Trade

Export knowledge of BPCC revealed to family-owned businesses in Nowy Sącz

The BPCC in cooperation with Bank Pekao in Nowy Sącz, and the Mayor of Nowy Sącz jointly organised a seminar addressed to local businesses wanting to export their goods to British market.

The event took place on 15 September 2016 at the conference hall of the Mayor’s Office of Nowy Sącz town hall, attracting key managers of manufacturing companies from across the region.

The Mayor of Nowy Sącz, Marek Pławiak welcomed the guests. Małgorzata Sosnowska, the director of Małopolska macro-region at Bank Pekao introduced the meeting. The first presentation was conducted by Waldemar Wrona, senior expert at the Office of Trade Finance Products of Bank Pekao. He introduced the support and financial securities that are offered by the bank to entrepreneurs who want to export products to international markets.

He divided export support into two service lines:

Financing the exporter by rendering him a credited advance for specified services in a form of an invoice issued to individual contractors
Securing the service and the exporter through an importer-exporter bank guarantee

Marta Smolarek, export manager at BPCC who explained how the support for Polish manufacturers in implementing their goods in the British market works. It includes:

Conducting an in-depth analysis of the British market for the specific product
Identifying the potential buyers (industry meetings, media)
Acquiring the contacts of British partners and passing them over to Polish businesses

While discussing how this BPCC service works, Marta also touched upon the issue of intercultural differences that might occur in British-Polish business relations.

After a short break, a video conference has been established with Michael Dembinski, BPCC chief advisor, who appeared on the screen to talk about succession in family-owned businesses and described UK best practice. Michael emphasised the importance of a constructive dialogue with Polish business owners, also mentioning issues related to expansion to international markets, to UK in particular, for which Poland is the second important trade partner in Europe. Risk management, CSR and HR management were also mentioned in the speech.

“International expansion requires the right advisory service and getting the promotion of the company right for the culture of the target market. Both of them can be provided by the BPCC and its members,” said Mr Dembinski.

The event was rounded off with an open networking session and a buffet reception courtesy of Bank Pekao.