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10.01.03
Objective One helps to develop international
trade for Cornish companies
A scheme providing Cornish companies with expert advice on
selling their goods overseas is to be expanded with funding
from Objective One.
Cornwall Chamber of Commerce & Industry (CCCI) already
employs one International Trade Adviser, Mike Puzey, who is
based at Cornwall College and has spent the last thirteen
years providing Cornish firms with a wide range of support
and advice. A similarly successful scheme also operates in
Devon.
Now, CCCI has received an Objective One grant of nearly £145,000
approved for a three-year project – worth almost £300,000
in total – that will greatly expand the service, including
the addition of a second International Trade Adviser Lyn Morris,
an administrator, Ken Cafferey, and a range of new services
to be provided by the new team.
Mike Puzey from CCCI explained: “Export advisers have
become an established, and valued, part of the Cornish business
scene. We have many new and growing businesses in Cornwall
with potential that should not be confined to just the local,
or even UK, markets.
“Small businesses – some of which only employ a
handful of people – do not often themselves have the
expertise to know how best to sell their goods and services
outside the UK. By helping them overcome the hurdles, whether
in terms of logistics, documentation or legislation, we can
help them become more successful – which in turn brings
more money into the Cornish economy and helps protect jobs
the length of the county.”
CCCI estimates that over the next three years the service
will provide guidance for more than 800 small businesses (with
substantive support for 30 firms) – and bring an additional
£500,000 into Cornwall.
Mr Puzey added: “With Objective One support, we can
now greatly expand the amount of help that we are able to
give exporters in Cornwall. The Exporters' networks that we
are creating will give both experienced and not-so-experienced
small businesses a chance to learn not only from professional
advisers but also from each other at regular networking meetings.
Also, a dedicated Exporters' Network web-site is being created
with a discussion forum to allow Network members to pose questions,
offer capacity sharing, exchange ideas, etc with input from
the CCCI International Trade Advisers and other exporters.”
The service provided through CCCI will be integrated with
the Government’s Trade Partners UK (TPUK) scheme and
Business Link.
The role of the advisers will be to promote awareness of
the benefits of exporting to companies that are not yet selling
overseas, to assist and advise exporters (in logistics, documentation,
new legislation & e-commerce), to train company staff
to improve their exporting capabilities, to work in co-operation
with TPUK, to create opportunities for locally-organised export
marketing initiatives. The first of these initiatives will
be a "Celtic Market" taking place in Morlaix in
Brittany this July to coincide with the 2003 InterCeltic Watersports
Festival being held in the bay of Morlaix. The advisers will
also offer an export documentation service for companies who
may not have adequate resources or experience to complete
the documentation required, particularly in the case of export
shipments where payment is being negotiated under Letter of
Credit terms.
Both advisers will in future be based at Cornwall College,
with one covering the West of Cornwall and one the East. Companies
wanting more information on the service can contact CCCI by
emailing chamber@ccci.org.uk or by calling 01209 611647.
The main grant of £145,000 for the project will come
through the Objective One programme from the European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF). Match funding is made up by a grant
of £30,000 from Cornwall Enterprise with remaining funding
coming from the CCCI and its Services.
Editor's notes:
European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF)
ERDF is one of our four funds that make up the Objective One
Programme for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, which is making
£314 million of grant funding available for developing
the local economy between 2000 and 2006. ERDF exists to:
• Help reduce the gap between development levels and
living standards among the regions and the extent to which
least-favoured regions are lagging behind.
• Help redress the main regional imbalances in the European
Community by participating in the development and structural
adjustment of regions whose development is lagging behind,
and the social conversion of regions.
For further information contact:
Mike Puzey
Cornwall Chamber of Commerce & Industry
01209 611647
chamber@ccci.org.uk
Jason Clark
Communications Manager
Objective One Partnership Office
Castle House
Pydar Street
Truro TR1 2UD
Tel: 01872 241379
Fax: 01872 241388
jason@dclark.co.uk
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