UKTI Business Opportunities provides sales leads across a multitude of sectors. Amongst those, the construction sector is one of the most varied for the sheer diversity of SMEs involved. So I was really pleased recently to meet with John Tebbit from the Construction Products Association as part of our effort to encourage companies to export.
In what’s been a busy time for us I also met with Alison Nicholl from Building Research Establishment to talk about future collaborations, including one with a company called IOBAC.
IOBAC received an award last year – MBE KTN Innovation Zone - for their products, sustainable magnetic floor coverings. Now that’s not something you see every day!
In September 2011 IOBAC, in partnership with 3M, unveiled a revolutionary flooring system. Following 7 years of research and testing the IOBAC team felt it was the right time to bring the ground-breaking technology to market.
From an early stage, IOBAC realised that spreading the message widely was as challenging as testing and selling their products. They decided to exhibit at the Innovation Zone at EcoBuild 2012, sponsored by the UK Green Building Council and Marks and Spencer.
BRE provided enormous support to make sure IOBAC capitalised on the event and they did, by winning the Innovation award.
This award came with the promise of discussions with Marks and Spencer which IOBAC have been engaged in since, with a more fruitful reward looming on the horizon.
Conversations with several retailers followed. Since then, IOBAC has been trialled at Sainsbury’s.
As a result of BRE’s strategic relationships with the UK Green Building Council and UTKI, the IOBAC chairman Derek Smyth had the opportunity to meet Mark Prisk, the Minister for Business andEnterprisealong with key members of UKTI. This meeting showcased their products to UKTI and discussions moved on to IOBAC national and international growth plans. Following up on these discussions, IOBAC joined a UKTI Trade Mission to theUSA; IOBAC is in the process of joining UKTI’s Passport to Export Programme.
Greenbuild USA had always been an important tradeshow to IOBAC’s international growth. Due to rapid expansion since EcoBuild, IOBAC found it difficult to plan and attend the trade show. When an invite arrived from the British Consulate inSan Franciscoto attend Greenbuild USA as part of a UKTI Trade Mission, the opportunity could not be turned down. Due to the size and importance of this tradeshow, the IOBAC Chairman and Marketing Director both personally attended.
On the UKTI stand at Greenbuild, IOBAC exhibited its revolutionary flooring technology which was met with excitement and amazement by architects, retailers and other professionals within the construction industry. The traction that this trade mission gave IOBAC in the USA has resulted in two upcoming IOBAC trials and members of the IOBAC team travelling back to the US to follow up on these opportunities.
An article was published mentioning how IOBAC had ‘crossed the pond’ and successfully begun to selling into the American market which resulted in many further enquiries.
The article, the successful trip and the reception IOBAC received was a result of professionalism, efficiency and hard work put in by all UKTI and IOBAC staff involved. The relationship between UKTI and IOBAC has resulted in discussions with 2 major retailers in the UK and countless discussions in theUS.
If you’d like your company to follow IOBAC’s success, one of the first things you should do is to sign up for our free business opportunities These alerts will give you a stepping stone into sales leads you wouldn’t otherwise hear about.
Not only that, but UKTI Business Opportunities has an extensive network of staff based in theUK (International Trade Advisers) and overseas at our Embassies, Consulates and High Commissions. In this instance, the British Consulate in San Francisco was instrumental to IOBAC’s attendance, but similarly, we can assist in providing you with sales leads without leaving your office.
What can be more convenient that saving time and money by receiving free email alerts? Enquiries may lead to securing a contract or making the first introduction to continue that vital business discussions.
Either way, it’s a win-win situation.
For further information, please contact UKTI Business Opportunities Team: bizoppteam@ukti.gsi.gov.uk
We are working with Trade Associations to enhance the companies’ exporting capabilities via the free business opportunities alerts and the Trade Challenge Partnership initiative.
As part of that work, if you're in the Construction Products sector we'd love it if you could reply to an online survey to help establish a baseline on why companies do or do not export. The ten minute survey is here . Please do take it if you’d like to help us enhance the offering we can make to you.