Pennsylvania SBDC and U.S. Commercial Service Renew Strategic Partnership MOU for Fifth Year
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (PRWEB) July 07, 2016 -- The Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) and the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration renewed their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to continue to increase awareness in the Pennsylvania business community about exporting and the tools and resources the organizations provide to help them succeed.
“The Pennsylvania SBDC has been a great partner in our efforts to strengthen the Pennsylvania economy and support local jobs through expanding U.S. exports,” said U.S Commercial Service Mid-Atlantic Regional Director Joseph Hanley. “Renewing this MOU provides for continued collaboration to ensure Pennsylvania’s small companies have every opportunity to grow stronger here at home by taking advantage of existing and emerging business opportunities around the world.”
“This past calendar year, the Pennsylvania SBDC was able to help companies grow their international sales by more than $100 million dollars,” said Pennsylvania SBDC State Director Christian Conroy. “Our partnership with the Commercial Service is an important resource for our statewide team of certified international trade consultants to assist business owners and entrepreneurs in taking advantage of exporting opportunities available to grow or sustain their business.”
Since signing the original MOU agreement in 2012, the Pennsylvania SBDCs and U.S. Commercial Service’s network of worldwide offices have worked together on marketing, educational programs and events leveraging both entities’ expertise to help make U.S. businesses—and particularly small and medium-sized, Pennsylvania based firms—more export savvy. Joint activities have included building awareness through outreach at trade shows, export seminars, and trade education events.
Upcoming international business education events and trade shows hosted by the Pennsylvania SBDC and U.S. Commercial Service include:
• Trade Winds – Latin America, September 6-13, 2016 (Chile, Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay)
• ExportTech: Fast track to Developing Strategies for International Sales, Fall 2016 (Philadelphia, PA)
• Export University 2016-2017, Fall 2016 (Philadelphia, PA)
Companies interested in exploring these opportunities should contact one of the 18 SBDCs in Pennsylvania by visiting http://www.pasbdc.org/centers.
In 2010, President Obama announced the National Export Initiative (NEI) with the goal of doubling U.S. exports by the end of 2014. The partnership between the Commercial Service and the Pennsylvania SBDC supports this goal by educating small- and medium-sized companies about the benefits of exporting and expanding their exports into new markets, and on the public and private sector resources available to assist them. The Pennsylvania SBDC is among several of the U.S. Commercial Service’s Strategic Partners who have connected more than 1,500 companies to federal export assistance.
About Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers (SBDC)
The Pennsylvania SBDC network is the only statewide, nationally accredited program that provides high quality one-on-one consulting, training and information resources to empower new and existing businesses. SBDC consultants work with entrepreneurs in confidential, individualized sessions to help them with a range of business issues including testing a new business proposition, shaping a business plan, investigating funding opportunities, and much more. The SBDC program is a public/private partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and 18 universities and colleges across the Commonwealth. The Pennsylvania SBDC Lead Office is headquartered at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. For more information on the Pennsylvania SBDC services and impact, please visit http://www.pasbdc.org.
About U.S. Commercial Service
The U.S. Commercial Service is the trade promotion arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration. U.S. Commercial Service staff provides exporters direct access to overseas markets through its global network of offices in more than 100 U.S. cities and in US Embassies and Consulates in 75 countries.
Visit http://www.export.gov to learn more.
###
Kelly Cofrancisco, Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers (SBDC), http://www.pasbdc.org, +1 (215) 746-6474, [email protected]
Share this article