Global Impact

Export Education
Export Tennessee program targets small businesses

State leaders organized a business expedition to Australia last year to expand trade opportunities there.

When Paul Bonovich established CiS Inc. in 1997, he was its only employee. Today the business, which sells parts for earth-moving equipment used in construction and other industries, has nine employees and customers as far away as Australia.

The business grew with support from Export Tennessee – a program of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development that offers training and resources to small- and medium-sized businesses to encourage the expansion of foreign exporting. Last year Bonovich traveled to Australia with a group associated with the program and met with customers in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

“It brought business to the table,” says Bonovich, whose business is based in Alcoa, outside Knoxville. “The way I look at it, I pretty much covered the cost of my trip just through my business there, and anything we do in the future will just be a bonus.”

Tennessee has earned a reputation in recent years for landing new business, most notably Nissan’s North American headquarters in 2005. But the state also has sought to expand foreign trade – already a strong part of the state economy, says Mark Drury, assistant commissioner with the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

“The goal of our department is job creation in Tennessee, and 80 percent of the jobs that we worked with companies to create have come from existing industry within Tennessee,” he says. “So while there is a lot of attention that’s focused on our efforts to attract companies from elsewhere to come and locate in Tennessee, we’re devoting a lot of time and effort and resources to helping companies grow.”

State leaders partnered with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its TradeRoots program – established with a grant from Congress to promote foreign exporting among small- and medium-sized businesses – to establish Export Tennessee. The state-funded program organizes conferences and other training for business leaders. Last year’s trip to Australia brought together business leaders with their Australian counterparts. In April, a delegation from China also visited Nashville to talk about expanding trade there.

State leaders are putting together an electronic newsletter to keep businesses posted on foreign opportunities and delegations visiting the region. The Department of Economic and Community Development also is setting up an office in China – its latest among foreign offices already located in Canada, Germany and Japan.

Bonovich says his Australian trip expanded his exporting and his vision.

“You feel pressure every day just to deal with your daily paperwork,” he says. “With the resources that the [state] brings to the table, it makes it easier to look beyond your immediate neighborhood, your immediate marketplace and to markets that hold some interesting opportunities.

I don’t know if we would have done this otherwise.”

Story by Amy Green

Additional Global Impact Articles