Regional yacht helps promote Hull & Humber to a global audience

The Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce led a Yorkshire Forward (YF) sponsored trade mission to South Africa in November 2007 to coincide with the arrival of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in to the Port of Durban.

The Clipper Yacht Race was established in 1996 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.  It is comprised of ten 68 foot yachts named after international cities and regions, manned by amateur crews who have been recruited and trained by professional skippers.

A Yorkshire Forward sponsored Hull & Humber Clipper is competing in the 07/08 Round the World Race and it is foreseen that this will present the Hull & Humber region on a world stage by promoting its image and increasing media exposure of it worldwide.  It is also an ideal opportunity to exploit the Clipper Round the World Race as an inward investment tool and a major events strategy has been put in place to host a series of high profile receptions and undertake trade missions to markets of particular interest to YF amongst the Clipper’s round the world ports of call.

The Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce’s trade mission to South Africa started in Cape Town and then moved on to Durban to participate in the YF sponsored key Clipper events organised by the Chamber during the Clipper race’s stay in Durban.

The Chamber, working with the British High Commission in Cape Town, organised a networking cocktail reception at the residence of the British High Commissioner, the Rt Hon Paul Boateng.  Suitable guests and business contacts were invited to the reception for the mission delegates to meet with and introduce their products and services to.  Although this was a high profile event, South Africa events tend to be more informal than those UK business people may be used to and the High Commission invited local dance band, Jikeleza, to perform for the missioners and guests.  A charitable donation was made to the band on behalf of the Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce, Royal Bank of Scotland and Youngs Seafood.

The Chamber worked with existing contacts in Durban to organise a high profile dinner at a prestigious venue on Durban’s marina.  This dinner not only served as a networking tool for the mission delegates to meet with business people they already knew and had invited to the event but also as an opportunity to make new contacts and business leads with other South African businesses.

Due to the high profile nature of this dinner, linking up with the Clipper, this particular event also served to increase the profile of the Hull & Humber region, as well as the participant companies, with major media coverage and also with the attendance of the Mayor of Durban.

As part of the mission programme, mission delegates also had the opportunity to spend a day sailing on the Hull & Humber Clipper and were able to invite some of their clients to join them.  This proved to be a huge success.

Andrew Jackson solicitors was one of the Yorkshire & Humber businesses participating in this mission and saw it as an opportunity to develop work and client base in South Africa.  Andrew Jackson is a Hull based law firm with a specialist shipping and international trade department.  It has a national reputation as the largest and most experienced shipping and transport team based outside of London and has experienced lawyers who work with clients based regionally, nationally and internationally.

Mission delegate Dominic Ward, partner in Andrew Jackson, heads the shipping and transport department and told how one of his primary aims for participating in this mission was to develop the amount of business his company does with South African clients.  Andrew Jackson already has significant clients in France, Holland, Scandinavia and Hong Kong and Dominic believed that this mission presented the ideal opportunity to promote and introduce his firm’s services and develop work in South Africa.  As an English speaking country, it has English law requirements and there has been an increase in instructions from South African lawyers and shipping companies with disputes and transactions involving English law.  There is significant opportunity in South Africa for Andrew Jackson since many contracts provide for English law or are backed by insurance placed in England.

As well as following the mission programme, Dominic had also arranged a further itinerary through lawyers in South Africa before going to market.  Andrew Jackson had only one client at the time of going to market and so Dominic contacted marine and shipping law firms over there and organised a series of meetings as well as inviting them to the reception at the residence of the British High Commissioner. Dominic said that this event was very useful and beneficial, in a superb setting and very well organised. 

Before the mission departed in November 2007, the mission delegates received a pre-mission briefing at the Chamber of Commerce when a representative of the Royal Bank of Scotland gave a market overview.  This representative was a native South African and so was able to give the delegates a very informative overview from an insider’s perspective, which Dominic said was very useful and one of the points covered was particularly prevalent when Dominic was in market.  The RBS representative told delegates how casual South Africans are and how when they organise a ‘do’, even for business, they are happier and more comfortable with a ‘Braai’ (a barbeque).  This was certainly borne out during Dominic’s visit where it was noticeable that unless an event was described as formal, people dressed more casually than would be the case in the UK.

Dominic’s contacts in Durban organised a number of meetings for him and also invited him to a number of social/networking events.  Dominic also invited these contacts to the dinner held at the Café Fish restaurant on Durban’s marina.  Dominic said that this was an excellent event organised by the Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce and YF.  Youngs Seafood did a very good job of the catering and the venue was packed, creating a good atmosphere, which Dominic described as ‘buzzing’. 

One of Dominic’s principal aims for participating in this mission was to cement relationships with existing clients and to look for new business.  Dominic is very confident that his visit to South Africa has enabled Andrew Jackson to keep the clients and business they already had as well as creating more.

Dominic advises anybody considering this market not to go in cold and to already have some local contacts established before going to market.  South Africa and its people are very political and if a UK company is looking to do business there it needs to be aware of the political and social issues which businesses in South Africa have in the fore front of their minds.  These include the impact of the Black Economic Empowerment Act and the effect of the Aids epidemic on certain sections of the workforce.

Dominic believes that South Africa is a very interesting place and that its economy in some ways is very successful despite itself.  He believes that British companies are well placed to get a share of whichever sector they are involved with in South Africa since South Africa is very pro the UK.

To sum up the mission, Mike Johnson, regional commercial director of the Royal Bank of Scotland and president of the Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce who led the trade mission to South Africa said: “We are determined to raise the profile of our region in international markets, and the participation of the Hull & Humber yacht in the Clipper Round the World Race has certainly provided a platform for our businesses to do just that.”