SBEA conference on May 20 to help smaller companies access global supply chains

Small and mid-sized companies will learn how to sell to the global supply chains of major exporters, under a program that SBEA and others will begin offering later this year.

The program will launch with a conference and matchmaking event in Los Angeles on 20 May 2005. SBEA’s partners in this project will be U.S. Department of Commerce, which has awarded SBEA a matching-fund grant for the conference, the Los Angeles County Office of Small Business, and United Parcel Service. The conference also is being held in cooperation with Southern California World Trade Week, which is hosted by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

The purpose of the conference will be to show smaller companies how they can gain exposure to foreign markets by becoming “indirect” exporters – that is, by selling their products to major exporting firms here in the United States who will in turn sell those products overseas.

For smaller companies that have not exported, this is low-risk, low-cost way to learn about foreign markets and foreign buyer needs. Global supply chain sales can be a bridge to direct exporting later, as the sellers get more comfortable with having overseas buyers. For companies that are already exporting, global supply chain sales represent additional marketing opportunities.

The Conference will be held at the Golden Eagle Hospitality Center on the campus of California State University at Los Angeles.

To learn more about the conference, please go to our event descrition on the Southern California World Trade Week website,

HERE

For more information, contact the SBEA office, at (202) 659-9320 or call Debbie Cabreira-Johnson or Joan Shelly at the Los Angeles County Office of Small Business, (323) 881-3964.