SME export boost as peer-to-peer business community launches

BUSINESSES IN the Leeds City Region are to benefit from a unique regional initiative aimed at boosting international trade, it was announced yesterday.

ExportExchange is an online and offline network which aims to help businesses within the city region – which includes Skipton and Harrogate in the north, Barnsley in the south, and York – and beyond to increase exports, grow revenues and create employment.

The ExportExchange programme is backed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and delivered by the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the Department for International Trade (DIT), and a number of privatesector media, marketing and export specialists.

The initiative was launched by Roger Marsh OBE, chair of the LEP, and Marian Sudbury, director of the Northern Powerhouse for DIT, at AQL’s Salem Chapel building in Leeds.

Mr Marsh said: “The need for businesses to seek more diversified global growth has never been greater. A recent HMRC report found that in the year to March 2017, Yorkshire and the Humber saw a 7.6 per cent increase in the value of exports, so we know the ability to achieve this exists.

“We challenged the business community to mobilise expertise within the region to help a new generation of would-be exporters and, with the collaboration of over 50 new patrons from some of the region’s most successful exporters, we’ve built a unique support network that is 100 per cent free to use.”

More information on the initiative, and how to receive free overseas trade advice and support, is available at www.exportexchange.co.uk