The World Trade Center Arkansas and the Arkansas District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration hosted the Export Fair on Tuesday, May 7, at the World Trade Center Arkansas in Rogers. Nearly 35 business professionals attended the fair, which was designed to connect local businesses to organizations and experts that can help them grow international sales.

"Our goal with this event was to bring in significant subject matter experts and representatives who could inform participants about some of the most critical export related issues," said Denise Thomas, director of Africa, Middle East and European trade for the World Trade Center Arkansas. "In addition to simply informing them, we wanted to give provide advice, tools and steps to overcome these issues."

At the Fair these experts and organization representatives gave presentations and shared personal and professional experience. Speakers included Teresa Farah of TM Law Firm; Heather Dumas of HD Customs Brokers; Kaylynn Jordan, President of Ethical Sourcing Network; Angela Grayson of Precipice IP; Bob Meehan of SCORE; and Jeff Salzer of the SBA Arkansas District office with other SBA representatives.

Presentations ranged from the legal issues of exporting to the benefits of finding local distributors in foreign markets and touched on many fundamental importing and exporting issues.

The fair was the first part of the WTCAR and the Arkansas SBA's 2019 Summer Export Series and was an important event for National Small Business Week 2019 which took place from May 5 to May 11. As a part of this effort to acknowledge the contributions of small businesses in Arkansas, the WTCAR and the Arkansas SBA partnered to produce an episode of the Gateways podcast detailing the many services and programs available for business growth through the SBA.

"We received positive feedback from attendees and are very hopeful about moving forward with our summer series and even continuing the series in the years to come," Thomas said.

The mission of the World Trade Center Arkansas is to grow trade and increase Arkansas exports by connecting Arkansas businesses to the world through international trade services. The Center is part of the University of Arkansas and serves as the trade promotion arm for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. For more information and valuable updates, please follow the Center on Facebook and Twitter or subscribe to the World Trade Center Arkansas newsletter.