Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin
By Samantha Roberts
The Small Business Development Center of New Mexico has developed a program with exports as its focus, making available international trade counselors and an abundance of resources for those looking to start up business with Mexico.
Working as a nonprofit, SBDC is spread throughout the state with 20 locations serving New Mexican business owners and entrepreneurs.
The new program – Gateway to Exporting: Your Key to International Markets – is being spearheaded by Flo Dow, assistant director for marketing and professional development at the New Mexico SBDC, and is aimed at developing New Mexico’s small businesses and increasing their capabilities to export products and services to Mexico’s maquiladora industry.
“We are trying to let people know this program is up and running,” she said. “We received a federal grant in January for $325,000 and spent the first six months getting things sorted out. Now, we are ready to go.”
As part of the program, the SBDC has designated five team members as international trade consultants and one of them is in Las Cruces.
Fred Owensby, director of the Las Cruces SBDC, will serve as the consultant for southern New Mexico.
“I will be covering all of the south, from Hobbs, N.M., to Silver City, N.M.,” Owensby said. “We hope to bring people in and get their initial questions answered. Then from there, they could work with someone like the (International Business Accelerator) to advance further with doing business across the border.”
Another service the program offers is a database, connecting buyers with suppliers, which can be found at www.nmiba.com/ gateway.
The site will also be posting webinars that cover issues such as international business planning, finance, logistics, marketing identification and secure commerce, Dow said.
“We will be very proactive in identifying people and companies that are interested in international business,” she added.
The services being offered are free and open to anyone.
“Anyone and everyone who has the right product,” she said, adding that the international consultants are available if someone is trying to determine if they “have the right product.”
“They can contact the office and we will do a one-on-one interview,” Owensby added. “We will have that conversation and help people figure it out.”
Since safety in Mexico is still of high concern, Owensby said this program provides an alternative to traveling across the border for business.
“We have strong connections with people who are already down there and are willing to help,” he said. “There are two consultants in Juárez in the community doing the legwork who are familiar with the industry.”
“We are making in-country connections,” said Bill Dobricky, senior procurement adviser for the Procurement Technical Assistance Program, a division of the SBDC that assists companies in doing business with the government.
Though the grant will expire two years from its inception, Dow said this is a good start to a program the center hopes to continue.
“We hope to have great success and create a model that will put us in a position for more funds in the future,” she said. “We also hope that this will help people to understand the value of the SBDC. We are providing these services and your tax dollars are at work.”
Also as part of the New Mexico SBDC, additional free workshops will be held at Doña Ana Community College from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Thursdays, Sept. 8, Oct. 6, Nov. 10 and Dec. 8.
Workshop participants are invited to make an appointment for individual assistance. To make arrangements with an SBDC representative after any workshop, call 527-7676.
For more information on SBDC or the Procurement Technical Assistance Program, visit www.nmsbdc.org.
