Seminars give Nordic companies a taste of doing business in UK

In April 400 companies attended Bridge to Growth seminars held by the Advantage West Midlands (AWM) in co-operation with UK Trade & Investment to explore what the UK can offer businesses in the Nordics.

The offer to get the set-up of a limited company in the UK and have six months of office space, marketing assistance as well as tax & legal advice, all for free, has been very well received.

The reactions are extremely positive and so far, more than 40 companies have taken advantage of this concept, from manufacturers to service organisations”, says Ulf Strom, Director at Advantage West Midlands (Nordic).

Together with our partners, we are convinced that the companies we assist will succeed and generate future business for many years to come

Ulf Strom

Director

Advantage West Midlands

AWM held four seminars in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland between 14-17 April 2008.

Four hundred delegates attended, interested in setting up businesses in the West Midlands Region at low risk and cost.

The Nordic companies have been invited to Birmingham on 9-10 September 2008 to view the premises and meet potential partners.

”Together with our partners, we are convinced that the companies we assist will succeed and generate future business for many years to come. At any time, the companies are free to leave the project or change supplier” adds Storm.

In 2006 AWM choose the Nordics as an ideal test market for the scheme due to its very high number of international companies per capital and the tradition for small to medium companies to invest abroad at early stage.

AWM is now replicating the Nordic model to the Benelux and US.

The West Midlands region is England’s logistics hub with Birmingham as its centre, a population of over 5 million and more than 200,000 companies located there.

AWM is the official Government authority for foreign direct investments in the region and it collaborates with UK Trade & Investment, private sector partners such as Handelsbanken, the University of Warwick Science Park, Martineau Johnson, Tenon and EBS.