Welcome to "Ask The Expert", Silverstone Technology Cluster’s podcast. In each episode, we invite seasoned professionals and industry leaders to share their insights, experiences, and strategies for navigating the complexities of modern business and the advanced engineering landscape. In this episode, we're joined by Joanna Archer from UK Export Finance to explore how UK businesses can grow through international trade. Joanna shares expert insights on the most active export markets, managing payment risks, and how UKEF supports both seasoned and first-time exporters — including backing contracts of all sizes. Whether you're already exporting or just getting started, this episode is packed with practical advice to help you go global with confidence.

Meet our expert: Johanna has worked with UK Export Finance for over 11 years, helping businesses across Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to access finance for international trade. Jo offers small and medium sized businesses the ultimate liaison between government departments, chambers of commerce, banks, insurance brokers and other private market financiers with guidance on export finance matters. Jo is an expert about trade finance and insurance products available to help companies achieve an appropriate risk/reward balance when exporting. Prior to joining the department, Jo held a series of managerial roles at KPMG and Grant Thornton, which was followed by nearly a decade as a relationship manager for Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland managing a multi million pound portfolio.

This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠TC Group⁠⁠. TC Group’s an Accountancy Age ‘Top 20’ firm of business advisors and accountants, providing quality financial advice and strategy, enabling you to achieve your business growth goals, safeguard your wealth, and maximise your tax efficiency. Our teams’ experience and expertise mean we understand the challenges and opportunities you face at a local, national, and even international level. We’ll invest time in getting to know you so we can provide proactive and tailored advice, supporting you in making the right decisions both now and in the future. We pride ourselves on offering more than the standard compliance services and straight-forward number crunching. Through our UK-wide network, we offer a multitude of functional accountancy and specialist business growth services along with personal financial solutions and legal advice, providing our clients with a unified “one-stop-shop” approach, saving you both time and money. With TC Group by your side, no matter how complex your financial situation may be, we have the resources and expertise to help you navigate it successfully.

https://www.business.gov.uk/export-academy/

To watch the video version of this episode please click here.