There will be very few railways throughout the world, if any, which don’t or haven’t been influenced in some way by companies in the UK.
The country has rightly earnt its place as the developers and innovators for the industry ever since introducing the first locomotive-hauled public railway in 1825.
Now, those companies which have found success exporting abroad are being urged to become mentors to help others in the UK taste success abroad and further enhance the UK as the go to place for the railway industry worldwide.
It follows the creation of the Exports Leadership Group (ELG) led by the Rail Supply Group (RSG), which aims to create a co-ordinated approach to increase exports.
Lucy Prior MBE is among those leading the project. The Business Engagement Director at 3Squared Ltd was awarded an MBE for services to Rail Export and is now hoping to help others benefit from the opportunities available all over the world.
She has spoken to railbusinessdaily.com about the role we all have to play for the good of the UK brand worldwide.
“Naturally we’re all protective of commercial IP as you don’t want to share your sale secrets, but if you can share your experiences and help one another that is going to make a huge difference,” she said.
“The railways have always talked about collaboration but that has really been ramped up in these last few months with everyone wanting it to take place and making it happen.
“Now if a collective of UK companies can get together and offer a system rather than six or seven disparate products and services, you could actually export a complete turnkey contracting solution that you might not have been able to do so before.
“It is a massive world out there and I truly believe there is a great opportunity if we build on the collaboration that has been gathering apace in the last few months.”
Noel Travers (Unipart Rail) who leads the export work stream announced the plans for a mentoring programme at the backend of last year. A couple of workshops were due to take place to help companies prepare for InnoTrans this year.
Although that has been postponed until next year, it has led to the group looking at a whole new way of taking the project forward and how the industry can be supported.
Lucy said: “The mentoring is for rail companies, particularly those at the ‘S’ end of the SME range, to help them get the support in the sector and also understand the wider marketplace.
“The railway domestically can be such a convoluted supply chain, so making sense of that on the international scale is very difficult and can be quite daunting.
“It is about peer to peer support and what I’m really keen to do is to engage with companies who are in the earlier end of their own exports journey. This kind of support is just priceless.
“I particularly want to speak to people who are in the earlier stages as those more experienced might have become used to the paperwork and the hoops you have to jump through.
“Those who have just gone through it will still be licking their wounds, if you like, they are going to be able to share much more recent information – what they’ve done and how they determined which territories to go for as well.
“How have people identified where their products and services can go. So 3Squared for example we’ve got a couple of international enquiries out – one of those is off the power of social media, one physically being out at a trade fair.
“There are so many different ways to access market intelligence and access the market opportunity, so the vision is to loop all that together and have a more dynamic way of looking at it.
“It won’t be a concrete check list and it’s not going to duplicate what is already being done by the likes of the Department for International Trade. But what we want is it to be available to everyone. But for it to work we need organisations to get involved as either a mentor or mentee.
“For a mentor there is nothing like playing your part – that feel good factor. It will also put your company in front of senior civil servants and industry leaders. Who knows what doors it could open, while at the same time who knows what else you might learn from other people mentoring.”
Lucy hopes companies will come forward and help support those looking into the export market, something that will further build the UK’s reputation.
She said: “The UK has one of the top five economies in the world for its digital knowledge economy. We’ve also got an amazing track record for selling our consultancy services, our railway systems and products. Hook all that together and anywhere you are in the supply chain I would argue there is an export market for you somewhere.
“This is about helping you identify which bit of your product or service it is and where it is best suited to. I can’t do that as I’m just one person but there is this massive network of people that we are bringing together in helping organisations with those first couple of steps and getting them started on the export journey.”
Despite the challenges with the coronavirus crisis, Lucy thinks now is a good time to start the planning and building up those connections for those new to exporting.
She said: “Everyone from DCMS to the automotive council are all still talking about trade tariffs. The UK is in deep discussions with the US, Canada, Australia some of the African markets.
“There are some really specific territories we are looking at having really good bilateral, multilateral trade agreements with.
“I voted to remain in the EU, I didn’t want to leave the EU, however we’ve now got to look at the 1st of January as an opportunity, so our tariffs and procedures are going to have to change.
“Let’s get ahead of this now, let’s get preparing for this now so that when we do know what the trade agreements are going to be, when we do know how to get around buy America, for example, we will be ready for it.
“So I’d say now is a really good time to gear up. Do your homework now and be ready. Whilst we’re all in lockdown and can’t physically travel make the use of technology such as video links to get to speak to your counterparts and your target territories, to speak to potential collaborators out there.
“There is an opportunity now to get a feel for the market in a way you might not have done before because traditionally we always thought we had to be in a country to get to know a country whereas now it is just normal to have a video conference with umpteen people in umpteen time zones.
“It’s a whole different level of networking we’ve never really had before because we’ve not had to. There are a lot of opportunities that we’ve got to get hold of when it comes to exporting and the best way to do that is for us all to work together and share advice and I hope that mentoring programme will help to do that.”
Lucy says they are planning a pilot mentoring buddy webinar sessions probably late June.
Anyone wanting more information, or to enquire about getting involved, email RSGexport@3squared.com
