Munir Mamujee, Managing Director of the multi-award-winning education recruitment company m2r Education, gives an insight into his company’s export journey so far.

Having established m2r Education in 2001, we started by focussing on the UK. However, as a result of significant interest from overseas, we now exclusively serve the international market from our base in Wakefield, supplying teachers and trainers to schools, colleges and language centres around the world.

In 2009, we decided we needed a new challenge and with over 9,000 international schools globally, we realised there was a huge demand for vocational education and English language training worldwide. This strategy was backed up by research from trade missions and overseas visits as well as market feedback.

We’ve now entered over 15 countries and cover the Middle East, Central Asia and South East Asia, and have worked in Egypt, Mauritania, Uganda and Zambia. We’re also starting to work in Africa.

Having support from Department of International Trade (DIT) and their trade advisers has been invaluable. Being able to talk to someone with such a huge knowledge of overseas trade and who also understands the education market has been a massive help.

We’ve also found the DIT’s trade missions particularly helpful in terms of our route to market. I have participated in more than 20 trade missions over the last ten years, and the team have taken part in almost 30. We always go on any education-related trade missions, using them as a scoping exercise. If we then decide that the market is right for us, we’ll go back independently to build on the relationships we initiated during the trade mission.

Trade missions are particularly useful for us as they give credibility which is vital in the education sector. They enable us to position ourselves as a premium supplier of teachers and trainers as we’re there at the invitation of the British government, representing the UK education recruitment sector. The missions are well-structured and provide fantastic networking opportunities often including round table events, exhibitions and receptions. Again, being part of a British government trade mission has significant kudos and means that we have the chance to make really valuable contacts.

To get the most out of a trade mission, I advise exporters to make sure they’re well rested before the trip and expect to work very hard! You need to invest time and energy into networking; make sure you follow every lead; and be prepared to be flexible, booking in meetings as they’re offered. It’s all about perseverance, don’t expect immediate results. When you return from a trade mission, if you’re not exhausted, then you haven’t done what you were supposed to!

There’s no doubt that trade missions have played a major part in m2r Education’s international trade success – we’ve won contracts on every single trade mission that we’ve been on. On our most recent trade mission, we secured a six-figure contract to supply teachers to schools across Saudi, as well as winning other five-figure contracts as a result of being on that trade mission and building relationships.

In terms of our future plans, we’ll be building on the success of our presence in the Middle East, and Africa also offers a new, growing and exciting market for us. In such a fast-growing sector as education, it’s vital to keep driving the business forward and finding new markets.