In September this year, the Railway Industry Association (RIA) – the voice of the UK rail supply community – threw open its doors to SMEs with a rail turnover of less than £1m, micro businesses and individuals to launch a special membership offer for smaller players in the rail supply sector.
The deal, designed to make RIA more accessible, halved the current annual minimum membership fee of £1,750 to just £875. On a pro rata basis, that means that prospective members who join RIA now (ie. early December) get four months’ RIA membership for just £292. For this, new members get discounted rates for the two-day RIA Innovation Conference in March 2019, participate in RIA Interest Group events on a range of issues, and benefit from market and policy intelligence and the various communications RIA regularly sends, for what amounts to an incredible taster offer.
As RIA Chief Executive Darren Caplan explained: “Since 2017, the RIA membership has grown from 190 to over 240 members, 60% of which are SMEs, with 20 joining at the new entry level in just the last three months. We designed this membership level to encourage even more prospective SMEs, micro businesses and sole traders, join our award-winning team, and assist us to help grow the rail supply sector in what are clearly uncertain times, and it is great to see so many take advantage of this new offer.
“The entry level membership makes it markedly easier for those with lower rail turnovers to join RIA, grow their businesses and benefit from our lobbying, policy, technical, and exports work, tender opportunities and best practice sharing and flagship events. And it helps RIA’s voice to become even more representative, as we make the case to help the rail supply sector become even bigger and better in the months and years ahead.”
If you’re interested in finding out more about the £292 offer – which takes place between December 2018 and March 2019 – email RIA’s Membership Engagement Manager Monica Barbosa on monica.barbosa@riagb.org.uk, or call 020 7201 0777.
