Alinea Customs at the OWIT UK NatWest 'Going Global, the A-Z of International Trade' conference

On 25th October, Alinea Customs' co-founder Holly O'Leary was invited to participate as a panellist at the Going Global conference hosted at NatWest's headquarters.

The 'Global Global - A-Z of International Trade' conference was hosted by Noreen Burroughes Cesareo FRSA, President and Founding Member of OWIT UK , and Yvonne Greeves, the Director of Women in Business at NatWest Group, with guest speakers from The Institute of Export & International Trade, UPS Supply Chain Solutions, Department for International Trade (DIT), Global Trade Review (GTR) and many other titans of international trade.

Deepesh Patel, Editorial Director of Trade Finance Global (TFG) moderated the 'Case Studies for Women Exporters' panel.

Panellists included:

• Jessica Parrish (MBA), Founder at Shedid & Parrish Ltd

• Chloe Barker, Head of Global Distribution at Coltraco Ultrasonics

• Holly Jade O'Leary, Co-founder and Director at Alinea Customs

Reflections were made on the reasons for, and the benefits of going global, market challenges and market insights - particularly focused on how to negotiate and optimise distribution networks, and ensure customs compliance, maintain awareness of Incoterms® 2020 and access to the benefits of free trade agreements.

The conference itself explored many facets of global business, from examining culture-specific diplomacy, to identifying markets, researching using big data and statistics, looking at areas such as government spending, access to duty reliefs and product compliance, to conducting due diligence, and managing risk - for example through bank issued letters of credit, and the use of escrow accounts.

NatWest Group also mentioned they offer trade finance facilities levered towards female owned businesses - for which they have a dedicated team of support. Thank you OWIT UK for platforming an exceptional event.