The Small Business Exporters Association of the United States is the largest and oldest nonprofit association dedicated exclusively to small and mid-size business exporters in the United States. SBEA serves as the international trade arm of the National Small Business Association. Founded in 1937, NSBA is the nation’s oldest nonprofit small business advocacy organization. It has 150,000 members in all 50 U.S. states.

SBEA provides its members with three major types of support:

• Governmental advocacy on behalf of all small exporters, and on behalf of individual member companies that encounter government difficulties as they export.

• Networking opportunities with other small and medium-sized US companies involved in exporting.

• Member benefits designed to save your company money as you export. Plus access to other money-saving benefits offered through our partner organization, NSBA.

GOVERNMENTAL ADVOCACY

SBEA President James Morrison (right) with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney

We advocate legislation and government policies that expand the opportunities for smaller companies to export. Here are some examples:

• supporting small business export promotion activities by federal and state agencies;

• emphasizing small business in international trade agreements that are negotiated by the United States Trade Representative;

• assuring that smaller company export financing guarantees are provided by the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the US Small Business Administration;

• assuring small business access to insurance and investment guarantees under Ex-Im Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation;

• assisting in the distribution of information on foreign markets from the US Department of Commerce to smaller companies;

• publicizing international trade opportunities for small business identified by the US Trade and Development Agency; and

• encouraging other trade-related government agencies, such as the US Departments of Agriculture, State and Treasury to do more for small business.

SBEA’s expertise is widely recognized. We are accredited to the World Trade Organization as a representative of small and medium-size U.S. exporters. Several of our members serve as official trade advisors to the U.S. government. President Bush has named us to the Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiation, the nation’s most senior trade policy advisory group.


SBEA's current legislative agenda includes:

• Supporting the national network of U.S. Export Assistance Centers, especially by insuring the U.S. Small Business Administration continues to offer export financing through these local offices.

• Making sure that international trade agreements developed by the Office of the United States Trade Representative take full account of the needs of U.S. small and medium size enterprises (SME’s), and working with USTR to get the World Trade Organization (WTO) to take fuller account of the needs of small and medium size exporters.

• Working with the Export-Import Bank of the United States to make adequate export financing available for smaller exporting companies; strengthening Ex-Im's outreach to smaller exporters; simplifying and streamlining small business access to the Bank; and assuring that Ex-Im has the financial resources it needs to achieve these objectives.

• Backing efforts to get more banks involved in financing small business exports.

• Supporting the Bush Administration's National Export Strategy report, with its emphasis on better coordination between federal agencies that deal with international trade, especially in aiding small business exporters.


NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES

SBEA offers great networking opportunities because we have so many experienced and friendly members. While we welcome those who are considering exporting, or new to it, we also offer good contacts for even the savviest exporters. The average SBEA member ships to four or more countries, has been exporting for more than ten years, and sells more products abroad than in the United States. Many of our members have won local, state or regional exporting awards, and several have received the nation’s highest export award -- the President’s “E” award. Our members range from one person consulting businesses to companies with several hundred employees, and their sales range from $50,000 a year to over $200 million a year. The average member has about forty employees engaged in exporting and sells about $10 million a year abroad.

We put on meetings around the country that bring these smaller exporting companies together. Recent events have been held in Miami, Seattle, and Jackson, Mississippi. In addition, we hold at least one meeting a year in Washington, DC, often in conjunction with our colleagues in the National Small Business Association.


MONEY-SAVING BENEFITS

SBEA also offers its members a selection of benefits, including free or discounted access to:

• online tutorials on exporting,
• extensive databases of trade leads,
• a regular newsletter with money-saving tips for smaller exporters,
• representation at foreign trade shows,
• export financing and export credit insurance,
• shipping,
• foreign language translations,
• foreign market research, and
• assistance with foreign labeling and product standards requirements, as well as international product quality assurance standards, and
• a variety of free tips and assists in the Member Center of our website.


As an SBEA member, you will also have access to a variety of money-saving benefits through our partner organization, the National Small Business Association. Included are discounted:

• express shipping,
• car rentals,
• insurance products,
• office supplies and
• payroll tax services.