Key skills and expertise

Julian Lawson Hill is a Project Director / Team Leader with over 25 years' international experience in private sector development, SME competitiveness and exporting. He designs, develops and delivers SME development and export programs to accelerate SME growth, manages projects that build the capacity of Business Support Organisations (BSOs) and delivers training to both SMEs and BSOs.

Recent work includes a project building the export capacity of BSOs in Ukraine, advising on the development of SME policies and programs in Bahrain, managing an SME export program in the UAE, focusing on African markets, and delivering international e-commerce training to SMEs in Antigua.

Project and donor experience

Julian has successfully delivered projects for GIZ, CBI, the European Union, OECD, UK DFID, EBRD, USAID and SECO.

Recent work for GIZ include a project building the export capacity of BSOs in Ukraine, a project helping GIZ advisors assess SME grant applications for EU funding in North Macedonia and a feasibility study into manufacturing and assembly of bicycles in Rwanda.

Recent projects for CBI include managing project developing an internationalisation roadmap for the IT/ITES sector in Uganda, a program in Uganda connecting IT/ITES SMEs with EU buyers and training Ugandan BSOs in the international marketing of services.

He managed the E-Commerce Acceleration Program for USAID in Jordan and led an E-commerce Needs Assessment and Capacity Building project for GIZ, also in Jordan and was international e-commerce expert on the EU MED MSMEs Program, supporting the development of international e-commerce in the South Mediterranean Region.

Sectors and geographic focus

Julian has worked across a wide range of sectors, including ICT & fintech, food & drink, furniture and clothing & footwear. He was Senior ICT sector expert on the EU Gateway │Business Avenues Project, managed programs for CBI focusing on exports of food & drink to the EU from Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam and managed a clothing & footwear export program for CBI in Ukraine.

Geographically, his work spans more than 30 countries including the EU, Eastern Partnership region (including Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia), Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam), Sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda), the Middle East (UAE, Jordan, Bahrain), the Caribbean, USA, Latin America and Australia/New Zealand.

Languages and education

Julian was born and educated in the UK. He is fluent in English and also speaks French, Italian and Spanish. He holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, where he was awarded "Best of Class" and received the Siemens-Nixdorf prize for Quantitative Methods. He also holds a B.Sc. (Honours 2:1) in Economics and Politics from the University of Southampton, with a focus on International Economics.