The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) organized an international B2B Conference in the Federal Plaza, New York. It was the SECOND INTERNATIONAL B2B Forum. The delegation of the American Hungarian Chamber of Commerce participated at this events. We are publishing the opening remarks of the SBA District Director, Beth Goldberg.
International B2B Conference October 17 th 2016 Federal Plaza, New York
Beth Goldberg’s – SBA District Director – Opening Remarks
It is a pleasure to be here today. Perhaps some of you in the room were with us in June for our first International Business to Business where we had over 500 participants from 10 different countries.
It’s fantastic to see another great turnout here in October!
I often start out by saying that I was a small business owner in Manhattan for over 20 years before my work as District Director with the SBA. But it wasn’t until recently that I realized I was also an exporter.
Through my work in the private and public sectors, I never considered myself as an exporter.
And then one day I realized that my biggest client was a company in Australia. The work I was doing every day from New York made me an exporter!
My international clients helped me improve my model while diversifying my services. Being an exporter increased my awareness and my revenues.
I love this about the SBA: I get to repeat this kind of work day in and day out, creating jobs and supporting small businesses in the areas that they need.
Maria Contreras Sweet, the administrator of the SBA, likes to say that the SBA stands for Smart, Bold and Accessible. And I think this is really what today’s event is all about. It’s a Smart, Bold and Accessible opportunity for businesses to create something new.
Standing here this morning, I’m reminded of last year’s winner of our district’s National Small Business Exporter of the Year Award, Mohammed Osman of Karima Shipping.
Mr. Osman identified a need in his native country of Ghana for imported merchandise, and developed a business solution for that real life problem.
He worked with the SBA and our resource partners to develop a business plan and identify citizens of his native Ghana living in New York State who might be his customers.
He attended Import and Export seminars and built his capacity in Trade logistics and International Trade. With all of these tools, Mr. Osman built his company into an international success. It was a great honor to meet him and his family last year and recognize him as our Exporter of the year.
This story reminds me that New York is the business center of the world. International companies want to establish themselves here. Our local firms have a great advantage when it comes to exporting products overseas.
95 percent of the world’s consumers live outside of the U.S.
2/3 of the world’s purchasing power exists in foreign countries.
In 2012, national export numbers in the US hit a high of $22 trillion, supporting almost 10 million jobs.
In this same year we had record levels of trade with China ($111 billion) and South Africa ($8 billion).
New York is the second largest export market in the US, behind Houston, which I don’t understand.
We’re New York—the business capital of the world!—we should be #1!
Of the 34, 321 companies that exported from our area in 2012, 96% of them were small businesses.
This activity brought in $105.3 billion in total export dollars.
New York’s top five export markets are: Hong Kong, Canada, Switzerland, China and Israel.
We export manufactured goods, chemicals, computers and electronics, agricultural products, to name a few.
There are huge markets beyond our borders which mean huge opportunities and economic support. If your company is successful in domestic markets, then there’s a good chance it will be successful in international markets too.
I hope you take advantage of this great opportunity to network with other business owners. You never know where that next creative spark will come from.
I also want to take this opportunity to welcome all of our visiting guests today. We’ve got representatives from 13 different countries including Turkey, Taiwan, Bangladesh, South Africa and China.
There are more than 30 government and business organizations in attendance to provide information and answer questions.
We can call it an international buffet of information and opportunity.
Today’s program will be delivered in three different conference rooms:
- Presentations on “How to Start a Business in New York” will be held in Room H
o Some topics include: Tax Issues for Small Businesses, Business Structures, Regulations and Marketing.- “How to do business in Foreign Countries” will be in Room I
o This is where you can hear our international participants and those with connections to foreign markets. Learn more about doing business with the EU, in the Caribbean and Taiwan.- Discussions in Room J will focus on “Exporting to the Global Market”.
o Presenters will talk about Export Financing, Researching and Outreaching to a Global markets and E-commerce with China, and more.Before I pass the microphone I want to give a special thanks to all of my staff who worked hard to put this event on today.
John Mallano, Man-Li Lin, Jennifer Jackson,
And all of the presenters and participants.
I also want to take this opportunity to plug this year’s National Small Business Awards which we’ll be awarding next spring.
A minute ago I mentioned Mohammed Osman, who received our 2016 Exporter of the year award.
We have several categories for these awards, including Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Family Owned Business of the Year, Small Business Person of the Year, and Exporter of the Year.
More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and they create about two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year.
Each spring, the SBA highlights the impact of outstanding entrepreneurs and small business owners from all 50 states and U.S. territories.
In New York, we will be celebrating on Tuesday, May 2 nd . And while this might seem like far in the future, the deadline for nominations is Tuesday, January 10 th , which is really just around the corner.
Learn more about these awards and who qualifies by going to www.sba.gov/ny and look beneath the heading “Business Resources and News.”
Feel free to ask anyone of our staff about the awards, and contact our office if you have any questions.
Thank you again for coming out today and I look forward to another great forum.
