SBA awards Montana $526,000 for trade and export promotion

From U.S. Small Business administration

HELENA — The U.S. Small Business Administration awarded the Montana Department of Commerce a $525,814 grant to assist small businesses hoping to export their products and services abroad. 

Nationwide, the SBA awarded $19 million in funding to 48 state international trade agencies through its competitive State Trade Expansion Program — STEP — to support export growth among American small businesses.

“Over two-thirds of the world’s purchasing power resides outside the United States. That makes exporting a critical economic driver for Montana small businesses that are ready to expand their reach into new and increasingly borderless global markets,” said SBA Regional Administrator Dan Nordberg.

“These STEP awards, in addition to SBA’s export loans and U.S. Export Assistance Centers, make sure that small businesses in Big Sky Country have the tools, resources and relationships they need to take their businesses global.”

STEP is designed to meet three distinctive goals: to increase the number of small businesses that export, to increase the value of exports for small businesses, and to increase the number of small businesses that explore significant new trade opportunities.  Expanding the base of small business exporters and making the process as easy as possible is a key component of the Administration’s small business strategy.

This year, Montana’s STEP grant has updated its guidelines to support export marketing activities including international website globalization and e-Commerce fees which are now eligible grant activities with a maximum grant of $10,000, and international digital marketing fees which can be funded with a maximum grant of $6,000. The new activities, along with all previous activities, are now eligible for up to a 75 percent reimbursement, an increase from the previous 50 percent reimbursement rate.

“Whether it’s research and U.S. Commercial Service programs, trade missions, marketing and website services, compliance testing or intellectual property protection, this award will help Montana small businesses enter global markets and make sales,” SBA’s Montana District Director Brent Donnelly said. “The STEP program ensures that Montana’s small businesses are equipped to succeed globally.”

Since the beginning of the STEP program nine years ago, more than $150 million in grants have been awarded to fund export opportunities and increase the footprint of small businesses in countries all over the world.

The 2020 STEP awards will allow states to assist small businesses with the information and tools they need to succeed in export-related activities that are in line with the objectives of the program. These objectives include participation in foreign trade missions, foreign market sales trips, services provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce, as well as design of International marketing campaigns, export trade show exhibits, training workshops and more.

STEP awards are managed and provided at the local level by state government organizations. The program is managed at the national level by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of International Trade.

As the federal government’s main voice and go-to resource small businesses, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster such as the COVID 19 pandemic.

For more information on Montana’s STEP program, people can visit http://www.marketmt.com/export .