{"id":6942,"date":"2019-11-26T22:00:10","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T22:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/?p=6942"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:20:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:20:55","slug":"international-trade-support-small-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/international-trade-support-small-business\/","title":{"rendered":"International trade support to help your small business"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGrowth & Customers<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tInternational trade support to help your small business\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Susie\t\t\t\tSusie Carter<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Around 230,000 small businesses in the UK exported goods and services in 2018, despite the economic uncertainty around Brexit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the referendum in 2016, where people in the UK voted to leave the European Union<\/a> (EU), it could be tempting to succumb to grim headlines and simply wait to receive further clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that isn’t the strategy adopted by forward-thinking small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), who achieved a 6.6% increase in exports in 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appetite for international trade was even bigger among companies that were less than two years old \u2013 with their exports increasing by almost 20%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Office for National Statistics’ Annual Business Survey, exports from all UK businesses now total \u00a3637bn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in many ways, it’s not surprising, given the wealth of support on offer for small businesses. This includes loans, funding, mentoring, help with intellectual property (IP) and copyright, and overseas trade missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read this article for tips from a couple of businesses on achieving success with international trade. And below is a list of organisations that can help you to scale your business overseas<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How two companies used international trade support<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rockit and Perspectum Diagnostics are two companies that turned to government support in their bids to trade abroad. Here, they share their stories and advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rockit on securing grants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Matt Dyson is the chief executive of Rockit<\/a>, the company behind a portable baby rocker that parents attach to pushchairs or prams \u2013 to free their hands, and time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The product was the brainchild of Dyson’s brother-in-law, Nick Webb, whose child would not sleep without him constantly rocking her pram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a PhD in vibration and acoustics, he developed a prototype device that could do the rocking for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Less than two years later, more than 60,000 Rockit Rockers<\/a> have been sold across 45 countries and the company is expecting to turnover more than \u00a3600,000 in 2019. It’s an achievement that Dyson says is partly due to support from the Department for International Trade (DIT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, as the business was starting up, Dyson and his colleagues secured grants totalling more than \u00a310,000 from the DIT, via its Export for Growth and Trade Show Access Programme (TAP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team also received mentoring and advice worth more than \u00a36,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on the past two years, Dyson says: “A lot of people told us to wait for Rockit to take off in the UK before starting to export<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But we knew the rocker was such an innovative product, and we needed to distribute it far and wide as quickly as possible to capitalise on our first-to-market advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Trade shows have been really important to us in terms of building orders and generating interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We would have exported anyway, but it would have been slower without support from DIT. I also think that cash flow would have been a stumbling block in those early days, without the grants. The support has been brilliant.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download your free copy of The small business guide to import and export<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Perspectum Diagnostics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another company that has accelerated its growth using support from the government is Perspectum Diagnostics. It provides digital technologies that help clinicians to provide better care for patients with liver disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Headquartered out of Oxford, the firm was recently named as the fastest-growing life sciences company in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perspectum Diagnostics received support from Innovate UK during its initial funding stage and continues to receive advice about innovations to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has received advice from the DIT about services and opportunities with local experts overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has also received Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credits, which it has used to reinvest in people, growth and further development of unique innovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesman for Perspectum says the advice on finance from both the DIT and Innovate UK had been critical to its expansion, while the DIT’s local knowledge of new territories was a great help in ensuring compliance with local laws in new territories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They add: “Perspectum has grown a successful commercial Contract Research Organisation and now trades with some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We would encourage any business to take advantage of what the UK has to offer in terms of advice and financial support.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Scale your business internationally<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Want to trade internationally? We\u2019re here to help you succeed with the latest technology, research and tips to expand your business.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFind out more<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Sources of help for international trade<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Interested in trading abroad, be it importing or exporting? Here are a number of bodies and organisations that can help you achieve your international trade goals. They are split into three sections:<\/p>\n\n\n\n