By Maria Valdez Haubrich
If your business exports internationally, you’ll be happy to hear the Small Business Administration is initiating steps to provide grants to states to help entrepreneurs export.
The State Trade and Export Promotion (STEP) pilot program launched March 1 and was established by President Obama’s Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. STEP will give states as much as $90 million in grants over the next three years and how much each state receives will depend on the state’s budget and proposal for increasing small business exporting.
Here’s some of the ways the grant will help:
• Help small businesses take part in foreign trade missions
• Sales trips to overseas markets
• To design marketing materials or create marketing campaigns for international marketing
• Trade show exhibits focused on exporting efforts
• Training workshops
To find out if your state is involved, you can get more information at www.sba.gov/STEP.
