(bright music) - We're here at the offices of Premier Ship Models in Hertfordshire with Rashid Lalloo, CEO and founder, to talk about the support his business has received from UK Export Finance. UK Export Finance provides loans, insurance,

and guarantees to help businesses access international trading opportunities. Rashid, how did you get your start with Premier Ship Models? And tell us a bit more about what drew you to the world of shipbuilding? - Well, I wish I could say it was planned,

but in effect, I was working as an accountant and working very, very long hours. I decided that perhaps I should do something else, so I decided to take a break from work and go to Mauritius to have a break and find some inspiration.

When I was on the island, I saw quite a lot of tourists buying model ships, many tourists from the UK and Europe, taking them back home. - When did you realize that there was a larger audience for your ship models?

- I realized I was spending more, three times as much, going to a boat show than it would be to launch a website that would give me access to the world. That kind of opened up the world in terms of the size of the ship model market

because, all of a sudden, we were not just selling at the London Boat Show or Southampton Boat Show. We were selling to a global audience. We've gone from a B2C business to a majority B2B business, so a lot of our clients are now corporates.

- How did you learn about the support available through UK Export Finance? - So, UK Export Finance was introduced to Premier Ship Models many years ago by what was then, I think, called the Department for International Trade. And we still have, to this day, the same contact,

a person called Craig Green, who's our UK Export Finance manager. We've been very lucky to have the same person on board who knows us as a client for a long time and what we do, and, you know, what we need, what kind of clients we have.

So that's made the relationship and the conversations on subsequent deals very easy because they really already know us as a client. UKEF has contacts with hundreds of organizations, banks, and brokers, and so on. And that makes it easier for you to go to them,

and they will tell you who to work with. And I would say they're very, very responsive. I don't have to wait days. Usually, within 48 hours, I'm having a meeting with Craig and discussing the best way forward.

So if you have someone like UK Export Finance on board, it's much faster, and the whole thing can be put together, and you can focus on actually winning the job and delivering the job as opposed to worrying about finance.

- What type of support has UKEF provided your company? - Recently, we had a deal with a household-name company, and the support there was to try and find finance from alternative finance brokers. So it makes the whole deal a lot easier.

For us as an exporter, one of our biggest deals to date was a project in Oman. In order to do that project, we had to have recourse to UK Export Finance because they had to give guarantees to a bank

in order for the bank to provide guarantees to the client's bank for us to be able to win the deal. So there were back-to-back guarantees involved.  What do you think of UKEF's commitment

to helping ethnic minority-owned businesses? Why do you think this is important? From a Black and Asian business owners' perspective, there might be a reluctance, I suppose, to approach the government and look at what UKEF can offer.

In my case, I would say I've found them extremely helpful. As far as I can see, UK Export Finance will help businesses, and their main focus is, do you need support for export, whether you are Black or Asian or not.

And I would recommend them to all, including ethnically owned businesses. It's in their DNA to help businesses export. (bright music continues)

Unlocking Global Markets With Export Finance — Premier Ship Models

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프리미어 선박 모델의 기원과 성장

CEO인 라시드 랄루가 계획에 없던 회계사에서 프리미어 선박 모델 설립으로 전환하게 된 계기를 설명합니다.

그는 모리셔스에서 관광객들이 모형 배를 구입하는 모습을 관찰하다가 사업에 대한 영감을 얻었습니다.

그는 선박 모델의 글로벌 시장 잠재력을 깨닫고 B2C에서 주로 B2B 판매로 전환했습니다.

웹사이트를 시작하면서 보트쇼를 넘어 시장 범위를 크게 확장할 수 있었습니다.

비즈니스는 주로 B2C에서 기업 고객에게 서비스를 제공하는 B2B 모델로 전환했습니다.

프리미어 선박 모델은 수년 전 국제무역부에 의해 UKEF에 소개되었습니다.

UKEF 매니저인 크레이그 그린과 오랜 관계를 유지하며 효율적인 커뮤니케이션과 지원을 제공하고 있습니다.

UKEF의 광범위한 네트워크는 관련 금융 파트너와 기업을 연결하는 데 도움을 줍니다.

일반적으로 48시간 이내에 미팅을 제공하는 UKEF의 신속한 대응은 프로세스를 간소화합니다.

UKEF의 지원 덕분에 회사는 재정적인 측면에만 집중하지 않고 프로젝트를 확보하고 제공하는 데 집중할 수 있게 되었습니다.

UKEF는 대기업과의 거래를 위해 대체 금융 중개업체를 통해 자금 확보를 지원했습니다.

오만의 한 중요한 프로젝트는 은행 절차를 원활하게 하고 거래를 성사시키기 위해 UKEF의 보증이 필요했습니다.

이 인터뷰에서는 오만 프로젝트에 사용된 백투백 보증에 대해 설명합니다.

이 토론에서는 소수 민족 소유 기업을 지원하려는 UKEF의 노력에 대해 논의합니다.

소수 민족 기업에 대한 UKEF의 지원

라시드 랄루는 UKEF가 매우 유용하다고 생각하며 인종에 관계없이 모든 비즈니스에 이 서비스를 추천합니다.

UKEF의 핵심 초점은 소유권 배경에 관계없이 수출 기업을 지원하는 것입니다.