Commercial & Trade Collaborations Round-Up April 2026

Commercial & Collaborations Lead’s Greetings

Welcome to our ATC Commercial & Trade Collaborations update.

We have started 2026 with a spring in our step (deliberate pun intended!). You can see an overview of everything we have done here, and if you like what you see and would like to be involved, email me at ccl@atc.org.uk .

Sarah Bawa Mason, ATC Commercial & Collaborations Lead

Trade Association Forum Reception at Houses of Parliament

In January, I spent a lovely evening as a guest of TAF, the Trade Association Forum, on the Terrace at the Houses of Parliament, meeting with leaders from many trade associations and also introducing the ATC to Chris Bryant, Minister of State for Trade Policy, earning us a letter of commendation for our work with the UK Export Academy.

Business Academy Live!

The ATC was honoured to be invited to the official launch of the Business Academy in March as part of our collaboration with the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). Opened by the Small Business Commissioner Emma Jones, this flagship event showcased how the newly refreshed Business Academy provides practical tools, expert guidance and on demand resources for British business and SMEs in particular. Among other active members within the DBT network, ATC Council Member Cathy Branson is a DBT Export Champion and we are keeping a high profile as the department undergoes extensive change.

ATC Languages for Export Webinar On-Demand with the Business Academy

The ATC’s “Say it just right: the importance of translation!” webinar presented by CEO Raisa McNab and myself was selected for the new Business Academy on-demand webinar platform as one of the first sessions to go live, along with other expert guidance for British exporters. We are honoured to be included in such a pantheon of expertise, positioning ATC members as the partners of choice for language services in the UK.

Women in Trade Associations Celebration

I attended the Trade Association Forum (TAF) celebration of Women in Trade Associations on March 25. The event was organised with our partners at TAF along with CBI, the Confederation of British Industry and FSB, the Federation of Small Businesses to celebrate the remarkable women leading and shaping the UK’s trade association landscape in the Women in Trade Associations (WiTA) Powerlist.

Driving International Trade Conference

Our new links with the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) earned us an invitation to the inspiring Driving International Trade Conference in London last month. ATC presence was strong with ATC Chair Corinne Saynor-Smith and C&CL Sarah Bawa Mason as official ATC representatives, along with other ATC members attending independently. The mood of the event was optimistic and positive about closer links with Europe and greater government support for international trade – great news for language service companies in the UK!

Forging Connections in the EU

In addition to all the excellent networking in the UK, we have been forging connections across the Channel in Brussels, where ATC CEO Raisa McNab attended the European Society of Association Executives (ESAE) Summit in Brussels, exchanging thoughts and insights with association leaders from across Brussels’ thriving scene of over 2,000 international associations. In Brussels, Raisa also met the head of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation (DGT) in her role as the General Secretary of the EUATC.