Tickets are already being snapped up for the UK Trade and Investment Export Week events, which run from November 9th-13th and aim to offer advice on how to build contacts in new markets and boost export sales. The week will include events on key overseas markets and sectors, digital workshops, and opportunities for women-led businesses and young entrepreneurs who want to spread their wings into the international market.

ExploreExport – Export Week’s flagship event – is set to be the biggest and most high profile yet, including interactive seminars, a drop-in lounge and the chance to meet with more than 60 commercial officers.

Christine Hamilton, Acting UKTI West Midlands Regional Director, said: “Export Week gives businesses across the region the opportunity to really think about how they can start to access the international market or how they can grow their existing opportunities, and find out about how we can support them in their ambitions.

“This dedicated calendar of events brings together UKTI experts from across the globe, companies with whom we have worked successfully to achieve export success and those who want to find the right market, under one roof. It’s the ideal time to access advice and be inspired by the successes we have helped to garner.”

Over the past three years, 435 businesses in Birmingham have received help and support from UKTI, and won a reported £117.4 million in overseas sales. This number is expected to grow further during Export Week.

Peter Laybourn, International Synergies’ chief executive, attended last year’s event and has since won contracts to work in Ghana, France and in multiple African companies. It is also in final discussions for potential contracts in the USA and Vietnam.

He said: “I met with commercial officers from Turkey, South Africa and Uganda and each of these meetings has proved of pivotal importance to our ongoing business development at a global level. Certainly our confidence in entering new markets has greatly increased thanks to the knowledge that we can gain access to such high level, intelligent support if we need it.”

Tom Farmer, Sales Director at Kings Norton-based Biocare Ltd, which develops nutritional supplements, credits attending Explore Export last year with giving the company the impetus it needed to inform its export strategy.

He commented: “This event enabled us to establish direct contact with UK representatives in market who were able to add tangible value to our export effort. The event is of huge value to those either considering or already exporting.”