Introduction to a video tutorial from Export-U.com.

The University of Georgia’s Small Business Development Center has launched an online video training Web site to help small business owners export and will present the project at a national conference in Washington March 7.

The center coordinates a network of 17 statewide offices of business consultants working in the state university system.  Most are affiliated with the University of Georgia but other public universities run offices in their areas.

Robert Erwin, a business consultant in the center’s Gwinnett-based international trade department, said that each office works to make small businesses in their area more profitable.  He added that helping these companies export accomplishes that goal while also strengthening the U.S. economy.

Mr. Erwin said that presenting Export-U.com at the annual conference of Nasbite International, an umbrella organization for nationwide trade assistance centers based at Texas Tech University, might draw greater attention and funding to the project.

He also said that the center currently funds Export-U in partnership with Atlanta’s U.S. Export Assistance Center, an office of the Department of Commerce focused on helping businesses sell overseas.

The site currently features four video tutorials with University of Georgia trade experts covering market research and cost analysis.  Mr. Erwin said that the business development center plans to add four to six more tutorials this year covering logistics, financing and mitigating risk.

He also said that he hopes to expand the site by adding courses currently offered only in traditional, face-to-face consultations. Eventually, free registration will be required so the center can monitor who is accessing information on the site.

As Export-U becomes more widely used, he said, the site will increase ad space and seek private sector sponsors.

He added that use of the Internet format allows businesspeople to access export information at their convenience.

“We get people calling us all the time and they need help ASAP,” he said. “Gradually we evolved to the idea of presenting the information online so they could get it right away.”

In addition, Mr. Erwin said that the center’s clients are typically people who make their own products and sell them through a Web site.  When they begin attracting international orders, many of these businesspeople do not know how to handle them.

“Even someone who’s been running a business for decades, when they go overseas they get all excited and they take risks abroad that they wouldn’t take here in Atlanta,” he said.

The center works with other organizations designed to help businesses export including the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Center for International Business Education and Research and federal departments including the Minority Business Administration and Small Business Administration. 

Mr. Erwin estimated that the center works with 350-400 companies a year. He also said that center officials are open to suggestions from businesspeople and trade authorities as to what content should be included on Export-U.