Partner Middle East

With help from UKTI Yorkshire and its overseas network, North Yorkshire Management Consultancy firm finds perfect partner in Middle East.

High Burton Consulting Ltd is a HR and Management Development Consultancy based in North Yorkshire.

In 2011, after working with UKTI Yorkshire and Humber to develop their export strategy for markets in Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Gulf, High Burton Consulting Ltd supported the development of a partnership between global investment company Zamil Group Holding Company Ltd and the Institute of Leadership and Management. This significantly strengthened Zamil Group’s abilities to secure a sustainable and prosperous future.

On the training and delivery programme run by High Burton Consulting, Mr Elmore Francisco, HR Manager for the Zamil Group commented, “the training and delivery by High Burton Consulting was excellent and they ran the initial pilot Development Centres with faultless precision. We are pleased to have developed an in-house facility to manage our own Development Centres, which is a cost effective and valuable expertise for Zamil Group. Our dealings with both UKTI and the awarding body have been professional and reliable throughout”.

The road that led to such praise and impact involved a lot of hard work and determination by Ken Goodier, Managing Director of High Burton who was supported by UKTI International Trade Advisor Peter Tweddle. Ken and Peter both have a wealth of previous experience working in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Gulf and knew that this was a market that valued the expertise and experience that High Burton offer.

UKTI Yorkshire International Trade Adviser, Peter Tweddle explains, “Saudi continues to be a high growth market economy with spending power and a large growing young population base. Saudi and other Gulf markets have strong management development needs and official country policies aim to move more nationals into management roles and to develop improved performance skills”.

After embarking on a trade mission to Qatar in 2009 with UKTI funding, Ken and his Co-Director met with Peter to discuss a more pro-active approach to exporting their training services. Following this meeting Ken joined the UKTI scheme Passport to Export and utilises the Market Selection Service to carry out market research for several different markets within the Gulf as well as Russia, China and France which confirmed Saudi and the Gulf as the priority markets for High Burton Consulting.

Ken was incredibly impressed with the support he received including advice on developing an export strategy in these markets and funding to meet potential customers overseas in person.

“UKTI has been fantastic, we know we can rely on its support for advice, training, and importantly for overseas market contacts along with funding assistance to get out to challenging markets like Saudi and meet potential customers.”

UKTI also carried out an Export Communications Review (ECR) as part of the Passport to Export Programme to support Ken with international strategy development. Ken also attended a number of UKTI workshops covering Managing Agents & Distributors, an Internet Masterclass and a Social Media seminar. These activities really helped Ken to build a better understanding of how the company is perceived overseas and how to operate on the international stage.

With the support of UKTI, High Burton has participated in trade missions to Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and through the Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS), worked with contacts at British Embassies including Al Khobar in Saudi, as well as Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

In each of these particular markets in the Gulf, High Burton has been successful in securing new business. In Kuwait for example contacts were made following key meetings at the embassy with companies in the Oil & Gas sector who are now working with High Burton Consulting.

Having the support and advice from UKTI and International Trade Advisor Peter Tweddle was, says Ken, definitely worth it. Participating with other companies on the trade missions was also very useful to share experiences

Read the full case study of how UKTI helped  High Burton Consulting Ltd.

Contacts

If you are based in the Yorkshire and Humber region and are interested in developing your business overseas please contact:

UKTI Yorkshire

Tel: 0300 365 1000

Email info@uktiyorkshire.co.uk

If you are based in one of the other UK Regions find your nearest International Trade Advisor via our postcode search facility in “Contacts in your region”