When brands need to move products to countries such as Libya and Saudi Arabia, they call Oxbridge Associates, says its managing director Ben Funnell.
The British procurement consultancy, which is based in Winchester, exports fast-moving consumer goods including cosmetics and food to more than 40 international markets – and helps big global brands and new brands get a foothold in emerging markets or liquidate excess stock.
Oxbridge Associates has worked around the world for 20 years, but is now expanding rapidly into new markets in Africa and the Middle East.
International scope: Oxbridge Associates exports to a whole host of markets across the globe, from Saudi Arabia to Bangladesh
Credit: Felicity Millward
“We work in places throughout Africa, Middle East, the Far East and South America,” says Funnell. “We establish brand presence in those markets for the brand owners. We also work with them on providing sales channels for excess inventory.”
To support expansion plans, Funnell approached the company’s business bank, Virgin Money, which suggested using UK Export Finance’s General Export Facility to boost the amount they could borrow.
“A lot of our transactions are on a pre-payment basis,” Funnell explains. “We have to secure the stock up front.”
The UKEF service provides extra support to exporting businesses, above the level a bank might normally offer, with UK Export Finance guaranteeing the customer’s bank for up to 80 per cent of exporters’ bank facilities.
“We went through the traditional standard underwriting procedure with our bank, but felt confident about the process knowing that there’s a government guarantee in the background. We started the conversation in March 2023 and went live with our facility in July 2023,” says Funnell.
Extra support: by boosting how much they could borrow, the company was able to make its expansion dreams a reality
Credit: Felicity Millward
The facility has worked “brilliantly”, he says, enabling the organisation to start relationships with new brand owners and establish new distribution channels.
Oxbridge Associates now intends to take advantage of UKEF’s export credit insurance services, which are targeted at companies working in emerging markets.
“Our current insurer is a little reluctant to provide cover even in the United Arab Emirates,” says Funnell. “UKEF’s insurance service is a really handy tool for us because if we’re supplying a container into Gabon, for example, which has its own economic and institutional risks, mainstream insurers won’t review, whereas UKEF will certainly look at it.”
Other government departments such as the Department for Business and Trade offer specialist guidance which is extremely valuable to exporters and hard to access otherwise, says Funnell. He describes the advisory services as “just fantastic”.
If you are shipping products to locations such as Libya or Bangladesh the container has to have certain paperwork that goes with it, he explains, and this sort of guidance is invaluable.
Specialist guidance: Ben and Andy used UKEF’s advisory services to gain valuable insights
Credit: Felicity Millward
Funnell says that he would now advise any company which is exporting to contact UK Export Finance, although he admits that he had never previously thought to use government facilities for export.
“We set up the business 20 years ago and we’ve actually never used any sort of government support services. We just thought we didn’t need to,” he says.
“We’ve been extremely impressed with how commercial they are. Now we have got in touch, we see UKEF as a huge utility for us.”
Visit ukexportfinance.gov.uk to find out more
