Norfolk event aims to help local businesses reach global markets

Small and medium-sized businesses are the cornerstone of local economies. Their success is felt far and wide and reaches deep into their communities. Yet, many entrepreneurs fail to take full advantage of the benefits that come from selling to global markets.

Consider this: If your business isn’t exporting, you’re missing out on the 95% of world consumers who live outside of the United States. And if you’ve encountered success here in the United States — one of the world’s most competitive markets— you’re likely already a great candidate for expanding internationally.

Virginia has a great track record. In 2020, some 84% of Virginia goods exporters were small and medium-sized enterprises. Furthermore, new data published by the U.S. Commerce Department this month shows that Virginia merchandise exports reached more than $25 billion in 2022, an impressive 25% increase over 2021. That’s great news, but we at the U.S. Commercial Service want to ensure we’re also reaching small and medium-sized businesses in underrepresented areas.

Proudly patriotic, Virginia is home to a strong military and veteran community with the fastest-growing veteran population in the nation, where 1 in 10 Virginians is a veteran. Moreover, veteran-owned businesses are among the many firms that thrive on international trade due to their effective decision-making, perseverance, strong ethics and compliance, and, most of all, a global understanding — as we’ve seen through Commerce’s VetsGoGlobal initiative.

Continuing this trend of export success, dozens of veteran-owned and other businesses from Norfolk and beyond will participate this morning in the U.S. Commercial Service’s Building Bridges to Global Markets program at the MacArthur Memorial & Visitors Center and the Old Dominion University’s Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. During the event, one extraordinary regional small business — Regulus Global of Virginia Beach — will be presented with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Export Achievement Award.

Building Bridges is an integral part of Commerce’s Global Diversity Export Initiative, which provides export assistance, support and resources to meet the needs of businesses in underserved communities, including rural-based, veteran-owned, minority-owned, LGBTQI+ and womenowned companies, among others.

Norfolk was selected for this no-cost event today due to its strategic location in southeastern Virginia and its diverse and rural business community, including its many veteran-owned businesses. Home to the Port of Virginia, Norfolk is a vital economic engine and trade artery for the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and internationally.

And while the U.S. Commercial Service offers free virtual events year-round, today’s Building Bridges program offers face-toface networking with trade experts. It includes onsite panels designed to address common challenges facing small and medium-sized businesses, such as leveraging reliable market intelligence, diversifying customer markets, obtaining international partner contacts, trade event support, and financing and insurance.

For example, many companies are unaware of export credit insurance, which can protect export sales against non-payment by the international buyer, offered by the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank) and the private sector. Program participants will further benefit from individualized counseling and on-site services after each event. This is the U.S. Commercial Service’s second year hosting this series nationwide. Previous and Virginia attendees represent an impressive cross-section of small to medium-sized businesses in industry sectors ranging from chemicals, computers and electronic products to processed foods, transportation equipment, manufactured commodities, fabricated metal products, machinery and more.

But our support for your business doesn’t end today. As you plan your export strategy, make sure to reach out to our U.S. Commercial Service office in nearby Richmond.

Working in partnership with ODU, the Veterans Business Outreach Center, the Virginia SBDC and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the U.S. Commercial Service will continue to help Virginia businesses export and expand into new markets.