The Stamford Chamber of Commerce joined an Export Import Bank of the United States program designed to give small businesses greater access to federal support as they mine overseas markets.
Speaking this month in Stamford, Ex-Im Bank Director and Westport resident Diane Farrell said the City/State Partners Initiative is a key part of the Obama administration”™s goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2015, particularly for small businesses looking to develop foreign markets for the first time.
“That”™s why this program is so important,” Farrell said. “We need to (focus on) the small businesses that don”™t have the cadres of lawyers and consultants ”¦ There is no transaction too small.”
Ex-Im Bank provides export and import financing with the goal of preserving jobs in the United States. Its advisory board includes Steven Parrish, a Westport export consultant.
The Stamford Chamber becomes the second entity in the state to sign up for Ex-Im Bank”™s City/State Partners Initiative, after the Connecticut Development Authority did so in October.
Tabbed a “delegated authority lender” by Ex-Im Bank, CDA may now make credit decisions and provide up to $1 million in international trade financing to eligible exporters. The lender is guaranteed for 90 percent of its principal and interest under each line of credit under Ex-Im Bank”™s working capital guarantee.
Ex-Im Bank has helped Connecticut companies export $12 million of goods and services so far in the 2011 fiscal year that began in October, after totaling $206 million for fiscal 2010. In the Stamford area, Ex-Im Bank has supported nearly $2 million in exports in the current fiscal year, after tallying $123 million in fiscal 2010.
Connecticut exports totaled over $10.3 billion through August, an 18 percent increase over the same period a year earlier. Aircraft and aerospace parts are the state”™s top export category, followed by industrial and electric machinery; medical and optical equipment; and cereals, in a nod to Fairfield County”™s plethora of hedge funds and commodities traders that buy and sell grains on international markets.
Experts say the state”™s export totals would be much higher if financial services were counted under official export figures.
“Stamford has long been recognized as an international business center for our global companies located here,” said Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia. “This new program will encourage and help our small and medium-sized Stamford-based companies to think about global opportunities in their forward plans.
The Stamford Chamber is including the City/State Partners Initiative under a broad new program called SITREP, for Stamford Chamber International Trade Resource Program. Under the Ex-Im Bank program, the chamber can help companies secure:
Ӣ short-term export-credit insurance to mitigate the risk of foreign buyer nonpayment;
Ӣ loan guarantees to increase export-related working capital; and
Ӣ medium-term financing for foreign buyers.
