As businesses continue to strive towards expansion, and especially now that we have the technology in place to allow ease of communications across the globe, now is a great time to look towards developing, or extending upon, your exporting strategy.

As it stands, the North East is leading the UK in selling our goods and skills to the rest of the world – great news for those businesses and the workforces they’re securing employment for.

It’s also great news for our region. Each business that is widening its customer base is in turn strengthening the North East economy by driving an income from sales to customers from all around the world. The more we sell outside the North East, the more wealth is returned to and created here.

Of course, exporting success is not always easy. Not every business will benefit, or have the type of product or service fit for exporting. Those that do, may find it easier than first thought to create those routes to market and begin selling to international customers.

November 9th to 13th is Export Week, and UKTI, the Government department that works with UK businesses to assist their success in international markets has a whole series of events planned to encourage new or existing exporters to continue to stretch themselves.

To those thinking about exporting, attending these events could help make you more aware of the opportunities and challenges that you face. If you do choose to embark on your own exporting journey, we can offer finance to support your expansion plans and help make those exporting dreams a reality.

Here at NEL, we’ve made around 120 investments from our current fund, the Finance for Business North East Growth Fund. Many of these businesses have dramatically increased their turnover as a direct result of exporting, and we’re actively looking to speak to even more ambitious North East companies with robust business plans for growth.

For more information about NEL’s investment criteria, visit www.nel.co.uk or contact the investment team on 0845 111 1850.