43
Partnership at YSU helps businesses get into exporting
Photo
Mousa Kassis, adviser with the International Trade Assistance Center at YSU, spoke Tuesday about the opportunity for small- and medium-sized businesses in the Mahoning Valley to take advantage of exporting opportunities.
By Burton Speakman
bspeakman@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
Exporting can provide local companies with more opportunities to grow, and a local resource is working to help them overcome obstacles.
A small group of area business people met Tuesday at the Williamson College of Business Administration at Youngstown State University to talk about the college’s partnership with the International Trade Assistance Center, which is designed to help local businesses reach foreign markets. ITAC is part of the college’s Small Business Development Center.
A new company looking to expand into exports cannot make the move quickly. It takes somewhere between 18 and 24 months to make a relationship that generates sales with a foreign company, said Mousa Kassis, international trade adviser with the ITAC.
ITAC is designed to help small and medium businesses expand into foreign markets, he said.
“The reason we focus on small- and medium-sized businesses is because they are the engine for growth in the U.S. economy,” Kassis said.
Fear is one of the main reasons that companies within the Mahoning Valley do not attempt to export their products, he said.
Kassis said his work will help companies understand if they have a product that could be exported, along with providing advice on the culture and logistics of working within foreign countries. They also partner with federal and state agencies to provide additional assistance.
The goal is to help the U.S. reduce its trade deficit, Kassis said.
“Ninety-five percent of available customers are located outside of the United States,” he said. “If the U.S. economy were a 747 jet, then exports would be one of its four engines, and that engine has been leaking for the past 40 years.”
The U.S. has to expand the amount of products exported. The federal government has a goal of increasing exports from $1.57 trillion per year to $3.14 trillion, which would create an estimated 2.5 million to 3 million jobs, Kassis said.
Companies that export their products tend to be more productive than those that do not. Also, companies that export on average pay 15 percent more than companies that do business only domestically, he said.
Lisa J. Kleinhandler, CEO of Hudson Fasteners in Youngstown, said her company participated in the United States Small Business Association funding E200 program.
Part of that program involves creating a growth action plan. One of the keys of Hudson’s plans was to increase its export business, she said.
“We see a lot of opportunity for growth within the Youngstown market,” Kleinhandler said.
The Rust Belt is no longer an accurate portrayal of this area. The local businesses are working to change the Mahoning Valley into the “technology belt,” she said.
This event was a chance to get as much information as possible, said Jerome Franklin, owner of JEF Enterprises LLC, based in Youngstown.
“There are a lot of things I don’t know,” he said.
The point of this meeting was to let the local business community know about the resources available to them, said Patricia Veisz, from the development center.
“Mousa has great experience and knowledge,” she said. “He can help them with the process.”
For more information about ITAC, contact the Small Business Development Center at 330-941-2140.