Ex-Im Bank Partners With Iowa Small Business Development Centers, Multiplies Access to Export Financing
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) September 03, 2013 -- The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) today announced its first marketing partnership in the state of Iowa to help Iowa small- and medium-size businesses boost export sales and jobs. Ex-Im Bank’s City/State Partnership with Iowa Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) gives exporters enhanced access to information about the Bank’s resources to exporters in all 99 counties of Iowa.
The partnership is expected to accelerate export business and job growth by promoting bank products and services within a statewide network of 15 SBDCs and an International Trade Center (ITC), where entrepreneurs meet export finance counselors and learn how to grow their foreign sales. The SBDC network is sponsored by Iowa State University College of Business, Ames, in cooperation with 14 other regional colleges and universities. It is partially funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
“Ex-Im Bank has a lot to offer Iowa businesses that want to reach customers overseas and grow their export sales, and this partnership will put Ex-Im’s financing benefits within easy reach,” said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. “Owners of small and medium-size businesses already use Iowa SBDC’s International Trade Center; now they will find Ex-Im Bank resources in the same place. This new connection will support increased sales and job growth in Iowa.”
Ex-Im Bank’s City/State Partnership with international trade educators and business experts in Iowa aims to build upon existing successes there. The International Trade Center provides expertise about how export businesses start, grow, and gain profits. By means of inexpensive workshops and free one-on-one counseling and online courses, it equips small businesses with marketing savvy otherwise accessible only to large companies.
“Our SBDC International Trade Center is committed to helping Iowa’s small and medium-sized businesses gain access to capital for expanding to markets outside the U.S.,” said Debbie Franklin, ITC director. “This partnership with Ex-Im Bank will help provide these businesses the additional support needed to export globally.”
The purpose of the City/State Partners program is to ensure that the Bank’s export finance programs are more accessible to small and medium-sized business through local, state, and regional economic development and business support organizations. Ex-Im Bank provides its Partners with free marketing and training materials, qualified finance experts to speak at Partners’ events, assistance with outreach and counseling, and access to a network of lenders, insurance brokers, and U.S. Government export resources.
Through its City/State Partnership with Iowa’s Small Business Development Center, Ex-Im Bank offers to Iowa enterprises expanded access to products such as its Global Credit Express, which helps exporters acquire low-cost working capital up to $500,000, as well as Express Insurance, which simplifies small business access to export credit risk insurance on their foreign accounts receivable.
To contact Iowa SBDC’s International Trade Center, call director Debbie Franklin at (515) 509-5745, email her at DebbieF(at)iastate(dot)edu, or visit the International Trade Center web page at http://www.iowasbdc.org/exports.aspx. The state center for Iowa SBDCs may be reached at (515) 294-2030.
ABOUT EX-IM BANK:
Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that helps to create and maintain U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. In the past five years (from Fiscal Year 2008), Ex-Im Bank has earned for U.S. taxpayers nearly $1.6 billion above the cost of operations. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees, export-credit insurance and financing to help foreign buyers purchase U.S. goods and services.
Ex-Im Bank approved a total of $35.8 billion in authorizations in FY 2012 – an all-time Ex-Im record. This total includes more than $6.1 billion directly supporting small-business export sales – also an Ex-Im record. The Bank's authorizations in FY 2012 are supporting an estimated $50 billion in U.S. export sales and about 255,000 American jobs in communities across the country. For more information, visit http://www.exim.gov.
Stevan Horning, Export-Import Bank of the United States, (202) 565-3206, [email protected]
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