Pictured: Back row, left to right - John Davies; John
Freshney; Michael Cooney; Irene Baxter, Front row, left to
right - Gemma Middleton; Lara Gardiner, Kasmin Cooney; Vicci
Whelan; Claudia Cooney
A Worcestershire training company's plan to buffer its business
from the UK recession by developing exports is proving stunningly
successfully with the recent gain of a major new contract in
Kuwait.
Redditch based Righttrack Consultancy - a long term user of UK
Trade & Investment's (UKTI) services - has recently won the
prestigious training contract for Wataniya Telecom - one of the
leading Telecoms operators in Kuwait and winner of the region's
'Best Telecom Operator of 2011' award.
The company - an international learning and development
specialist - won the $150,000 contract (approximately
£88,000) alongside its Kuwaiti partner, the Edara Group. The
contract is to deliver bespoke training packages for Wataniya's
Telecom's staff and managers over the next six to nine months.
Righttrack Consultancy was set up in 1988 by husband and wife,
Kasmin and Mike Cooney. In 2000, the firm started exporting its
training services to Kuwait and since then, has been going from
strength to strength.
Today, between 35-50% of Righttrack's turnover is generated from
overseas business. The company is continuing to build on its
business in the Gulf and has recently appointed bilingual European
language speakers as part of a strategy to win contracts from the
UN and other agencies. In June, Righttrack attended a trade mission
to the UN and supporting agencies in Budapest and Geneva and is
hopeful of winning contracts in these areas.
Alongside Kasmin and Mike, Righttrack Consultancy employs seven
staff in Redditch and has a team of 35 training associates -
including six bilingual Arabic trainers based in Kuwait and London;
and trainers able to deliver courses in Spanish, French, Farsi,
Italian, Dutch, German and Czech, as well as English.
Righttrack Consultancy Managing Director, Kasmin Cooney
says:
"From the start of our export journey in 2000, we have been
supported by UKTI. This has included being part of the Passport for
Export Scheme, commissioning OMIS reports which provide us with up
to date market information and appointments with interested
potential clients. Some of these meetings resulted in clients that
have been with us for nine years. These clients include companies
such as Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic
Development, Equate, Global Investment and Institute of Banking
Studies who all came to us from initial introductory meetings set
up via UKTI's services. These companies are within the top 5% of
Kuwait organisations and are still very much current as clients. We
have just completed a tender for Kuwait Petroleum Corporation for
over £600,000 for 2012."
Kasmin continues:
"It's not only the direct support for making appointments and
obtaining market intelligence we have found essential, our regular
meetings and discussions with UKTI have helped us plan our export
strategies. If we have a question about anything regarding export
or anything happening on the ground, we always have the answer. We
would never have got so far if we didn't have their help and
support, they take a real interest in Righttrack as a business and
the UKTI team feel like an extension of our team. We have found our
main contact - Shernel Stevenson, amazingly helpful, supportive and
encouraging. If she doesn't know the answer to our questions, she
always knows someone that does."
"We're extremely proud to have won the prestigious Wataniya
Telecom contract - a testament to all the hard work and expertise
of our amazing team. We were chosen by Wataniya because we are able
to provide a totally bespoke learning package which includes the
clients' own products; services; culture; competency frameworks;
mission; vision; values and branding. All provided by our excellent
bilingual trainers using the latest accelerated learning
techniques."
The Wataniya Telecom contract is to design and deliver training
programmes that form part of the company's extensive induction
process. The first phase focuses on customer service; the second
phase focuses on performance management for first line managers and
team leaders, while the third phase develops skills and knowledge
for those who are joining the Wataniya sales team.
Righttrack Consultancy's recent affiliation with the Kuwait
based Edara Group, has also helped the company win a number of
other contracts in Kuwait including, Gulf Bank, National Bank of
Kuwait, Commercial Bank and Halliburton Overseas Limited.
Kasmin adds:
"I would urge any company thinking of exporting and wondering
whether to pick up the phone to UKTI to do it now! A lot of
companies, particularly SMEs like us, think they are too small or
that the export process is complex but it isn't. We decided to
export following the last recession as we had experienced a huge
fall in business during that time and decided we didn't want all of
our business at the mercy of just the UK market. Now, during the
recessional years since 2008 our export market has enabled us
to flourish. The other benefit of working overseas, is that
sometimes, it can also help with gaining business in the UK. Many
of our UK side clients are very impressed that we export to an Arab
country."
"So many UK based learning and development companies have
disappeared and others we know are in financial difficulties. We
are financially sound with no bank loans and have continued to grow
in tough times, which is quite an achievement considering training
is one of the first things to go when companies are reducing
budgets."
UK Trade & Investment International Trade Adviser, Shernel
Stevenson says:
"A key factor in Righttrack Consultancy's success is the team's
dedication to providing exactly what their customers want. The
staff are experts in designing and writing bespoke training and all
their programmes are approved by the Institute of Leadership and
Management (ILM) - Europe's largest awarding body for training,
leadership and management. The company has been particularly
successful in the Middle East because of the team's extensive
knowledge of the Gulf business arena."