Need trade assistance? Uncle Sam can help

By Philipp Harper

Sheldon Murphy runs a business that by any definition would be considered small — it has 10 employees and annual sales of less than $2 million.

But when it comes to the market he serves, the world is Murphy's oyster. Literally.

Spin the compass needle, and at whatever point it settles — South America, Central Asia, you name the place — you're likely to find representatives of Murphy's Stratford, Conn.-based company, Nature Plus, either establishing a commercial beachhead or servicing one that already is entrenched.

The biotech company, which incorporated in 1991 and manufactures enzyme-based products used in odor reduction and soil stabilization, has seen export sales soar since first dipping a toe in overseas markets in 1994. In 1995, exports constituted just 4% of its total sales; today the export share exceeds 60%.

Based on the success of Nature Plus's overseas business, Murphy and his company were awarded a President "E" for exporting excellence by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

"One of the nice things about exports is that you can take a success and repeat it again and again in different locations," Murphy says.

The daunting thing about them, of course, is that dealing with foreign cultures and political systems — not to mention foreign languages — is beyond the reach of most small and even midsized business operators.

Government programs encourage trade

Certainly, that would have been true in Murphy's case, if he'd had to go it alone. Instead, the entrepreneur found a partner willing to do most of the heavy lifting.

The cost of this assistance? A nominal fee, with the spade work overseas done for free.

Murphy's partner is the federal government, and everything he has received is available to you, too. You just have to ask for it — or, perhaps more to the point, know how and where to ask.

Recognizing that not everyone is as aggressive as Murphy in requesting their federal due, the Bush administration wants to simplify and clarify the process of seeking help.

This was one of goals enunciated by Commerce Secretary Don L. Evans, when he laid out the administration's "National Export Strategy 2002."

What's involved, says Manuel A. Rosales, the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) assistant administrator for international trade, is a "harmonizing" of trade-related programs offered by various federal agencies — principally, the SBA, the Commerce Department and the Export-Import Bank.

Such coordination was a priority in the administration of the senior George Bush, and resulted in creation of the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC). But the TPCC "did not function in the last years of the Clinton administration," Rosales says, and needed to be reinvigorated.

Now, the assistant administrator adds, the federal trade apparatus is functioning as "one solid fist." That statement may sound suspiciously like hyperbole, but there is evidence to support it:

Export.Gov has been created by the Commerce Department to serve as a single comprehensive portal for those wanting to learn more about federal assistance. Certainly, this should be a first stop for any small-business person seeking a road map through the bureaucracy or simply some general information about trade.
Nineteen U.S. Export Assistance Centers, run in conjunction with the Commerce Department and located in parts of the country where exporting is an important component of the economy, provide one-stop shopping for entrepreneurs in need of help. A list of the centers, along with contact information for each one, can be found can be found on the SBA's Web site.
The SBA and the Ex-Im Bank are working to replace confusion with consistency when it comes to the financing they offer American businesses seeking to put together an export program. (It's also worth noting that the Ex-Im Bank also guarantees loans for foreign purchasers of U.S. goods.)

At least as important as the commitment to provide greater clarity is the commitment to provide more in the way of loan guarantees.

The SBA guaranteed about $105 million in export loans in fiscal year 2002, and Rosales says he hoped to increase that volume to $200 million or more in subsequent fiscal years. The SBA backed a record number of total loans — nearly 76,500, up 29% — in fiscal year 2003.

Of course, it's important to remember that plenty can be accomplished even as Washington, D.C., works to put its exporting house in order.

'The world is full of traps'

Murphy began in 1994 by listing Nature Plus's enzyme-based products on a couple of international databases run by the Commerce Department. Then, as potential overseas distributors began to express interest, Murphy relied heavily on Commerce's overseas personnel to exploit markets. "They do great things in paving the way," he says.

In the case of Nature Plus, this typically has meant advertising for distributors in local newspapers, performing an initial screening, doing follow up interviews and then assembling the best candidates for personal meetings with Murphy.

"The Department of Commerce is excellent in providing services a small company would be totally unable to do on its own," he says. "First of all, you don't know the language. Second, the world is full of traps."

Murphy has prospered by letting the government help him avoid those traps. Your business could prosper, too. Don't fall into the trap of ignoring exporting as a potential revenue source — not when federal assistance is so easily available.