innovate arkansas

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are more than 241,200 companies in Arkansas. Only 1,383 of them export to other countries.

The U.S. Commercial Service, a division of the Department of Commerce, exists to help local businesses - focusing on small to medium-sized firms - tap that potential and connect them to global markets. It operates 104 offices across the country, including one in downtown Little Rock that serves Arkansas. In addition, it has offices in 70 U.S. embassies and consulates throughout the world.

Patricia Gonzales, newly appointed director of the division's U.S. Export Assistance Center Little Rock office, will lead a workshop on Monday designed to help those local firms who do export get more bang for their buck and those local firms who don't understand what their missing.

The workshop, titled "Nine Critical Questions to Ask & Answer About Exporting," is free and will run from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. from the 15th floor conference room of the Metropolitan Tower on Nov. 16.

The questions range from accessing a company's commitment to international customers to its understanding of export-payment mechanisms.

Gonzales is eager to help Arkansas companies realize the vast untapped potential represented in international markets. More than 95 percent of the world's customers are located outside the U.S., she noted.

"My job is to talk to Arkansas companies and help them figure out what they need to do," Gonzales said. "And sometimes we determine that they don't need to export. But Arkansas' basic economy is changing. It's becoming a knowledge-based economy, and there are a lot of very interesting tech-based companies here. There is great market potential overseas, and we work with these companies to make sure their exporting experience is a successful venture."

Gonzales is available to local businesses for assessments and advice. Her experience includes federal appointments to Russia, Singapore, Kuwait and most recently Hungary - she knows how the export business works on both ends. And she notes that the U.S. Commercial Service is in the advocacy business as well. For those Arkansas firms that do export, it is a lobbying resource on their behalf, making sure they encounter only level playing fields.

Gonzales says more workshops will be planned as demand warrants. For more information on Monday's event, visit www.buyusa.gov/arkansas or call Mary Hayward in the Little Rock office at (501) 324-5794.