TWO of Northern Ireland’s leading exporters have revealed how a strategy of learning, growing and excelling has helped their companies achieve international success.
Nick Coburn, Managing Director of Ulster Carpets and Seamus Connolly, Managing Director of Fastank, were speaking at Northern Ireland Chamber’s Learn Grow Ex-cel conference at held Belfast’s Hilton Hotel.
More than 150 companies attended the annual event aimed at any business who aspires to grow at home or internationally, focussing on key themes including innovation, talent, technology and knowledge.
Sharing the export growth story of Portadown based, Ulster Carpets Mr Coburn said:
“Businesses with great ideas and ambition sometimes lack confidence or know-how when it comes to growing their business and particularly in reaching new markets. The aspiration is there but turning that ambition into reality is much harder to master.
Ulster Carpets began exporting in the early 1990’s initially to the US. It was tough but we learnt a lot. By the late ’90s we started to grow and we are now perceived by the market to be the number one manufacturer of Axminster carpet so we have excelled. We are still growing and will excel further.”
Meanwhile Seamus Connolly told guests about the phenomenal international suc-cess of Antrim based Fastank which he founded in 1980.
The company produces a patented liquid storage container that is currently ex-ported to over 80 countries throughout the world and used in a wide range of emergency and humanitarian situations including oil and chemical spill clean-ups, fire-fighting and animal rescue.
“The product is simple to use, compact, portable and the design ethos has stayed the same for 38 years but at the same time it has moved on dramatically over the years in terms of its application across a range of industries,” said Mr Connolly.
“Once you gain the confidence to export through learning and growing, a world of opportunities open up and we have grasped those.”