Dubai: For any Gulf-based business trying to make a break into the UK’s intensely competitive retail space is a walk on the wild side. That market is already saturated with retail offerings of varying quality and scale that even aiming for a niche becomes time consuming for a potential new comer. And even if a new entrant does chance upon an opening, there is still the matter of finding a location — there are 17,316 shopping locations across the country — with rents that are accessible enough.

But help for those braveheart Gulf based entrepreneurs intent on a London/UK presence, incentive is at hand. UK’s Trade & Investment agency has instituted the ‘Great Business Award’ to handpick a winner who will go on tap a customised three-day mentoring and consultancy sessions in London. The intention is to prompt the winner to take the logical step in setting up shop there. (The application process can be found by visiting the award’s webpage at: https://www.gov.uk/great-business-award. )

The competition will run until March 31, with the winner’s trip to the UK taking place in the spring.

Among the judges on the panel are Philip Parham, the British Ambassador to the UAE, Gary Rhodes, the chef and restaurateur with a celebrity profile, Mark Handley, Chief Financial Officer of Toystore. Candidates will be assessed against the level of information provided about their existing companies in the Gulf, in addition to the quality of their business plans for expansion into the UK.

But making a plan and going on to deliver can be mutually exclusive. But Parham believes the whole process is a doable.

“The UK is one of the most open economies for inward investment globally, and companies who are successful there can establish a world-renowned brand for themselves,” the Ambassador said.

“A key concern tends to be around the assumption that there is too much red tape to make a move worthwhile and cost-effective. Britain is now one of the fastest places in the world to get a new business going.

“The British government has successfully streamlined the process, removing barriers and providing incentives to companies wanting to set up. Corporation tax is falling — to 20 per cent from April this year — which will be the joint lowest in the G20. Businesses can also take advantage of the significant support provided by UK Trade & Investment throughout the process — from assessing market opportunities to government relations support to running mentorship programmes.”

There are a few boxes to be ticked for Award consideration. The company must be registered in a GGC state and established for at least two years. “Primarily we are looking for businesses which have the potential — and the ambition — to expand into the UK’s retail market ... to take advantage of its unique offering and to contribute to the growing commercial partnership between the Gulf and the UK,” said Parham.

And according to him, it is not as if Gulf businesses have not made the cut in the UK landscape — “Saudi Arabian luxury date store Bateel now has multiple stores in the (UK) capital. Lulu Group set up in Birmingham in 2013 to procure and export British-branded food to locations around the Middle East, and the Toy Store will open on Oxford Street this summer with the creation of its first European store (and) a further six stores to follow.

“What we’re seeing now is increasing interest from Gulf-based retailers to set up in the UK and we think that the 2015 Great Business Award can support this ambition.”