Dept. of Commerce Setting Up Valley Site By SLAV KANDYBA Staff Reporter Starting next month, the U.S. Department of Commerce will for the first time have a Valley presence at Pierce College. When the International Trade Center at the community college officially launches operations sometime next month, Valley businesses that are interested in exporting their goods overseas will be able to contact a federal representative. That person will be able to provide contacts and help put the business in touch with foreign companies. “We’ll try to help small businesses in the San Fernando Valley expand their markets overseas,” said Tony Ceballos, a trade specialist in the West Los Angeles office of the Commerce Department’s Commercial Service. Ceballos will be traveling to the Valley to hold office hours several times a week at Pierce, he said. The ITC opening comes at a time when California is regaining its export strength. According to government figures released last week, the state’s exports jumped 25 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to 2003. Shipments to China increased by more than 70 percent. The Commercial Service, a branch of the Commerce Department that helps U.S. firms do business overseas, is currently working out a memorandum of understanding with Pierce. When it’s signed that should happen in early June its services will be available for Valley businesses. “We already have a small pool of clients that we have recruited,” Ceballos said. One such company is Sherman Oaks-based BizHelp, a three-employee firm that represents U.S. companies looking to enter foreign markets. Its president, Stepan Baghdassarian, said he has worked with Ceballos over the last two years, and says the relationship has been “helpful” for his business. “He is providing us with leads in foreign countries,” Baghdassarian said. Baghdassarian gave an example of how the relationship works. There is a great demand for pet food in Brazil, he recently found out. He turned to Ceballos to find several U.S. companies interested in exporting their pet food overseas. Ceballos, in turn, helped BizHelp find pet food manufacturers to work with. The International Trade Center at Pierce, which is facilitating the Commercial Service’s presence by providing office space at the college, is led by Bert Sanchez. Sanchez, a business professor, was awarded a $300,000 grant in 2003 by the U.S. Department of Education to establish the ITC. With the funds, he has hired a program manager and is planning seminars that he hopes will attract small and medium-sized businesses interested in entering foreign markets. Uniting exporters The idea, Sanchez said, is to bring together the Valley’s “fragmented” exporters. To do that, he is organizing a series of seminars at Pierce, which will take place throughout the year. After the seminars, individual businesses will be able to sit down either with Sanchez or the manager and get advice, contacts and referrals, depending on the particular business’ level of preparedness to export. “If the business is export-ready, we’re going to turn them over to the U.S. Commercial Service,” Sanchez said. With a number of sponsors, including the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, Sanchez hosted the first seminar last week. It featured trade representatives from three of the newest members of the European Union: Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. Sanchez said the new additions to EU are often overlooked by U.S. businesses, because most of the focus is on China, the “400-pound gorilla.” As a former IBM employee who has frequently traveled to China, Sanchez said businesses are “missing the boat” if they focus entirely on that country and not on the more penetrable markets, such as Poland. He said the new EU member presents a strong market with its population of 40 million. “From Hungary, American business can reach (everyone) from local to high-margin, profitable” companies, said Odon Kiraly, a trade commissioner at Hungary’s consulate in L.A. Opening opportunities BizHelp’s Baghdassarian said he sees benefit in having the Commercial Service in the Valley. “I think it will open up opportunities for businesses in the Valley who don’t take advantage of this service because of proximity or because they don’t know about it,” he said. David French, president of David French & Associates, an El Segundo-based strategy firm, has worked with the Commercial Service for about five years. It is best suited for small business interested in exporting their products, he said. “It’s a resource for them to gather information and then to meet certain contacts in those markets,” French said. The owner of the 60-employee firm added that at only a few hundred dollars, the Commercial Service is a bargain. It provides market research data and contacts and can help with obtaining loans through the Small Business Administration. And sometimes it goes the extra mile: “They actually set up meetings and dinners for business when they go overseas,” French said. “When a client wanted to expand into a foreign market (they) can tap into their network, ask for a lawyer, or other professional references (and) they may be the only references in that country.”
