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Highlands Today

Money Is Available To Help Businesses Interested In Foreign Trade

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By Bill Rogers | Highlands Today

Published: June 7, 2008

Updated: 06/10/2008 12:24 pm

SEBRING — Eileen Rodriguez acknowledged that doing business overseas can be challenging, but it also might be profitable.

"It's kind of scary when you're trying to think about doing business with somebody who speaks a different language, is from a different culture, they don't do contracts the same way we do," said Rodriguez, interim director of the Small Business Development Center at the University of South Florida.

"It's hard enough doing business here, isn't it?" she said. "You know trying to get your money out of somebody — even in the state of Florida. What are you going to do with somebody in Australia or China trying to get money out of them? It does get a little daunting, but there are ways to do it.

Rodriguez, who spoke last month in Sebring during Highlands County Business Development Day, said businesses can make "some pretty decent money, but you have to do your due diligence."

"The best part about international trade — something that a lot of people don't realize — is that most businesses who deal internationally pay higher wages than just purely domestic businesses," she added.

There are several sites on the Internet pertaining to international trade.

Enterprise Florida:
http://www.eflorida.com/

It provides international trade statistics for the state of Florida. International trade specialists provide counseling services for Florida companies looking to export their products/services. Their 13 international offices also provide support for overseas trade and investment missions from Florida.

Small Business Development Center Network:
http://sbdcnet.org/SBIC/itrade.php

The site provides international business resources and international business news on the Internet.

"It's kind of a nice little introduction," Rodriguez said. "Usually that's where I tell people to go first. If you don't really know what you want to do internationally, go there and go through their Web site they have links to other Web sites. But it gives you a good overview of what it takes to do international negotiating whether it is importing or exporting."

Small Business Administration:
http://www.sba.gov/oit/

The U.S. Small Business Administration provides export information and development assistance to help small businesses take advantage of export markets, including trade counseling, training, legal assistance and publications.

Harmonized Codes
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/schedules/b/in...

There are millions of trade transactions occurring each year. These transactions are classified under approximately 8,000 different products leaving the United States. Every item that is exported is assigned a unique 10-digit identification code. Every 10-digit item is part of a series of progressively broader product categories. All of the imports and export codes used by the United States are based on the Harmonized Tariff System. Exports codes (which the U.S. calls Schedule B) are administered by the U.S. Census Bureau. Import codes are administered by the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Incoterms
http://www.iccwbo.org/incoterms/id3045/index.html

Incoterms are standard trade definitions most commonly used in international sales contracts. Devised and published by the International Chamber of Commerce, they are at the heart of world trade.

Financial assistance is available to businesses in the Heartland who are interested in international trade.

Florida's Heartland Rural Economic Development Initiative can cover 50 percent of the participation fee for a trade mission sponsored by Enterprise Florida.

There is an application process. Call Kelly Sweet, executive assistant/business development manager for FHREDI, at 385-4900 for more information.

"It is not as difficult as you think," said Louise England, executive director of the Highlands County Economic Development Commission, "There are a lot of resources out there."

The EDC received a $20,000 grant to boost international trade from Enterprise Florida in May of last year. England said some of the money was used to produce a brochure for trade shows and to create a Web page on the Sebring Regional Airport and Highlands County Web sites with the information translated into six different languages.

A portion of the money was used by Mike Willingham, the airport's executive director, for follow-ups from a trade mission.

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