“So tonight, we set a new goal: We will double our exports over the next five years, an increase that will support two million jobs in America.”
-President Obama
The President’s ambitious plan to double America’s exports over the next five years, which he announced at the 2010 State of the Union, makes this the perfect time for SMEs to start to export. The details of this plan were laid out in the National Export Initiative (NEI), and an Export Promotion Cabinet was established to spearhead the effort. The NEI pools resources and leadership from the Small Business Administration, the Export-Import Bank, the U.S. Trade Representative, and from the Commerce, State, and Agriculture departments.
Priority number one of the NEI is to increase government assistance to SMEs looking to export.
The goal of the NEI is to increase this percentage of SMEs that export. SMEs face many more challenges in doing business internationally than do large companies. With less access to capital, many SMEs cannot make the foray into new markets. Additionally, for SMEs that are exporting, expanding into additional export markets is just as hard. Almost 60 percent of exporting SMEs export to only one foreign market, with the most popular export market being Canada.
To try and increase the number of SMEs exporting, and increase the number of countries exported to, the NEI provides a variety of forms of assistance. Under the NEI, The Import-Export Bank is increasing the availability of their services to SMEs looking to export. The types of services that the Import-Export bank offers include; export credit insurance, working capital financing, and loan guarantees. These can be very beneficially to SMEs who lack the accessibility to capital that is necessary for many export ventures.
With better access to capital, as well as other support programs setup under the NEI, right now SMEs looking to export can receive and unprecedented level of support from the federal government. This makes it the best time for companies who have been thinking about getting into the export game to make the leap and do so.
To learn more about the National Export Initiative, and how you can benefit from its programs, check out these resources
Import-Export Bank, Small Business Programs
International Trade Administration, exporting SMEs
