Did You Know the SBA Can Help Small Businesses with Global Trade?
The U.S. Small Business Administration can do more than give entrepreneurs assistance in getting their businesses off the ground. The agency is also ready to help them go global.
The SBA recently signed an agreement with the International Trade & Forfaiting Association to reduce barriers to international trade and get small businesses selling abroad. With the agreement the SBA and the ITFA will cooperate in educating potential exporters and lenders on financing methods and ways to reduce risks in global trade.
“SBA’s new agreement with ITFA aims to build capacity for exporting through education and technical training for both lenders and small businesses,” said Gabriel Esparza, associate administrator of SBA’s Office of International Trade, in a media release. Esparza said there are now more than 1.3 small-business exporters with the potential to double that number.
The ITFA is a global trade association representing the interests of banks, financial institutions, and service providers involved in trade risk and asset origination and distribution. Forfaiting is a method of trade finance that allows exporters to obtain cash by selling their medium and long-term foreign accounts receivable at a discount to a specialized finance firm or a department in a bank.
Through its Office of International Trade, the SBA works to support small and midsized exporters with the goal of increasing both the number of businesses exporting and the dollar value of those exports. This work is done across the Agency by offering access to education and technical assistance, access to capital, and trade policy to support market access for small businesses.
