Photo: Bruce Ashburn, Silver City Small Business Development Center director, and Flo Dow, New Mexico SBDC assistant director of marketing and professional development, check out the Silver City SBDC website.

The New Mexico Small Business Development Center, including the Silver City SBDC, is promoting two programs to help small businesses get into the exporting business and learn how to become a government contractor.

The Gateway to Exporting, a two-year program, which is funded by a U.S. Small Business Administration grant, was kicked off at the North American Free Trade Act conference in June this year. The funding will expire in December 2012, with the hope of continuing it.

Although the program is focusing on Mexico as an importer of U.S. goods and services, five international consultants can help any small business export to anywhere in the world.

The lead group for the program is the International Business Accelerator and Jerry Pacheco, with the New Mexico Small Business Development Center teaming up with the Small Business Administration, through the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, to launch the Gateway to Exporting Program.

The SBJA of 2010's purpose was to at least double U.S. exports.

The Gateway to Exporting program will help New Mexico businesses become export-ready, with access to international trade resources; promote products to selected target markets; identify and meet with buyers for products and services; conduct market research; and obtain business-to-business referrals.

Pacheco and the team of consultants are willing to visit communities to explain the program and help businesses take advantage of it.
According to Flo Dow, New Mexico SBDC assistant director of marketing and profession development, Pacheco has said that about 30 to 40 businesses have become exporters as a result of the program.

For more information on the program, visit the website www.nmiba.com, and click on Gateway to Exporting or contact Bruce Ashburn, Silver City Small Business Development Center director, at 575-538-6320.

The second program available to small businesses is the Procurement Technical Assistance Program, know as PTAP. The program is a partnership with the NMSBDC and the logistics arm of the Department of Defense.

According to Dow, the program prefers to work with existing businesses to help them become contract-ready to sell products or services to local, state and federal entities.

The seven statewide consultants will help people get government contracts and become 8-A certified, so their information can be found in a national database. The higher the certification, the closer to the top of the list a business can move so that it is more likely to receive government contracts.

Ashburn noted that Silver City is considered a historically underutilized business zone, which allows contractors in the area to move up in the listings.

Dow said workshops are available at no-to-low cost for those interested in becoming government contractors. She also suggested that Company A could team up with Company B to handle the scope of a job.

Ashburn pointed out that contracts could be with local government agencies, including the schools and hospital, and any state agency, as well as federal agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service.

He also put in a plug for the Silver City SBDC.

"We are always available to help a business with opening or expanding," Ashburn said. "Our confidential counseling covers cash flow, marketing, and income statements. We also offer workshops on various topics. There are 20 SBDCs throughout the state, so if we don't have the answer, we can get it from the pooled knowledge in the 19 other centers."

Dow noted that the NMSBDC is accredited by the National SBDC.

"We thank the partnership the state organization has with colleges and universities and the legislators for continuing to support our efforts to help businesses in New Mexico," Dow said.