The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
City teams with CSU
Export Assistance Network offers export resources to businesses
The Mentor International Trade Initiative continues to broaden its horizons, but this time closer to home.
MITI has joined forces with Cleveland State University’s Small Business Development Centers Export Assistance Network.
EAN offers workshops and training sessions for businesses and professionals interested in exporting, regulatory trade policies and procedures, expanding into international markets, or looking to update their knowledge and skill set surrounding international business.
The network provides export resources to businesses in 15 counties in Northern Ohio.
Their staff of trade counselors have worked with a wide variety of Ohio manufacturers,” said Kevin Malecek, Mentor economic development and international trade director. “They bring practical experience as well as a depth and breadth of knowledge that will benefit Mentor companies.”
The goal is to maximize MITI’s capabilities and fully leverage the expertise and resources that EAN provides, particularly as it relates to what are considered small-to-medium businesses.
“Many of Mentor’s manufacturers are primed and ready to access interna
tional markets, and the Export Assistance Network can provide them with the tools and guidance necessary to work around any barriers and challenges to expand their reach and boost profits,” Mentor City Manager Ken Filipiak said.
Part of the program will include establishing contact hours by appointment at the Mentor Municipal Center as well as in-person appointments at corporate locations.
EAN will also participate in MITI-hosted professional training events and seminars.
“We’re looking forward to deepening our relationship with the businesses of Mentor so they can continue receiving every advantage when it comes to global competitiveness,” said EAN
Director Nate Ward. “Our close relationship with the state, federal and regional export resources means that Mentor’s companies can depend on us to steer them toward the right partners that reduce their costs, get them to market quicker and up to speed with the industry’s best practices in global trade.”
Since its i nception i n 2014, MITI has helped Mentor-based companies expand their business interests to foreign markets around the globe through direct engagement and partnership arrangements with organizations dedicated to economic development and international trade, officials say.
MITI has conducted foreign trade missions to the United Kingdom and Germany, and has carried Mentor’s message to major international trade fairs in the advanced manufacturing, aerospace and medtech sectors.
The group has also hosted trade contingents from the UK, Germany, Spain and Croatia, and recently held a virtual trade conference that was attended by more than 30 companies worldwide.
The city had to scratch its in-person trade mission this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are plans to resume a mission in 2021.
“In the meantime, our office has had regular video conference calls with companies and organizations from the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany,” Malecek said.