The Institute of Directors in Birmingham has hosted a breakfast meeting summit on exporting at its Brindleyplace regional HQ.
London-based UKTI top brass were given a tour of the West Midlands by new regional director Paul Noon OBE.
Speaking at the IoD breakfast seminar, Nick Baird, UKTI chief executive, and chief operating office Jon Harding found that a representative panel of IoD SME owners was ready with a frank exchange of views.
The event was chaired by IoD member Peter Matthews, chairman of the West Midlands International Trade Forum.
IoD WM regional chairman John Rider said: “This was a high powered delegation from London that came to the IoD specifically to seek the views of some of our SME members who manufacture in the West Midlands and export.
“We learned that UKTI is aspiring to bring more business expertise, particularly with the new regional director Paul Noon who has a strong commercial background.
“They went away with the clear message that West Midlands exporters are seeking a more private sector, rather than public sector, response from this important body.
“It was a very useful and frank exchange of views which concluded with a pledge to meet up again in a couple of months to review progress,” he said.
Paul Noon promised to back the region’s exporters and help them compete on a level playing field.
He heard one IoD member describe how when he turned up in Saudi Arabia to find German exporters already there, backed by their Government-sponsored chamber of commerce, he always felt he was “starting from the back of the grid”.
He said he did not feel as if he had the same support to compete.
Paul Noon pointed out that UKTI had a special initiative available to exporters to Saudi Arabia but agreed there was a need to raise awareness of this.
Another IoD member complained about the amount of form filling and bureaucracy that seemed to be required, and that when walking the shop floor in his factory he struggled to understand the purpose of many of the forms that had to be filled in.
Members once again called for a clear, long term strategy for manufacturing that would lead through to exporting, and UKTI staff agreed but pointed to the undoubted success stories among businesses they were working with, notably the likes of Jaguar Land Rover.
IoD West Midlands chairman John Rider said: “This was a frank and straight from the shoulder exchange of views and I think both sides came out of the meeting realising that while there was still much to be done, there is already a lot of help in place if you ask for it.”