How Alan Bracken Uses Vujis to Teach Importers How Global Trade Actually Works

If you've ever searched online for how to start importing, how to build an import/export business, or how global logistics really works, there's a good chance you've come across Alan Bracken.

Alan is one of the most experienced import/export educators teaching practical international trade today.

He is:

• Founder of ABTS® (Advanced Business Training Systems)
• Creator of one of the longest-running practical import/export training programs
• A former freight forwarding business owner
• A logistics trainer for organisations including the United Nations
• A guest lecturer on global logistics at UK universities

And today, Alan actively uses Vujis as part of how he explains real-world trade flows to importers and students learning international trade.

Below is the full story.

Watch Our Interview With Alan Bracken

Who Is Alan Bracken? A Career Built on Practical Global Trade

Alan Bracken didn't start in international trade intentionally.

His entry into importing and exporting happened almost by accident.

Early in his career, Alan was appointed to head the European office of an American company based in London. One of his responsibilities was managing imports from Chicago and distributing those goods across Europe.

At the time, Alan had zero knowledge of import/export procedures.

Like many new companies entering international trade, he initially relied entirely on freight forwarders and clearing agents.

It didn't take long for problems to appear.

Shipments were delayed.
Costs seemed unclear.
Charges kept increasing.
And exports were sometimes impossible to trace.

Alan soon realised his lack of knowledge was being used against him.

Instead of continuing to rely blindly on intermediaries, he decided to learn the business himself.

Learning Global Logistics the Hard Way

At the time, practical training in import/export was extremely limited.

Most courses available were theoretical and taught by people who had never actually run international shipments.

Alan needed practical answers to real operational problems.

Fortunately, through his work he connected with a respected freight forwarder operating from Heathrow Airport.

The company offered him a two-week hands-on internship where he learned the operational side of global logistics directly inside a working freight forwarding environment.

During this time he learned:

• import procedures
• export documentation
• freight forwarding operations
• customs clearance
• shipment tracking
• logistics coordination

This practical exposure gave him enough knowledge to begin managing shipments independently.

Building a Freight Forwarding Business

After gaining years of hands-on experience in international trade, Alan eventually launched his own freight forwarding business.

The company became highly successful and grew quickly.

Alan credits that success to three key principles:

• A bespoke service for every client
• Deep practical knowledge of global trade
• Competitive pricing and operational efficiency

After nine years of building and operating the company, Alan sold the business and shifted his focus toward education.

Founding ABTS — Teaching Importers How Trade Really Works

Following the sale of his freight forwarding company, Alan launched ABTS® (Advanced Business Training Systems).

His goal was simple:

Teach international trade based on real experience, not theory.

For more than three decades, ABTS has trained entrepreneurs, importers, and logistics professionals in how to navigate global trade.

Unlike most courses that focus purely on theory, Alan focuses on real-world execution:

• how imports actually move
• how logistics works behind the scenes
• how freight forwarding works
• how to avoid common import mistakes
• how to structure profitable trade operations

Training Governments, Corporations & International Organisations

Throughout his career Alan has worked with a wide range of organisations including:

• United Nations agencies (UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP)
• Formula One Racing teams
• Shell Oil
• BP
• Dell
• Lenovo

For over twelve years, he travelled internationally with UN agencies delivering logistics and supply chain training to both local and international staff.

Alan often describes his teaching philosophy with a simple idea:

He teaches the problems you will actually face in trade — and how to solve them before they happen.

Discovering Vujis: A Complete Game-Changer

In his own words:

"He opened my eyes completely to sourcing and very new methods of sourcing. It really did. He showed me on a demonstration that he could tell and give the information of who in Colombia ships bananas to who in the UK. And that was done like that — not making phone calls or emails the way I used to advocate to do it."

For someone who had spent decades teaching the traditional methods of supplier sourcing — embassy contacts, chamber of commerce enquiries, endless cold calls — seeing real shipment data appear instantly was transformative.

Alan admits openly:

"(Vujis) opened my eyes to the fact that I'm out of touch in many aspects."

That level of honesty from a veteran educator speaks volumes.

Why Alan Uses Vujis

In our interview, Alan explains that modern importers need better visibility into global trade flows.

Understanding where products move, who buys them, and how supply chains behave is critical for anyone entering international trade.

That's where Vujis becomes useful.

Here's how Alan integrates the platform into his teaching and research.

1. Teaching Importers How Global Supply Chains Actually Work

One of the biggest problems new importers face is understanding where products actually come from and how they move internationally.

With Vujis, Alan can demonstrate:

• which countries import specific products
• how supply chains move between regions
• how trade flows change over time
• how markets expand or contract

This allows students to see real-world trade activity instead of learning only theoretical concepts.

Alan describes the contrast between old methods and Vujis clearly:

"I laugh because it brings back memories of laborious times I spent hours and hours trying to find this information and you're just going bing and there it is."

2. Showing Students How to Identify Real Buyers and Suppliers

Many beginners entering international trade struggle with one core problem:

identifying legitimate companies to trade with.

Alan uses Vujis to show how importers can:

• identify active companies involved in specific product markets
• analyse purchasing patterns across countries
• understand which companies are consistently buying specific goods

This allows students to move beyond guesswork and focus on real businesses already active in global trade.

Alan emphasizes the speed difference:

"The detailed data you're giving us, the speed in which you're giving it — it's putting old school to shame. Back in the day, it could take a week at least to get information from an embassy, if they bother to reply. You'd get an email back and say, 'Oh, I forgot I asked them.' That was about a month ago."

3. Helping Importers Understand Market Demand

Another challenge new importers face is determining which products actually have demand in a given market.

Alan demonstrates how Vujis can help answer questions such as:

• Which countries import the most of a product?
• How frequently are shipments happening?
• Are volumes growing or declining?
• Which suppliers dominate certain trade routes?

For importers looking to enter new markets, this kind of insight can dramatically improve decision-making.

4. Teaching Market Research Before Starting an Import Business

Many people start import businesses without researching the market properly.

Alan uses Vujis to show students how to perform structured market research before committing capital.

This includes:

• identifying supply sources
• understanding buyer demand
• analysing shipment trends
• comparing markets across regions

For new entrepreneurs, this helps reduce risk before launching a trade operation.

5. Helping Freight Forwarders Find Clients

One unexpected benefit Alan discovered was how powerful Vujis is for freight forwarders looking to build their client base.

As he explains:

"Your platform is ideal for freight forwarders starting their business. It's giving me a complete list of potential clients. I know where they're exporting to and I know what the commodity is and I can prepare myself with quotations. It's a wonderful tool for freight forwarding."

He adds:

"Cold calling can be soul destroying. But wearing my old freight forwarder's cap, I thought my goodness — I can sit down here and pull up a list of exporters. I don't have to jump in a car. I don't have to make endless phone calls. I don't have to get rejection all over the place. Wonderful."

6. Reducing Scam Risk in International Trade

One of the most serious problems in international trade is verifying whether a supplier or buyer is legitimate.

Alan recognizes this immediately:

"Indirectly, you're an anti-scamming company as well. You can see on the screen that Joe Bloggs in Brazil is a real company. This is what they export or import. It's taking the doubt out of first-time importers. Is this a real company? Are these real bananas here or is this some guy sitting in his flat in London somewhere scamming everybody?"

Being able to verify shipment history provides confidence that cannot be obtained through websites or LinkedIn profiles alone.

Alan's Verdict: "This Is the Present. This Is the Way Forward."

After decades in international trade and freight forwarding, Alan's assessment is clear:

"Just forgetting the detail and the information you're putting up on the screen, the speed at which you're doing that is just unbelievable. It really is. It's mindboggling. I'm just sitting here with my old buyer's cap on and I'm thinking goodness me, go back 10-15 years when I was buying — this is the present. This is the way forward."

Full Vujis Platform Walkthrough

How Alan Uses Vujis in His Training

Alan incorporates Vujis into several parts of his teaching workflow.

🔹 Market Discovery

Students can explore how specific products move globally and which countries are active buyers.

🔹 Supply Chain Analysis

The platform helps demonstrate how international supply chains form between exporters, importers, and distributors.

🔹 Import Opportunity Research

Students learn how to identify products with strong import demand in their target markets.

🔹 Practical Trade Education

Real shipment data allows Alan to turn theoretical lessons into practical case studies.

The Old Way vs The New Way

Alan's career perspective gives him a unique view of how dramatically international trade research has evolved.

The Old Way (Pre-Vujis)

• Contact embassies and wait weeks for outdated supplier lists
• Cold call chambers of commerce across multiple countries
• Spend hours (or days) verifying if a company is legitimate
• Rely on expensive trade missions and in-person visits
• Make hundreds of cold calls with low success rates
• Pay for market reports that are months out of date
• Struggle to verify actual shipment history of suppliers

As Alan reflects:

"I used to contact overseas chambers of commerce and it took so long. You'd get an email back from them or a fax going back into the dark ages and you'd say, 'Oh, I forgot I asked them.' That was about a month ago."

The New Way (With Vujis)

• Instant access to verified importers and exporters worldwide
• Real shipment data showing actual trade activity
• Searchable by product, country, company, or HS code
• Immediate verification of company legitimacy through shipment history
• Up-to-date market intelligence refreshed regularly
• Filter by shipment volume, frequency, and value
• Identify decision-makers and contact information
• Generate AI-powered market reports in minutes

Alan's assessment is direct:

"I used to work closely with the UN and the purchasing managers in various departments. They could be sitting there for a week or so trying to source goods. I'm just thinking my goodness me, if they had this system now, they'd be able to take more coffee breaks because you know, the work went bing and it's done."

The Impact

Alan Bracken has spent decades teaching entrepreneurs and companies how international trade really works.

From training UN purchasing managers to educating freight forwarders, from coaching first-time importers to advising Formula One racing teams — his career has touched every corner of global trade.

By integrating modern trade intelligence tools like Vujis into his training, he helps students move beyond theory and understand the real mechanics of global commerce.

As someone who lived through the "old way" of sourcing — spending weeks chasing embassy contacts, waiting on fax replies, making hundreds of unreturned phone calls — Alan's endorsement carries particular weight.

For anyone learning how importing works — from logistics and sourcing to market analysis — this approach provides a far clearer picture of how international trade operates in practice.

And when an educator with Alan's level of hands-on experience incorporates a platform into how they teach the next generation of importers, it signals exactly how transformative that tool really is.

"This is the present. This is the way forward."
— Alan Bracken, Founder of ABTS