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BGI appoints new International Trade Adviser

Business Gateway International (BGI) is delighted to welcome on board Fiona Ogilvie as its new International Trade Adviser for North East Scotland. Fiona succeeds Claire Rannou (nee Wilson), who has now joined Scottish Enterprise in Aberdeen.

"Fiona brings great expertise in international marketing, including first-hand experience of setting up overseas operations, and she will be a big asset in helping North East businesses to internationalise their products and services," notes BGI manager Colin Crabbe.

For the last five years, Fiona has worked as a business development consultant in the North and North East of Scotland from her home in Craigellachie. Prior to that, she was a DTI Trade and Investment Adviser for Australia and New Zealand , a post which included leading the largest-ever UK trade mission to Australia in 1998.

Joining BGI in her new capacity is, Fiona observes, a very logical development in her career.

"When I worked with the DTI, I was generally working with businesses who were already at a fairly advanced stage in their international development," she says.

"In many cases, they were pretty much market-ready, and were already tooled up to take part in trade missions, exhibition stands and all the other excellent group activities which the DTI, now UK Trade and Investment, provides.

"But the beauty of BGI is that it also helps businesses which are much further back in the process - even to companies who don't quite know yet whether they are ready to consider going down the international route."

Using the toolkit

The BGI International Development Toolkit is, notes Fiona, one practical and inexpensive way for any business to assess its international capabilities.

"This process can start with a one-to-one business health check carried out in confidence with a BGI consultant, at the end of which you will get straight, down-to-earth and honest answers about your readiness - or otherwise - to embark on the exploration of international markets."

During the early 1990s, Fiona worked for two Aberdeen-based hi-tech companies in succession, for both of whom she led their first steps into exporting by successfully establishing operations in Australia.

"Then as now, Australia was regarded as a benign export market for UK businesses, and I managed to set up operations from scratch in both Perth and Tasmania without any sort of outside support," Fiona recalls.

"But I am delighted now to see at first hand the unique range of support services which expanding North East businesses can access through their local BGI - it's a unique resource and one which greatly helps to mitigate the undeniable risks which face any business looking at internationalising."

Help on the ground

BGI is, notes Fiona, a uniquely integrated export support resource, thanks to the wide-ranging services of its partner members. "Depending on your location, type of industry and other factors, you could be eligible for support ranging from subsidised participation in trade missions to training workshops, from translation of marketing material to hands-on, personalised strategic export support," she explains.

"BGI has its own in-house team, led by Colin Crabbe, who is himself a highly experienced exporter, and direct access to dozens of specialist local executives within the BGI partners' network."

But, for all this integrated expertise, the primary communications challenge is still very much there to be faced, Fiona admits.

"From all my private sector experience, I know many businesses go for years and years without any thought of trading overseas - but, when they do get the urge, they are faced with what is undeniably a daunting set of questions:

Are we really ready to internationalise?
Will internationalising compromise our existing operations?
Where do I go for help and support?
How much help is available, and what does it cost?"

These are, Fiona argues, far-reaching questions which invariably require an external perspective to answer, and she is looking forward with enthusiasm to sharing her extensive knowledge with North East exporters in every industry sector.

You can contact Fiona Ogilvie here, or on (tel) 01224 252208.