I’ve just returned from India from a series of talks to business in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore to boost Indian companies setting up in the UK and then from the UK becoming British companies that export globally. The UK Chancellor made clear this week – British companies do not export enough, indeed we also need more overseas investment into the UK to boost our productivity. So how?
For the past decade as the UK Government’s Dealmaker within UKTI’s Global Entrepreneur Programme, I am responsible for bringing the most innovative young companies from India, China and South East Asia to the UK, I’ve had a unusual insight into what help they need, and a lot of success in helping them do it. One critical factor is ‘how do you make that initial step, enter it, and then scale?’
This is not about how do you incorporate a company, where are their office space cheaply, why is the UK a good location, how to get a visa – this is a deeply business question which it needs a businessman to answer.
My advice to overseas business people looking to make the first step in Britain:
- Your first UK hire, is an investment – so think like an investor
As a businessman you probably don’t invest in other people’s businesses. When you hire your first UK person, to boost sales of your UK company, that person you should think of as if you’re making an investment into a company (you are – your own). So like an investment into a company ask yourself ‘does this person scream out to me that hiring them is a ‘no brainer’. Have they proved to me they are going to make me rich? But to be able to answer that, you need to ask the right questions – see number 2…
- Interview process correctly
Hire like a local – post that job on Gumtree or Monster.com and then conduct the first round via Skype, short-list and ask those shortlisted ‘here are my target list of companies that I want contracts from, who do you know, who have I missed, and what is your strategy, sales goals?’ Unless you ask the right questions, you won’t make the right hire to grow your business.
You should be so excited about the person’s answers, you’d be willing to borrow money in order to hire them.
- Get the contract right to reduce your risk
Look finding employment lawyers to draft the contract, or downloading a legally correct one is easy. What is not easy is business acumen. What you need to do is hire someone willing to work for a basic salary, plus a per sale bonus. That way if they genuinely have the skills and connections to sell your product, they will happily be heavily weighted towards sales bonuses. If they lack confidence (warning!) then clearly they will not. Either way, your risk is mitigated.
This is just one simple way, through practical business expertise from someone who has done it, to grow your UK business. It’s good for your company, tapping into the EU – a $15tr economy, to boost its global sales and reach, and as a British company using UKTI to boost your exports. Everyone wins – once you have the right advice and practical know-how.
