Our Partnership with Santander

22 Mar, 2017 - BCB

It’s almost a year since we joined forces with Santander UK to act as their delivery partner in the UAE, teaming up to help UK companies find and convert commercial opportunities in the UAE, particularly through jointly managed trade missions.

Through these events, we support British firms looking to identify, meet & develop business with UAE buyers.

The main focus has been on the food & drink industry, a sector where both the BCB & Santander are particularly strong.  We arranged a number of ‘meet the buyer’ events that have actually been held in the UK, where many of the UAE’s biggest supermarkets have sourcing & buying offices.  Welsh Hills Bakery, who manufacture wheat and gluten free biscuits, biscuits and pies, under the brand name ‘Lovemore’ won initial orders of circa £20,000 from Spinneys and Waitrose as a result of the BCB / Santander trade mission to JHF Ltd (Spinney’s buying office in the UK) in October 2016.

Building on these successful UK-based events, we then collaborated on this year’s Gulfood trade show, held in Dubai in February 2017.  Santander supported a delegation of 50 UK companies visiting the show for whom we organised a full programme of briefings, store visits, a networking event and activities around the show.   The resulting orders & exports are yet to be tallied.

Looking ahead, we are planning a joint trade mission to the UAE in the spring for UK restaurant groups looking to access the region’s dining sector.  Please get in touch with Ali (ali.ali@bcbuae.com) if you’d like to learn more about this specifically or understand how the BCB / Santander relationship could benefit you in general.