Today in Global Small Business: How to Accommodate Online Customers Worldwide

©iStock/FotoCuisinette

What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• How to tune up your website for global customers (n/c webinar on 5/10); learn from the expert, John Yunker, about what it takes to accommodate online customers worldwide.
• Four small businesses are poised to collaborate with Berkeley Lab through Small Business Vouchers (SBV) pilot and will gain a global competitive advantage.
• How to connect with global prospects and get paid.
• The Body Shop set to launch mobile-first global e-commerce platform to drive forward digital footprint.
• An export program originating in Jamaica is being developed for SMEs to assist in developing the global competitiveness of these entities.
• Google to help train 1,000 SME business leaders in Singapore.

Live in Hawaii? How About Selling to the Rest of the World?

©iStock/7Michael

The Hawaii State Trade and Export Promotion — Export Readiness Program is designed to help small businesses go global.  Hawaii recently received the largest export grant award in the nation!

“A lot of companies, they produce…for the local market,” said DBEDT [Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism] branch chief Mark Ritchie. “(They) think “Oh, could I actually start selling outside of Hawaii?” and that’s what the whole program is about.”

Read more:  Export program helps businesses understand international markets

How Important Are Export Programs for Small Businesses?

iStock/Thinkstock

Very important. The U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship held a hearing at the Port of New Orleans on Keeping America Competitive: Federal Programs that Promote Small Business Exporting. The event included testimony from a number of witnesses. Read more here but let me leave you with an inspiring (yet maddening!) quote:

In her opening statement (PDF), Committee Chair Senator May Landrieu (D.-La.) noted that in 2008, $70 billion in exports maintained or created 600,000 high-paying jobs, and that small businesses make up nearly 97% of exporters nationwide. However, she went on to say, “while most of our exporters are small businesses, most of our small businesses are not exporting. In fact, small businesses make up just more than a quarter of the country’s export volume; trade remains dominated by larger businesses. What’s holding our entrepreneurs back?”

You tell me.