Many exporters across London will have had an extra spring in their step this Easter after achieving the Queen’s Awards for International Trade.
Winning this prestigious award is a fantastic achievement and one which recognises firms who demonstrate long term, substantial growth in overseas earnings.
I was delighted to see that once again there were a huge number of London firms among the winners. I was even more delighted to be able to recognise most of the names, with more than half of the winners having received support from UK Trade & Investment (UKTI).
Among the winners were John McAslan + Partners, an award winning practice of architects and master planners based in central London.
Collaborating with UKTI has facilitated the growth of their international portfolio. For their Indian and Brazilian expansion, UKTI identified leads and co-ordinated high-level meetings for the practice. As a result, the practice is now working on a major transport hub in New Delhiand a scheme to redevelop and enhance the British School in Rio de Janeiro.
As well as a master plan for the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria in Canada, and several multi-modal transport hubs in Moscow, the practice is currently delivering sixteen projects in Doha,Qatar. They include a cultural forum, the five-star Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the Park Hyatt Hotel, a mosque, a school and four heritage museums.
I was also pleased to see Tangle Teezer, a Lambeth based company, achieve an award. They now sell their unique hair brush products widely across Europe. Tangle Teezer experienced success in Holland and Belgium after their appearance on Dragon’s Den. They also featured in the Department for Business and UKTI's ‘GREAT’ campaign and have used UKTI’s network to secure contracts in Germany and South Africa.
HH Global, a print management and marketing firm based in Sutton, is another success story. They added one more Queen’s Award to their trophy cabinet having won their first five years ago. HH Global has worked with UKTI since 2013, making use of a range of UKTI services including overseas visits.
This export success is representative of a wider trend across the capital which is seeing more and more firms identify international opportunities. These hugely successful firms all made one common decision, they decided to access UKTI support. They did this by tapping into the commercial know how and expertise of our International Trade Advisers based in the UK. It was a decision which propelled them to international success, and one I am thrilled to see recognised by the Queen’s Award.
If you’re in London, find out more about our services and how you can go international by calling UKTI London on 0845 052 4001 or email the team on export@uktilondon.org.uk, and follow @UKTI_LondonSE for regular export updates. You can also find contact details for the rest of UKTI's regional office network.
1 comment
Comment by Liam posted on
excellent work from the UKTI helping UK Businesses to grow and expand in overseas territories!