks. Speakers gave advice to a number of sectors and industries represented operating overseas and in the UK. The seminar ended with a survey led by Karen Mercer-West, where only 5% of the total attendees considered their companies to be correctly and adequately protected, in contrast with 63% who will now consider their companies to take steps to have policies in place by 1st July. 37% thought that the Act will be detrimental to British Businesses operating abroad. The event was extremely successful with very positive feedback, and many requests for the MWTF to offer more seminars and workshops on this topic. As a result, steps are now in place to host more seminars to respond to the popular demand.

 

Exporting: The Challenges and Opportunities Thursday 24 February 2011 MWTF hosted this breakfast event in conjunction with the BABC in the Midlands at Eleven Brindleyplace. The seminar gave an overview of the challenges that exporters face and the opportunities available. Fred Bassnett, UKTI/ Tucker & Partners gave a presentation about the current export climate. Gary Baylis, Westhaven Worldwide Logistics, shared his experiences in exporting with the delegates in attendance from a logistics perspective. Hari Rai, INTATRADE, gave an insight into the help and support that INTATRADE offers as well as explaining the other support services available to exporters.                                                                  Pictured - Hari Rai, Jessica Nelson, Fred Bassnett, Karen Mercer-West, Gary Baylis and Harry Reilly Karen Mercer-West of the MWTF and Harry Reilly gave their views on the work the Midlands World Trade Forum and the British American Business Council respectively help exporters in the region develop their International Trade Strategies around some of the challenges discussed at the event The presentations were followed by a Q &A session with the speakers and networking thereafter.

LATVIA - A Business Destination in Northern Europe Friday 21 January 2011 More than 70 delegates attended this event held at Warwick University, International Digital Lab in Coventry. Delegates learned about the opportunities and benefits that trading in Latvia can bring to businesses and how they can build these into their export strategies.   Karen Mercer-West, Business Manager of the Midlands World Trade Forum (MWTF) opened the seminar and thereafter Deb Leary OBE, Chair of the MWTF provided an opening address and introduced the Prime Minister of Latvia, Mr Valdis Dombrovskis. The Prime Minister said, “The main purpose of my visit has been investment and I have been very impressed with what I have seen. My country can offer major investment opportunities to West Midlands' exporters.” He added, “The structure of our economy is changing. We intend to grow our industrial base and grow our exports. We are looking at growth sectors such as advanced manufacturing and green technology, which appears well represented in the West Midlands. We are also exploring opportunities in biotech, environmental technology, waste management, chemical industries, machining and engineering, ICT and construction” Pictured - Karen Mercer-West, Peter Matthews (both Midlands World trade Forum), Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, Deb Leary (Midlands World Trade Forum) and Andrew Soper (UK Ambassador to Latvia) Andris Ozols, Director of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, provided an overview of the Latvia’s economy and the potential neighbouring markets that can harvest from trading in Latvia. Excellent presentations then followed with Filips Rubenis, Sales Director of Autonams Ltd, giving Autonams Ltd experience of the R&D and manufacturing in Telematics and the automotive industry in Latvia, Ludo Chapman, MD of Grant Instruments gave an insight into how his company developed business in Latvia and then Lilita Sparane, Executive Director Latvian IT Cluster, spoke about the IT industry and the benefits that the Latvian IT cluster could bring as a partner for ICT Business in the West Midlands. The presentations were followed by Q & A session with the speakers There was an exhibition before and after the seminar and there were opportunities to network with many Latvian companies in attendance.

EMarketing - Developing a Successful Strategy Wednesday 24 November 2010 MWTF hosted this breakfast event in conjunction with UKTI at the National Motorcycle Museum. The seminar gave an overview of how to develop a successful eMarketing strategy for companies involved in international trade.  Doug Lawrence, ECR Consultant, presented the pitfalls of eMarketing in International Markets. This was followed by a presentation from John Chacksfield, Sharp Monkeys, who spoke about developing an eMarketing strategy and then Susan Hallam, Hallam Communications, spoke of the 25 ways to improve your web marketing.

Get Your Share of the German Market Tuesday 19 October 2010 Almost 40 delegates attended this event held at the National Metal Forming Centre, West Bromwich. Delegates learned about the opportunities available in Europe’s largest domestic market. They were also advised on the regulations, accreditations and environmental considerations when considering Germany as an export market Karen Mercer-West, Business Manager of the Midlands World Trade Forum introduced Malcolm Scott, Director General of UK Trade and Investment in Germany and British Consul-General Dusseldorf on the day and excellent presentations followed by Ian Wivell, Deputy Director, German British Chamber of Commerce, Cathy Davies, Enterprise Europe Network and Dieter Arning, Board member of Landbell AG. Other presentations about the legal aspects of trading in Germany followed by Jeremy Parkin from the Wilkes Partnership and Chris Everall, Managing Director, Integra Project Management Ltd spoke about business etiquette and culture in Germany and concluded the presentations. After lunch, delegates had the opportunity to network with each other and have pre-arranged 1-2-1 meetings with Malcolm Scott.

Turkey - 'More Than You Know' Thursday 7 October 2010                                                                                                   More than 30 delegates attended this well attended event at the National Metal Forming Centre, West Bromwich. Delegates learned about the opportunities and benefits that trading in Turkey can bring to businesses and how they can build these into their export strategies. Doug Mahoney, chaired the event with excellent presentations from Sarah Mooney, Deputy Consul General and Head of UKTI in the British Consulate General Istanbul, Hari Rai, International Trade Adviser, INTATRADE, David Walker, Vice Chairman of the Turkish British Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Graham Ashmore OBE, Regional Co-ordinator for Turkey – UKTI West Midlands.  Dr Richard Leary, Managing Director of Forensic Pathways Ltd, spoke of his personal business experience of doing business with the growing Turkish market. The presentations were followed by an interesting and lively open forum with all guest speakers. Many delegates also took the opportunity to have one to one meetings with the speakers to help them with export strategies on an individual basis. Again, we were able to offer 1-2-1 meetings following the main event.

Trading in Romania & Bulgaria Friday 14 May 2010 A similar event to the one outlined below, where delegates heard presentations on the opportunities and challenges in these two markets, which joined the EU in 2007.  Robin Barnett and Steve Williams HM Ambassadors to Romania and Bulgaria respectively accompanied their colleagues from the Commercial sections in Bucharest and Sofia and spoke about the political and economic background in the two markets.     Pictured - Tanya Koicheva, Director UKTI Bulgaria Hugo Gell of Security Labels International gave an insight into how he his company developed business in Romania and, during the Q&A session, delegates took the opportunity to question him on many aspects of what he had said.  Again, we were able to offer 1-2-1 meetings following the main event.

Nordics & Baltics Roadshow Thursday 29 April 2010 More than 50 delegates attended this event at the Ramada Hotel, Sutton Coldfield to hear UKTI representatives from the Commercial Sections at our embassies in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway explain how easy it is to find new customers. Pictured are members of the UKTI team from the Baltic and Nordic States and Case Study speakers They were told the UK has a strong reputation in the Nordic countries and with highly educated consumers, high living standards and the widespread use of English they could be an ideal stepping stone for those firms making tentative steps in to Europe. The Baltics are also a good test market for new exporters, and are particularly suitable for niche products and innovative solutions with local firms very keen to work with foreign businesses. The geography also means they are useful for those wanting to explore opportunities in Russia and other Commonwealth of Independent States countries. After lunch delegates had the opportunity for 1-2-1 meetings with the presenters; something which is becoming an increasingly popular feature at the events we run.

MWTF AGM/Networking Event - 'A Taste of India' Wednesday 27 January 2010 More than 50 delegates attended our first networking event of the year, which had trading with India as its key theme.   Our keynote speaker was Mr C Gururaj Rao, Indian Consul General in Birmingham.  Additional presentations were given by Ian Mason former Head of Trade and Investment at the British Deputy High Commission in Chennai and Ray Spooner, formerly of JCB, who explained how the company gradually moved into the economy over three decades.  The early evening event was rounded off appropriately with a tasty curry.

New 2010 VAT rules for intra-EC trade Friday 11 December 2009 - Breakfast Event Judging by the big turn out for this event the impending changes to VAT rules were clearly something about which local businesses felt they needed to be informed. Representatives from over 50 companies listened as Graeme Vernon and Andrew Richardson, from Ernst & Young LLP explained the intricacies of the changes, which will start to come into effect from 1 January next year.  The new rules are aimed at modernising and harmonising cross-border VAT rules.

Export Credit Insurance:  Have your say Friday 3 October 2009 - Breakfast Event More than 30 companies attended this breakfast event to voice their concerns about the difficulties in obtaining credit insurance for their export activities.  The event was organised as a follow up to the report compiled by MWTF after surveying members earlier this year.  Peter Mathews CMG, who is regularly lobbying on this issue in Westminster, chaired the event and began by opening up the debate to the floor so that delegates could air their often painful experiences at the hands of the credit insurance sector.  The high profile panel included Adrian Bailey MP, who sits on the Cross Party Select Committee 'Exporting out of the Recession' and Steve Dodgson, Business Group Director at ECGD

Think Central Europe Thursday 4 June 2009 - Seminar  The Heads of International Trade from the British Embassies in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia highlighted key business opportunities in these markets at this free seminar, which was held at the Ramada Hotel, Sutton Coldfield.  All five countries are potentially lucrative markets for West Midlands exporters. A case study was given by Andy Cox from Stourbridge based Cox and Plant Ltd., manufacturers of conveying systems for major processing plants.  Cox and Plant are trading successfully in most of the markets featured.  Andy explained how he has achieved success but also warned of some of the pitfalls and told the audience things he would differently second time around.  Feedback forms from the delegates indicated that the range of markets covered together with the opportunity for 1-2-1 meetings with the presenters were key to their attending the event.

Generating Success in the US Marketplace Thursday 19 March 2009 - Seminar MWTF hosted this event in conjunction with BABC Midlands at the Longbridge Innovation Centre.  The event was sponsored by HSBC. The seminar addressed a number of topical issues regarding operating in the US, with speakers including Fred Bassnett a North American Market Advisor to UKTI providing a market overview, Gina Putnam from Bernhard and Co presenting a case study and David Knight from HSBC prsenting a banking overview. The event also included breakout rooms with UPS and TUV, providing the opportunity for a more interactive discussion and responding to delegates' queries.

MWTF AGM Thursday 22 January - Members Networking Event Members were given an American perspective on the global economic downturn by Prof Scott Lucas from the Department of American and Canadian Studies at the University of Birmingham.  He told membersonal group, telling how the USA was responding to the to recession and what people around the world can expect from the new Obama administration.He was joined by Bob Hext, managing director of Crossbow Education, who explained the intricacies of setting up a base in the US, some of the pitfalls he faced, and how he overcame them to develop a successful business.

Turkey Breakfast Seminar Thursday 30 October 2008 This event was organised to give companies the opportunity to hear from, and have one-to-one meetings with, Sarah Mooney, who took over in April 2008 as head of Trade & Investment at the British Consulate in Istanbul. The event was attended by almost 40 delegates and was held at the National Metalforming Centre in West Bromwich.  Presentations were also made by Zeynep Zondem, Commercial Counsellor at the Turkish Embassy in London and Graham Ashmore, UK Trade & Investment's Regional Co-ordinator for Turkey. Tim Brown, MD of Bronx Manufacturing spoke about his experiences of doing business in Turkey and how a chance enquiry led to this market giving him a significant proportion of his turnover in international sales.

Thailand Means Business Tuesday 7 October 2008 - Seminar This event was part of a UK roadshow  presented by BCCT (British Chamber of Commerce Thailand). The Midlands event was held at the County Cricket Ground at Edgbaston and was organised by MWTF and UK Trade and Investment.  The event was well attended and delegates heard presentations from executives of BCCT as well the roadshow's sponsors.  BCCT’s two main messages to British companies were that business succeeds in Thailand despite political uncertainty and Thailand has been, and remains, a good destination for British investment.

Quaff my Bluff Tuesday 30 September 2008 - Members Networking Event 'Quaff my Bluff' was enjoyed by more than 40 companies at this Fringe Event staged during the 2008 Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham.  A panel of experts described the wines being tasted and attempted to convince delegates that theirs was the correct description.  It was then left up to the guests to decide who was telling the truth.  In between tasting the best imports from around the world, MWTF members had the opportunity to engage with delegates from the political gathering to stress the benefits of international trade to the region. Following on from the contacts made at the event, MWTF Chair Deborah Leary OBE has been invited to continue the discussion on international trade, with Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Shadow Minister for International Development.