For Tim Johnsen, Managing Director of Eagle Scientific, ‘TVET UK is a springboard into new markets and new business directions.’ Through TVET UK, Tim has been able to make numerous useful contacts which have enabled him to bid for complete contracts – covering both equipment and training, making Eagle Scientific a more attractive prospect for potential customers. He says: ‘TVET UK has been very useful in terms of promoting synergy. This combined approach is becoming more and more common, and it makes sense. Working on our own was like providing a computer without software. Working together, we can plan and develop inclusive, integrated training structures from day one.’

Tim has recently successfully followed up a couple of opportunities, identified by TVET UK in Nigeria. He says: ‘Previously, the first choice for this kind of work would be suppliers and training providers in countries like Malaysia and Singapore. TVET UK has raised the profile of UK PLC and made it easier for contract holders to work with us, which is bringing revenue into the country.’

‘TVET UK has been very useful in terms of promoting synergy. Working together, we can plan and develop inclusive, integrated training structures from day one.’

Although a relatively small contract, the opportunity to develop training manuals for workshops taking place in the Niger Delta region took Tim and Eagle Scientific along a learning curve and enabled them to establish themselves within the training sector. Tim says: ‘We have added another string to our bow, thanks to TVET UK. They also introduced us to a contractor, and the success of the project and the relationship we have developed has put us in line for a much larger joint venture, which forms part of the high profile Amnesty Programme in Nigeria.’

Eagle Scientific, working with other TVET UK members including TTE Technical Training Group, will be developing and implementing training programmes in the UK to enable a significant number of formerly disaffected Nigerian nationals to gain skills which will lead to employment with oil and gas companies operating in their homeland. Tim says: ‘This contact is directly due to the work we had previously done with this contractor – and TVET UK had been his first port of call when looking for companies he could rely on to get the job done.’

Eagle Scientific has also successfully bid for a tender circulated by TVET UK on behalf of the Manufacturers of Nigeria Association. Buoyed by success with TVET UK in Nigeria, Tim is looking further afield. He says: ‘TVET UK is proving very useful to us for conjoining teaching and training and physical plant and facilities. We have never been on a trade mission before, but will be looking to join the next mission to Nigeria to support and assist TVET UK members, and to places like Kazakhstan, which will be of interest in the future.’