At these meetings, members from different sectors have the opportunity to explain the issues they are dealing with and to share the ways in which they have been navigating the current choppy waters. On March 18th, we were delighted to have two of our members speaking: Andrew Turner and Shalom Lloyd.
Andrew spoke on ‘Langtec – Global Tube Manufacturers, 250 miles beyond the Northern Line’. He joined Langtec Ltd as Company Accountant when it moved its operations to his native East Lancashire 30 years ago and is now the company’s sole owner. Passionate about international trade, he has given advice on exporting to many manufacturing companies. He is Chairman of the Electrical Insulation Association and of the European Electrical Insulation Manufacturers.
Andrew lives and in East Lancashire, when he’s not travelling on business, and he opened his talk by telling us about the work of his company which is a global tube manufacturer. He showed us some of his very impressive tubes and explained the diverse uses of tubes in, for example: the communications industry, pyrotechnics, insulation, aerospace and textiles. Tubes, he said, while “not exactly sexy”, were extremely useful, indeed essential in everyday life. He explained how he protected his workers during the pandemic while at the same time completing all the company’s orders. The importance of manufacturing to the UK and Lancashire’s role in this is a subject he is extremely enthusiastic about and he left us with no doubt that British manufacturing is in very good hands.
Our next speaker, Shalom Lloyd is the Founder of Naturally Tribal Skincare and Co-Founder of Emerging Markets Quality Trials. A proud mother of five, she has spent 24 Years in clinical development and research in the global pharmaceutical industry and among many other achievements she was the Department of International Trade 2020/ 2021 Export Champion.
She developed her skin care products as a response to the eczema experienced from birth by one of her twins. Having spent months combining lotions, creams, emollients and teas to stop his ‘scratch until drawing blood’ dilemma, she tapped into her African heritage and started to mix raw ingredients from Africa. At this point the scientist in her took over, experimenting and testing. Using these natural ingredients it only took three days for her son’s skin to become what it should have been at birth. She then travelled to Nigeria to obtain the right product and has invested heavily in a local production facility in Essan to harvest Shea Nuts and other ingredients for her products.
Convinced that trade is better than aid, she not only provides employment for Essan women but also training and education for the community, childcare and youth opportunities, and investment in infrastructure, thereby empowering the Essan people to live fulfilling lives while making a global impact on skincare. Shalom also told us about her role in setting emerging market quality trials – another project she is passionate about.
One thing that marks our Company out is the diverse nature of the professions we represent and these talks illustrated that perfectly. What do tubes and skin care products have in common? International Trade. This was an inspiring evening: both speakers mentioned the importance of sustainability in their industries, both exuded a sense of purpose and it was clear that it was important to both them to keep going during the pandemic and that the safety and well-being of their workers was paramount.
After the Q&A, World Trades enjoyed a convivial drink while chatting in breakout rooms. The presentation may be viewed here.
