New financial year – new changes!

Our training newsletter will now be produced every quarter rather than every month.

This way, you will receive a handy guide of what’s coming up in the next three months, so you can plan your training journey accordingly.

Not only do we have a packed schedule of new courses, our vital classics are frequently updated to provide learners with the most accurate and up to date knowledge.

• April sees us launch our new Export licences half-day course
• May includes the return of the ATA Carnet workshop
• June features the very welcome return of our ISO 9001 training
• Also included are updates on some of our international services

We hope you enjoy the new look newsletter!

If you have a question about the features, or if you have a testimony from attending a course and would like it to appear in the next newsletter, then please contact us at training@birmingham-chamber.com.

Leah Quarmby – Birmingham Chamber Training Manager

Meet Phaedra Johnstone - our new Head of Services

Phaedra is a senior leader who has taken the position with the GBCC as Head of services assuming overall responsibility for the organisation’s documentation, translations, and training departments. 

She has experience across a variety of industries and has previously worked with global clients including Lidl GmbH, Aldi, Mondelez, Lush, Alpro and Superdry.

Her previous role was at the Vegan Society, a registered educational charity that provides information and guidance on various aspects of veganism.

In her role at the Vegan Society, Phaedra managed the commercial services of the charity’s trading subsidiary, leading wide-ranging teams including operations, sales and marketing, client relations, international development, and partnerships.

She has more than a decade’s experience in marketing, creative services and print management, scoping and delivering new services through partnerships and innovation.

Phaedra said: “I am so excited to be taking on this role at the Chamber. I will be bringing together my experience of multiple industries and disciplines, and my love of relationship building, to ensure that we meet the needs of the local business community, via the services we offer.”

“I cannot wait to explore what additional support we can provide for this truly amazing and diverse area. The Chamber have a great team and is perfectly positioned to strengthen the growth of the area. This is very close to my heart. I have lived here all my life, and I cannot wait to contribute to its success.”

New course

Join us for this handy session packed full of information that will provide guidance on:

• Reasons for needing a licence
• UK Legislation
• UK Strategic Controls List - Military and Dual use lists
• Types of licence
• OGELs
• Reading an OGEL
• Individual licences
• SPIRE and the application process
• Other export controls - USA, trade controls and sanctions

Funding opportunity for training and translations

Funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), the Birmingham and Solihull Export Support Programme offers grants of up to £6,000 to businesses looking to engage in new or enhanced export-readiness activity in overseas markets. 

It is open to small and medium enterprise (SME) businesses based within the Birmingham City Council and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council local authority areas. Projects can include:

• Translation and localisation
• Training to begin or increase selling internationally
• Consultancy on international Intellectual Property Rights
• Participating in trade shows and overseas trade missions
• Researching overseas markets
• Routes to market
• Preparing a product or service for export
• International website development/SEO

You can apply by submitting an expression of interest form, followed by a mandatory discussion with an advisor from the Birmingham Growth Hub. Potential applicants will then be invited to submit a full application.

If your application is successful, you could use the funding against our training courses and translation services to grow your business.

Welcome return of ISO9001

Earlier this year, the Chamber successfully delivered its first ISO9001 training course. This detailed session is now scheduled to run again in June.

The course was very popular, so places are expected to fill extremely fast. Topics explored on the day include:

• Principles and elements of ISO 9001
• How to integrate a Quality Management System into your business
• Risk based thinking
• The importance of leadership
• How to set effective objectives
• How to run a Management Review Meeting (MRM) effectively
• A guide to internal auditing
• The importance of benchmarking
• Continual improvement

Do you know what our translations team can do for you?

Chamber Translation Services, part of the Commercial Services department at the GBCC, has been providing Birmingham Chamber’s member and non-member companies with a professional service since the 1970’s. 

The team provide support to leading companies in the UK with subsidiaries all over the world and would welcome the opportunity to support your company in your overseas relations with our translation/interpreting services.

Benefits to members, patrons and new clients

• 10% discount on all translation jobs
• Large volume discount for jobs exceeding 10,000 words or 5 different languages
• Any translation that requires certification, notarisation, or legalisation (Apostil) is handled in house saving time, money, and effort.
• A dedicated account manager will be appointed as your first point of contact

Quality Assurance

• Chamber Translations Services is quality assured through the company’s accreditation to ISO 9001: 2015
• Our translators and interpreters are all fully qualified and have a vast array of experience in various fields e.g. legal, financial, technical, and manufacturing.
• Our translators only translate into their mother tongue to achieve high quality and accurate results
• By building long-term relationships with our clients, we can collate client-specific terminology lists

For further information, please feel free to contact:

Amira Graham

a.graham@birmingham-chamber.com

0121 274 3220

Have your say!

We are eager to learn which training courses and workshops would benefit you and your team the most in the next 12 months.

With the new financial year now here, training your team could be vital to upskill, build confidence and grow your business.

Tell us what you would be most interested in seeing from us by answering a short set of questions. The feedback that you supply will help us to launch new courses to suit as many industries as possible.

April to June course schedule

• Import procedures including inward and outward processing (BCC accredited) - 16th April
• Trading with Ireland after Brexit - 16th April
• Introduction to Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) - 23rd April
• Introduction to Customs declarations in CDS - 24th April
• Understanding Incoterms 2020 (BCC accredited) - 25th April
• Introduction to export controls and licences - 29th April

• Trade Commodity Codes explained (BCC accredited) - 7th May
• An introduction to exporting: practical and precise - 9th May
• Importing made easy: a beginner’s guide - 9th May
• Introduction to Customs declarations in CDS - 23rd May
• Understanding export and export documentation (BCC accredited) - 23rd May
• ATA Carnet step by step workshop - 23rd May

• Rules of origin (BCC accredited) - 6th June
• ISO9001 quality management - 20th June
• Agents and distributors (BCC accredited) - 25th June
• Customs procedures and international documentation (BCC accredited) - 27th June

For BCC accredited courses, there is a short assessment that can gain you credits towards the Foundation Award in International Trade.