£1tn target for selling overseas
◆ Department for Business and Trade’s ambition is for UK exports to hit £1 trillion annually, and the Made in Scotland: Sold to the World roadshow event in Glasgow heard how businesses north of the Border are excellently placed to contribute greatly
Scottish companies are well-placed to profit from fresh efforts to boost international sales, according to UK export minister Lord Offord of Garvel. Speaking at the Made in Scotland: Sold to the World export roadshow event in Glasgow, he said: “The world is out there for us, they want to buy Scottish products, goods and services.”
The UK Government’s Department for Business and Trade (DBT) aims to boost UK exports to £1 trillion annually. Lord Offord said it was likely businesses would “smash” that target in around 2030. He referred to figures suggesting that manufactured goods made up half of UK exports as compared to just 20 per cent of the economy, “because our goods are so good and they go around the world”.
But he said that service businesses often generated higher profit margins. “The direction of travel is therefore going to be two-thirds services, one-third goods, over the next ten to 20 years,” the minister said. “Scotland is very well-placed in that.”
Citing industries that are forecast to grow fast, he said: “[In] the fintech [financial technology] world, Scotland is now the third biggest cluster in Europe. You’ve then got life sciences, where we’ve got massive centres of excellence. You’ve got renewable, green energy. You’ve got creative industries and advanced manufacturing. Most of those are services.”
Lord Offord said increasing the proportion of businesses that export could have additional benefits for the economy: “If you look at companies that export, they have a number of characteristics that are interesting. It would appear that they are more ambitious. They have good management teams. They have good products and services to sell overseas.
“Quite often they find they can get higher margins outside their home markets; the result of which is, they are more profitable. And the silver bullet is – they pay higher wages.”
He added that the UK Government plans to launch a team of international trade advisors to provide oneto-one support to Scottish businesses this year, saying: “These individuals will come to your office and help you work out where you need to get to.”
Exporters, and companies interested in exporting, heard from Export Champions, experts and advisors at the Made in Scotland event, which was organised by DBT in partnership with Insider Media.
Anna White, owner and founder of Scotlandshop, a tartan products retailer, told the audience how her business had opened an outlet in Albany, New York, in 2022. She said it had been made possible with the support of individuals in the local chamber of commerce and a real estate agency.
“The people made it work,” she said. “Building those key relationships was much more important than spending hours learning about US employment law or sorting out trademarks. You have to do all of that, but it’s about getting an expert who can deal with that and take it off your plate, so that you can focus on building your business and making it successful.”
James Varga, co-founder of X3 Event and founder of credit and risk platform Directid, advised companies thinking of exporting to go into it “whole hog” once conditions were right for them to sell abroad. He said: “Jump in with both feet, because you have to do it in a meaningful way when you are ready to do it.”
“Everyone loves Scotland – leverage that. DBT and SDI [Scottish Development International, part of Scottish Enterprise] have fantastically passionate people in-post around the world.”
SDI works closely with organisations such as DBT and chambers of commerce to help companies start and build export sales, according to SDI director of global trade, Jan Robertson. She said: “There are so many countries you can go to, but you can’t go to them all at once, so we work with companies to focus on the right country for them.”
Seona Shand, international trade director at Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said she sometimes asked companies what markets they wanted to export to, and got a reply such as: “Africa, because I have heard it’s easy.” Shand observed: “Africa’s a continent. It’s made up of more than 50 countries. So one thing I would say is: don’t look too big. Once you’ve done your research, I would recommend you come on one of our trade missions.”
Iseabail Mactaggart, deputy director of DBT Scotland, suggested that interested firms should start with its great.gov.uk website, which features advice, export opportunities and market intelligence. She added: “In Scotland, we are lucky. There are rich resources across ourselves, SDI and chambers [of commerce]. There’s no wrong door. Get in there and use the information.”
The event also featured Greg Aitken from Quorum Cyber; John Brown from SDI; Stephen Ronald from Allianz Trade; Craig Wilson from Virgin Money and UK Export Finance; Mark Burkett, Export Academy advisor at DBT; James Dadge from DBT Scotland; Katie Birrell, head of international sales at Nairn’s Oatcakes; John Glen from Bute Fabrics, and Aileen Gemmell, senior policy advisor for the Scottish Government.
If you look at companies that export... It would appear that they are more ambitious