Hanwell Instruments Ltd specialises in environmental monitoring and control devices designed for museums, art galleries and historic buildings. The Letchworth-based company have experience of dealing with customers in Hong Kong but have ambitions to increase their presence in the mainland China market, so approached the UKTI team in Hong Kong through the Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS).

“OMIS was absolutely the right service for us at this stage. We needed to find an agent that could help us launch our products in China and then assist us in rolling our sales across the country. The UKTI staff at the Consulate-General were excellent. We met with them and they produced a list of potential agents so that we could carry out the relevant interviews. We were then able to appoint an agent who we are now training prior to going live into the market. Using OMIS saved us time and money and took a lot of the headaches out of the process” – Derek Richardson, Sales Director, Hanwell Instruments Ltd.

Following success in 2004 with a project in Hong Kong, Paul Davis + Partners, a London-based firm of architects, was looking to extend its exposure in the Asia Pacific market. Market research was requested from UKTI Hong Kong through the Overseas Market Introduction Service to identify potential local architectural partners. Introductions arranged included one with a large commercial Hong Kong architectural practice, which subsequently asked PD+P to submit a fee proposal to assist in the design of a mixed use retail, office and hotel development in Shanghai. Following approval by joint developers, PD+P is now working on the scheme and is sending a team member on secondment to the local architect’s office. The project commands a substantial fee, and PD+P is considering setting up a permanent base in Hong Kong.

“Since we actively started using the services of UKTI, we have seen a marked increase in our international work as a percentage of our overall turnover. I look forward to developing our international business and working closely with UKTI to achieve this. So far, it’s been a real success story in what are difficult times!” – Alec Howard, a partner at PD+P.

Please follow links below to see how UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) has helped UK-based businesses succeed in the Hong Kong market.

• UKTI M&I case study [PDF, 1.5MB, new window] 
  
• UKTI Arboriculture case study [PDF, 338KB, new window]  
• UKTI Scott case study (aerospace) [PDF, 1.05MB, new window]
• UKTI City and Guilds case study [PDF, 990KB, new window]
• UKTI NCC Education case study [PDF, 1MB, new window]
• UKTI LTL case study [PDF, 190KB, new window]
• UKTI Lloyds DC case study [PDF, 273KB, new window]