This week, the Daily Update spoke to Gerry Bratley, a member of the Chartered Institute since 1973, whose trade career spans five decades and just as many continents.
From supplying parts that helped build skylines in the Middle East, to helping businesses export to the Far East, Bratley has witnessed both a shifting of the geopolitics that underpin trade and the processes that support it.
He shared his experiences, and advice, for those looking to get ahead in the sector today.
Export whirlwind
Bratley began his career in the 1960s, working his way around the export department at Yorkshire Imperial Metals, from quotations and orders to invoicing and shipping. The firm supplied copper plumbing materials for construction, engineering and ship pipelines.
After the best part of a decade, he says he “got the itch and decide to set up my own business”, parlaying his knowledge of exporting building materials into supplying construction commodities to Middle Eastern countries.
From Doha General Hospital and Muscat’s Salala hospital to Bahrain’s Salmaniya Medical centre and the famous Kuwait Towers, his firm, BNA Gowanbury, supplied building packages that supported the region’s fast-paced development in the wake of newfound oil wealth.
“It was a fantastic life”, he says, during which time he picked up some Arabic and lived in the region for a six-month period.
Globetrotting
In private practice, he’s also supported firms to transfer technology and set up factories under license in Bahrain, Malaysia and New Zealand, taking extensive trips globally, interviewing customers about their needs and reporting back to London.
“There was one trip: I went to Baghdad first, I flew on to Bangkok and then I went to Kuala Lumpur. After that, up to South Korea, then down to Hong Kong, and on to Australia and New Zealand.
“I finished up in the Caribbean by way of the US – Honolulu, San Francisco and Miami – and ended in the Leeward and Windward Islands. You either went in through Antigua and worked your way down or went in through Trinidad and worked your way up.”
Supporting UK firms
Several decades of success in industry led to stints working in South Yorkshire Chambers of Commerce and the then-Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as the export promoter for the South Korean market.
Again, the roles were set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world, with South Yorkshire and other regions reeling from deindustrialisation in the 1980s.
Bratley describes the sombre process of exporting equipment from closing Yorkshire mines to up-and-coming manufacturers in Asia.
“There were a lot of companies, probably 50 or 60, really large companies concentrated around South Yorkshire who had no market anymore.
“They were looking to sell their conveyors, their coal extraction equipment to places like China”.
Supporting UK-South Korean trade in the 1990s, he offered education to UK firms on the market in the form of workshops and seminars, as well as living in Seoul for four years.
He describes projects such as supporting a major UK firm when Korean airlines “were in the process of buying another 50 or so jumbo jets”, as well as befriending representatives from tech firm Hyundai, a powerful symbol of East Asia’s tech-led, export-driven growth in the era.
Thoughts on Trump
Having witnessed first-hand the late twentieth-century push towards globalisation and increasing free trade, what does Bratley make of the recent rise of protectionism?
He says that, in essence, US president Donald Trump is trying to “turn back the clock”.
“If he succeeds, then world trade will be much more complicated and much more difficult”.
However, he adds the caveat that the premise of globalisation inherently benefits highly-populated manufacturing nations, to the detriment of ‘the West’.
“The whole idea of globalisation was to make a product, using local raw materials and cheap labour,” he says.
“If you have globalisation, then India and China will become the dominant countries eventually – both have most of the raw materials… and many workers”.
‘More opportunities out there than you think’
Asked if he has any advice for businesses looking to engage with new markets, Bratley says you can’t beat “get[ing] on the ground” and exploring a potential new export market first-hand.
He adds that you should never discount novel opportunities to create an export market, recalling a friend who found the opportunity to supply contacts made on holiday.
“He used to go off to the Caribbean on holiday and when he went around the hotels, he’d hear the hoteliers saying: ‘we can't get this kitchen equipment, we can't get this bedroom stuff and we need some carpets’.
“He provided the solution and created a massive business out of it throughout the Caribbean”.
However, he’s still impressed by the time-savings that the internet has yielded for market research, with endless information on firms and market conditions available at the touch of a screen.
“The biggest tip I’d give was that there are more markets and more opportunities out there than you think”, he says.
Taking manufactured products as an example, he highlighted the range of different sectorial customs regimes and distribution channels available.
“They're all sold quite differently, almost every company manufacturing anything can find some export sales”.
Approaching your trade career
Bratley also has a key tip for those in their trade career looking to progress: always keep the big picture in mind. This is especially important for those working in large firms with a high degree of specialisation within their trade and customs departments.
“I find that most people I come across in international trade only specialise in one area, there are very few people who know more than just a handful of the sequences”.
He attributes gaining a wide range of export experience in his first role to later opportunities in consultancy and building his own firm.
Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade members have access to a wealth of industry insight and expertise, in the form of exclusive events, webinar and resources. To learn more about how membership could benefit your business or support your trade career, click here.
Member exclusive
