EAST Lancashire certainly has its fair share of success stories when it comes to doing business abroad.

Home-grown companies are striking deals all over the world including Kuwait, Australia, Sweden and Vietnam to name but a few.

But actually turning a business into one which exports is a whole different challenge.

It means firms have to think differently and perhaps invest in new product development, not just with the UK but global markets in mind.

One example is the Printed Cup Company in Clitheroe which counts Downing Street, Booths and Morrisons among its customers.

After breaking into Greece, cups from the Ribble Valley are being used in Denmark, Belgium, Spain and Portugal.

Their endeavours have not gone unnoticed and the company won the Outstanding Export Achievement award from the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce and UKTI.

From doing zero trade abroad, the firm now does 22% of its business overseas.

And it hopes to be doing more business abroad than in the UK by 2017.

This will mean even more people learning about the fantastic exports coming out of East Lancashire.