Exporting Basics for Small Businesses

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Exporting Basics for Small Businesses

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Alberto Rodriguez-Baez with the Minority Business Development Center offered guidance on how American companies can become exporters. (VBR)
Alberto Rodriguez-Baez with the Minority Business Development Center offered guidance on how American companies can become exporters. (VBR)

U.S. companies exporting to other countries is big business and small entrepreneurs can get in on the action if they can navigate a sometimes complex process to identify international markets and promote their products.

“Size doesn’t matter. Small business imports are growing all the time,” Alberto Rodriguez-Baez, senior export manager for the U.S. Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency, said during a presentation in Weslaco hosted by the Small Business Administration. The SBA has a loan program dedicated to helping American companies finance export efforts.

According to the U.S. Census the number of American firms exporting increased by 28,000 from 2009 to 2012, reaching a record high of nearly 305,000 exporting firms. Last year the U.S. economy exported $2.35 trillion in goods and services, making it the fifth consecutive year that the U.S. economy yielded record exports.

“I assist companies with access to capital, contracts and reaching new markets,” he said. Consulting with businesses in areas like export readiness, strategy assessment and design, and cultural awareness are among a host of services offered by the business development agency.

“Latin America is a great place to do business, especially with countries where we have free trade agreements,” Rodriguez-Baez said. “I hear from Latin American companies all the time wanting to do business with American companies.” Construction, green energy and information technology are big growth areas, he said, but many other products and services may be able to find a niche market for export.

In addition to well-known trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (which also includes the Dominican Republic), Rodriguez-Baez pointed out that the United States also has trade agreements with Chile, Peru, Colombia and Panama. “It’s phenomenal the opportunities for doing business in Chile, and they love American products,” he said. “They are very excited about American companies.”

The Minority Business Development Business Agency, headquartered in San Antonio, works with minority-owned ventures to conduct market research and develop strategies to break into new export markets. He and his staff can even travel with aspiring exports to countries where they may need help overcoming language and cultural barriers.

He pointed out a website, export.gov, which includes a wide range of information on exporting and emerging markets. A tool on the website allows people to search by country and by product or industry to research opportunities. “It’s an incredible database to find information,” Rodriguez-Baez said.

He also discussed the value of internet and social media promotion for American companies to target markets in Latin American and elsewhere. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter all offer promotional tools to reach these markets. “It’s cheap, very focused and very targeted,” he said. “You can make it specific abroad and you can track it. And, if you already have a website, you are ready to do business internationally.”

Maria Perez, lender relations specialist with the SBA’s Lower Rio Grande Valley District office in Harlingen, discussed the agency’s Export Loan Program, which can help companies finance new export ventures. “The SBA is supporting small business to go global,” she said.

Noting that 96 percent of the world’s population is outside the United States and that 75 percent of gross domestic product dollars are in foreign countries, she said that exports “are critical to our national economic success.”

Perez said the Export Loan Program can provide funds training and exploration of foreign markets as well as finance expansion need to break into export markets. Under the program the SBA offers up to a 90 percent guarantee on approved loans of up to $5 million, a higher loan guarantee than other SBA programs.

She said more information on this loan program is available by contacting the district office at 956.427.8533 or online at sba.gov.

George Cox is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years experience as a newspaper writer and editor. A Corpus Christi native, he started his career as a reporter for The Brownsville Herald after graduating from Sam Houston State University with a degree in journalism. He later worked on newspapers in Laredo and Corpus Christi as well as northern California. George returned to the Valley in 1996 as editor of The Brownsville Herald and in 2001 moved to Harlingen as editor of the Valley Morning Star. He also held the position of editor and general manager for the Coastal Current, a weekly entertainment magazine with Valleywide distribution. George retired from full-time journalism in 2015 to work as a freelance writer and legal document editor. He continues to live in Harlingen where he and his wife Katherine co-founded Rio Grande Valley Therapy Pets, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising public awareness of the benefits of therapy pets and assisting people and their pets to become registered therapy pet teams.

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