Mayor opens up overseas markets for London businesses

A group of small and medium sized businesses are heading off on a trade mission to Asia this weekend as part of the Mayor of London’s export programme to help firms tap into overseas markets.

The 13 London businesses, which all specialise in infrastructure and technology, are travelling to Hong Kong and Macau with the aim of developing export opportunities overseas or exploiting fast growing emerging markets.

The Mayor’s Export Programme aims to increase the number of small and medium sized businesses selling overseas, enabling them to develop and grow. The programme is part of the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson’s commitment to supporting the capital’s businesses engaged in exports by delivering a series of trade missions, events and workshops designed to encourage overseas trade. The programme has generated more than £15million in new sales for city businesses.

The trip to Hong Kong and Macau between 4-9 July represents an opportunity for businesses to build and develop their regeneration and technology portfolios in Asia. Earlier this year, cyber-intelligence company Digital Shadows secured an £8million investment as part of a 41-strong delegation of small businesses accompanying the Mayor’s trade mission to the east coast of the United States.

Significant projects in Hong Kong include electronic information management, e-government and free to access internet coverage, while Macau presents a wide range of business opportunities to UK companies, including architecture, design and hotel fit-out.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “There are more than 800,000 small and medium sized businesses in London who employ nearly 2.3million people. It’s a growth area and these missions provide an opportunity to bring new contacts, develop a greater understanding of culture and markets, as well as encouraging new business opportunities.’

The Mayor's Export Programme is delivered in partnership with UK Trade and Investment and is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and London Enterprise Panel.

Alan Wan, Director of Benoy – a firm of architects, planners and designers - said: “The overwhelming interest shown in the Mayor’s delegations has proved to be immensely beneficial to Benoy, reinforcing relationships with existing clients as well as brokering new. Working across markets and continents, the delegations raise the profile of Benoy, London and the UK.

“Both the ASEAN tour of late 2014 and the more recent New York trip have been incredibly positive for us; both have given rise to new channels of work. Benoy teams in London, Hong Kong and Singapore are now engaged on these projects.”