The Partial Observer by Tammy Graves

Hey, Small Businesses: The World is Yours!

The world is open for your business. Yes, even your small business.

Creating pathways to success is the task of the Otsego Innovation Acceleration Center, a partnership of organizations to help entrepreneurs bring innovations to market and provide access to mentors.

Exporting is an underutilized business development pathway for small businesses in New York State. The U.S. population is only five percent of the world’s population, which means 75 percent of the world’s purchasing power sits outside of the U.S. Export experts abound and had an audience of Otsego County manufacturers at a recent meeting in Oneonta hosted by the Innovation Acceleration Center.

Let’s consider international travel. It can be an intimidating endeavor. Arranging passports, currency, lodging, transportation and sight-seeing logistics is a lot for an individual to undertake. Group tours with travel guides deliver security and comfort for trips abroad.

Similarly, doing business with a place with a different language, currency and culture is daunting to small businesses (less than 500 employees). How do I find buyers, connect with prospects, acquire market intelligence? Do I need certification? Do I comply with trade regulations? It’s no wonder less than one percent of small businesses who could export do export products.

Increasing sales, domestic or international, creates jobs. Expertise, research, funding, and matchmaking is available from New York State, the U.S. Commerce Department, and the U.S. Small Business Administration. Inquiring at any one of these entities delivers security and comfort for embarking on a path to sales beyond U.S. borders. Valuable intel can be acquired at no cost. There are also “gold key” services, such as arranging “speed-dating” with buyers and supply chain contacts.

Todd Pink and Bruce Hirabayashi of TS Pink, makers of SoapRocks®—whose production is located in the Oneonta Business Park—have been exporting for decades. They export to Europe, the Middle East, Canada, Asia and Oceania.

Global NY’s Senior International Trade Manager, Kathryn Bamberger, is our area’s contact for New York State’s export opportunities. Bamberger and her team are committed with Empire State Development to helping businesses sell their products and services in growing markets including Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, China, Europe, India, Israel, Mexico, and South America. The network spans representatives around the world and includes coordinating guided, door-to-door trade trips for manufacturers. Bamberger’s specialty is untangling the perceived complications of exporting. Her message is that it’s realistic for small businesses to become exporters.

New York State is the fourth largest U.S. exporter, behind Texas, California and Louisiana. Goods exporters in New York State total 37,000 and of those, more than 34,000 (94 percent) are small and medium-sized businesses. New York exports of manufactured products supports over 250,000 jobs.

Whether you are looking to make your first export sale or expand to additional international markets, there is expertise to identify and penetrate foreign markets. John Tracy of U.S. Commercial Service at the U.S. Department of Commerce delivers market info and navigates the world with you to receive “on-the-ground” intel from their team of professionals that includes trade specialists in 75 of the U.S. consulates around the world.

Grants, loans, and insurance on goods sold will offset costs of exhibiting at trade shows, translating websites, and adding e-commerce for foreign currency. Financing programs are the specialty of Dan Rickman, Upstate New York district director of U.S. SBA. Currently, applications are being accepted for activities related to beginning or increase exporting (up to $10,000.00 per grant).

Bamberger shared a success story of a manufacturer attending a trade show in Chicago. The business met more than 100 export leads and closed sales in excess of $150,000.00 in the following three months.

It is important to note the three export experts who gathered in Oneonta are well versed in each other’s programs. You can choose to start your export pathway at any one. An extensive, accessible panel of experts awaits you, whether you wish to learn about exporting, participate in a trade tour mission trip, design a marketing campaign, establish global capabilities on your website or pay for subscriptions and services of your export business building.

During our gift shopping season, I wish to remind to you to shop Otsego County, Mohawk Valley, New York State and Made in America. The Alliance for American Manufacturing has its 10th edition of Made in America Holiday Gift Guide.

If you are an inventor, I want to know you. Let’s launch you to your next milestone. Maybe it’s selling to the world!

Tammy Graves is the Innovation Acceleration Center coordinator for Otsego Now.