Preston will welcome representatives from across the Commonwealth on Thursday 12th April, as UCLan hosts the Chamber’s Commonwealth Connect event at their Foster building from 08.30am -11.00am. The celebration, organised by North & Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, is aimed at building and developing mutual trading relationships across the Commonwealth. This free event is open to all interested parties.
Commonwealth Connect will feature a unique opportunity for businesses to meet directly with trade organisations from across the Commonwealth, as well as hear about export and investment opportunities, showcased by in-country experts. The event is sponsored by Moneycorp.
Commented Babs Murphy, CEO, NWLCC: “We are delighted to welcome representatives from the UK Asean Business Council (covering Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei); British Caribbean Chamber of Commerce, South African Chamber of Commerce and Altios International (covering Australia) to our event. Their collective knowledge and experience of working in these countries will be invaluable, so that attendees can hear about relevant case studies, whether you are an SME or a larger company.”
Local business Playdale, one of the Commonwealth Export Champions for the Department of International Trade, is also supporting the event. Barry Leahey, Managing Director, Playdale said: “From early on in our export journey, we saw the benefits of exporting with distributors in Commonwealth countries, due to the similar trading conditions and laws.
“We have been very successful in Singapore and Australia and seeing trade grow with India, Cyprus and Canada, it is fantastic to see we are providing fun through world class play areas in these regions from equipment manufactured locally. This obviously has helped us secure the future for our business but has also given boosts into our local supply chain.
“I believe the timing of the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is pivotal as the UK starts to realign for a post Brexit era. If the Governments can see and then market the ‘Commonwealth Opportunity’, it will steer and then allow other business’s like Playdale to experience similar success. As for Playdale, we see our Commonwealth business going from strength to strength and we are now actively looking at the developing African regions, with South Africa and Nigeria being a target for our next distributors.”
To register to attend, please email [email protected]
