New Exporters Are in the Zone

SMALL firms looking to secure a foothold in overseas markets have been boosted by the launch of the Governments Soft Landing Zone scheme.

Led by Coventry University on behalf of UK Trade & Investment, the scheme exploits the international network of science parks. Programme director Tim Luft says: Establishing trade links in places such as China and India is incredibly difficult for small businesses. They dont have the resources to do it on their own. One of the first firms to use the scheme is Focal Earth in Coventry, which specialises in transport infrastructures. Recognising the substantial wasted rail transport capacity bought by the major car manufacturers, Focal Earth developed the Back Haul Trolley, which can track automotive parts on the rail network and so use the spare capacity.

Through SLZ the company has set up a manufacturing base in the UK and secured a partner in China and managing director Rod Hilditch says: This is an international application and through SLZ we can be on site globally across networks where, as a typical small business, we would not normally expect to be.

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