Government fund to help UK SMEs export

A £13m fund has been set up by the Government to support exports. The money, which will by administered by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), will help 10,000 companies sell overseas.

The majority of the investment – some £9m – will go directly towards boosting trade opportunities for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs), according to a government statement.

There will be more money available for SMEs to attend trade shows abroad through expanding the Tradeshow Access Programme. Substantial discounts will also be offered on the Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS), which provides targeted market research to help businesses find those crucial first contacts overseas and to help them develop relationships in new, fast-growing markets.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “One of our major ambitions for growth is to boost UK exports: we have to excel in trade. Small and medium-sized enterprises are crucial to this challenge – over half of the monetary value of the UK’s exports comes from SMEs.

“SMEs are innovators in every sector, whether hi-tech or traditional, and they are major job creators for our economy employing almost 60% of the private sector workforce. This extra funding will help those businesses already exporting to go further and explore new markets, and help those thinking of exporting to make that crucial first step.

“We anticipate that over 10,000 businesses will benefit from the additional funding, moving us closer to our ambition of getting 100,000 more businesses exporting British goods and services around the world.”

The new investment comes as part of a drive by Government to boost exports for UK firms and achieve its ambitions to:

• Double UK exports to £1 trillion by 2020.
• Get 100,000 more companies exporting.
• Increase the proportion of companies that export from one in five to one in four, the European average.

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