One of the unexpected rewards of a career in international trade was not the countries visited, the contracts signed, or even the business successes achieved along the way. Those were important, of course, but they were often temporary. Markets changed, companies merged, products became obsolete, and opportunities came and went.
Friendships, however, endured.
In the early 1980s our company was actively searching for new export markets, a process that led to our participation in the Baghdad International Fair in October 1981. The exhibition was supported by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, making it the first overseas business trip I had undertaken with direct assistance from the British Government.
At the time, Iraq was one of the most important export markets in the Middle East. The Government’s Trade Missions and Overseas Exhibition Programme encouraged British companies to explore such opportunities by subsidising part of the costs involved. The flights, transportation of exhibits and literature, the British Pavilion, company stands, and accommodation at the Petra Hotel on Sadoun Street in Baghdad were all supported to some degree.
The financial assistance was valuable, particularly for smaller companies, but I quickly discovered there was another benefit that was equally important.
Business travel could be a lonely occupation.
When travelling independently, evenings were often spent eating alone, wandering unfamiliar streets alone, and returning to a hotel room alone. Trade missions changed that completely. Suddenly there were fellow travellers facing the same challenges, visiting the same market, and sharing the same experiences. Meals became social occasions, local excursions became group adventures, and friendships often developed naturally.
The Baghdad Fair opened my eyes not only to the advantages of government-supported trade promotion but also to the camaraderie that developed amongst exporters. It would not be the last trade mission I joined.
Between 1981 and 1987 I participated in a number of subsidised trade missions, including visits to South Korea, India, Trinidad, and Nigeria, some of them more than once. Many were organised by Chambers of Commerce and Trade Associations working alongside the DTI.
One of those organisations was the Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce.
At the time, the Chamber’s Chief Executive was due to lead a trade mission to India. Unfortunately, only weeks before departure he suffered a serious sporting injury and broke his leg. His replacement was a young manager from the Chamber’s International Department named Roger Nunns.
Neither of us knew it at the time, but that last-minute substitution would lead to a friendship lasting more than four decades.
India in those days was an extraordinary experience for any first-time visitor. Delhi assaulted the senses with its colour, noise, traffic, aromas, and energy. Bombay, as it was then known, was equally fascinating. During the day we followed our business schedules, attending meetings and pursuing commercial opportunities, but in the evenings we explored the cities together.
Those shared experiences quickly turned a professional acquaintance into a genuine friendship.
There is something about overseas travel that accelerates friendships. When you are navigating unfamiliar cultures, strange hotels, missed connections, and occasional mishaps together, you learn a great deal about another person’s character. Long conversations over evening meals often reveal more than years of occasional meetings in an office.
Roger and I discovered we shared a similar outlook on life, a curiosity about people and places, and a sense of humour that helped when things did not go quite according to plan.
The friendship survived long after the trade mission ended.
A few years later Roger contacted me to say that the Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce was organising a trade mission to South Korea. By then Korea was already familiar territory to me. I had visited many times and had developed an extensive network of contacts. Nevertheless, a fifty percent contribution towards travel and accommodation costs was not something to ignore.
Once again we found ourselves travelling together.
During the working day we each followed our own schedules, meeting companies and pursuing separate objectives. In the evenings, however, I became Roger’s unofficial guide to Korea.
I introduced him to parts of Seoul that most visitors never saw. We wandered through the bustling markets of Namdaemun and Dongdaemun, explored the international district of Itaewon, and visited areas that offered a glimpse of Korean life beyond the formal business environment.
At weekends we travelled further afield. We flew to Cheju-do, the beautiful volcanic island south of the peninsula that remains Korea’s most popular holiday destination. We also toured stretches of the east coast, travelling north from Ulsan and experiencing a side of Korea rarely seen by short-term visitors.
Those journeys created memories that neither of us has forgotten.
In 1987 my life took an unexpected turn. My father was diagnosed with cancer. Although the operation proved successful and removed the disease, the experience forced me to reassess my priorities. My parents were both in their mid-seventies, and I had spent much of the previous decade living and working thousands of miles away.
At the same time my marriage was struggling.
For the first time in many years, I began considering a permanent return to Britain and what might be described as a more conventional nine-to-five existence.
The reality turned out rather differently.
The experience I had gained in the Far East, particularly in South Korea, was increasingly valuable. Korea was emerging as one of the world’s most dynamic industrial economies, and many British companies were eager to establish relationships there.
I established a consultancy called Korea Connections, helping British firms transfer technology to Korean partners in exchange for substantial licence fees and continuing royalty agreements.
The business was successful, but it also meant I continued travelling to Korea far more frequently than I had originally intended.
Then another opportunity arose.
In 1988 Barnsley’s business community decided it needed a full-time Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Roger successfully applied for the position of Chief Executive.
One of his first telephone calls was to me.
He asked whether I would be interested in establishing and running the Chamber’s Export Department.
I did not need much persuasion.
The timing was significant. South Yorkshire was experiencing some of the most difficult economic conditions in its modern history. Mine closures were accelerating, steel plants were reducing their workforce, and many engineering companies that had traditionally supplied those industries were losing their core markets.
For many businesses, exporting represented not merely an opportunity but a lifeline.
Roger and I shared the belief that Chambers of Commerce should provide far more than certificates of origin and routine documentation. Together we developed a comprehensive export support service.
We established an Export Club, organised seminars and training programmes, arranged overseas trade missions, including one to Rotterdam, and provided practical one-to-one advice to companies throughout the region.
The initiative attracted increasing attention.
Officials from the Department of Trade and Industry regularly attended our events and recognised the value of what was being achieved. Eventually the Export Development Service was expanded to cover the whole of South Yorkshire, bringing together the Chambers of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and Sheffield.
The programme received substantial government support, with approximately fifty percent of the funding coming from the DTI.
Neither Roger nor I could have imagined, during those evenings exploring Delhi and Bombay, that our friendship would eventually help create one of the most successful regional export support programmes in the country.
In October 1993 I left the Chamber service after being seconded to the Department of Trade and Industry as Export Promoter for Korea at Grade 7 Civil Service level. The appointment took me from advising exporters locally to working directly with ministers, senior civil servants, embassies, and British companies pursuing opportunities in one of Asia’s most important markets.
Our professional paths diverged once again, but our friendship remained.
Today, both Roger and I are retired.
The trade missions, business meetings, flights, exhibitions, and government programmes have long since become part of history. Many of the companies we worked with have disappeared, merged, or changed beyond recognition.
Yet the friendship that began almost by accident on a trade mission to India continues.
That, perhaps, is one of the greatest lessons international trade taught me. Business may open the door, but it is people who matter. Contracts eventually expire, markets rise and fall, and careers come to an end. Genuine friendships, however, have a habit of lasting a lifetime.