These are the unsung heroes boosting Britain's economy Andy White started his business, CTruk, in 2010. He uses a "resin-infusion" process to build strong, light twin-hulled powerboats in Brightlingsea, Essex. "Initially, we focused on the offshore wind market," he says. Our vessels burn half the fuel of their aluminium competitors, making the construction and maintenance of offshore wind farms more economic. CTruk already has 150 staff and looks like turning over £38 million next year. "Exports are 10 per cent of our business, but we want that to reach 50 per cent over the next three years by going into Asia," says White. His boats are increasingly in demand by cash-strapped navies in Asia and the Middle East, as small, efficient vessels help to cut costs. "Offshore wind prompted us to develop our technology, but I think 90 per cent of our exports will be defence-related," White says. With that in mind, CTruk is receiving help from the Government's trade promotion body. A key challenge in Asia will be finding good partners, and we're hoping the defence arm of UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) can assist with this search. Andrew Keeble and his family run another new SME, Heck Food, which produces upmarket sausages. Based in North Yorkshire, Heck already has a £3 million turnover and has managed to place its products with the all-powerful supermarkets. But "the biggest barrier to further development," Keeble says, has been finance. The banks aren't lending and have been largely unhelpful, displaying a lack of business acumen. Despite this potential setback, Heck also wants to spread its wings in Asia, exporting frozen products. Given the region's growing wealth, and changing consumption patterns towards meat and quality goods, China alone could quickly become 50 per cent of our business. Having examined the market carefully, Keeble is mindful of potential cashflow issues. The Chinese will pay 50 per cent for our first shipment but we'll have to trust them for the rest - and that's new territory for us. While also an SME, Melin Tregwynt is anything but a start-up. The Pembrokeshire company began in 1912, producing premium woollen goods. Exports are just 8 per cent of turnover, but the company has a lot of overseas experience, particularly in Japan. "The Japanese like distinctive products, with an artisanal story behind them," says Eifion Griffiths, a company director and grandson of the founder. Why isn't the Government helping these companies export more? After all, the Coalition pledged to "rebalance the economy" away from consumption and towards exports. "We're competing in a global race," said David Cameron back in October 2012. Yet for all the Prime Minister's rhetoric, and a 25 per cent decline in the trade-weighted value of sterling since the credit crunch began, our trade position has deteriorated. In 2012, Britain sold goods and services abroad worth £310 billion. But £420 billion of imports meant we ran an external deficit second in size only to America's. Our service sector surpluses are outweighed by a much bigger trade shortfall in tangible goods. That's why we've had a combined trade deficit for 26 years in a row. Despite our matchless trading heritage, then, Britain's external sector has dragged on growth for a generation. Last year's deficit, at 3.7 per cent of GDP, was the largest since 1989. The UK simply must export more, in particular to fast-growing Asian markets. When trying to export to far-flung places, SMEs face obstacles going beyond the usual lack of capital. Cultural and linguistic barriers often combine with an inability to spend the money and time abroad needed to secure business relationships. And this is another reason why Government help is crucial. "The internet makes life easier, but people still like to meet you, especially in Asia," says Eifion Griffiths of Melin Tregwynt. That sentiment is endorsed by Margaret Byrne, a British consultant based in Australia, whose new book, Business Success in the Asian Century, is aimed at Western entrepreneurs. When SMEs want to do deals in Asia, Byrne says, "top people" need to travel. Send a mid-level person and your Asian counterpart will put up a mid-level person, too, so no decisions will be made. She also advises SMEs to include a female executive in their team when holding meetings in Asia. Women are often better at sensing non-verbal signals and reading between the lines, a big part of doing business in the region. Byrne warns that "face," or reputation, is crucial. While UK multinationals arrive with face, SMEs need to work harder as Asian businesses won't be lining up to trade with them. So SMEs should make use of trade bodies and local chambers of commerce "as that gives you more face." In Australia, Byrne reports, local governments run "super-trade missions" to Asia. Opportunities to meet-and-greet are laid on and the trips are largely state-funded. Australian politicians fully understand that Asia is the future, and are acting on that, but the UK government needs to do much more. In May 2011, UKTI launched a five-year strategy to support British SME exporters. Since then, according to a report from the Federation of Small Businesses, the share of SMEs exporting has stayed fixed at just 21 per cent. Only half of the SME exporters that the federation surveyed this year - around 10 per cent of the total - had heard of UKTI. And just one in five - or 4 per cent of all SMEs surveyed - had used its services. Meanwhile, the proportion of non-exporting SMEs with plans to start selling abroad has fallen from 12 per cent in 2010 to 6 per cent in 2013. Asia's resurgence is no fad. China has grown 10 per cent a year since the mid-Eighties. Other Asian tigers, such as South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia, have expanded by 6 per cent a year or more. This year the combined GDP of the emerging markets will surpass the "advanced nations" for the first time in five centuries. Yet the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China) together accounted for just 5 per cent of UK exports in 2012. We're barely engaging with these crucial markets - and Asia, with its 3.5 billion population, and counting, is the ripest one of all. The UK is missing out. German exports are 41 per cent of its GDP and rising. Our export ratio is 20 per cent and falling. And while 30 per cent of Germany's goods exports go to emerging economies, just 19 per cent of our far smaller export total is directed at these crucial markets of tomorrow. If Britain is to secure a sustainable recovery, our innovative and job-generating SMEs must be encouraged and helped to export much more, not least to Asia. Britain's political and media classes often view business as a marginal, unsavoury pursuit. The craven money-worship and naive banter of The Apprentice doesn't help. But we all need to get behind a meaningful campaign to boost our exports, focused on SMEs and focused on Asia. For that's the route to our future prosperity.