Nevada small-business owners get training in exporting their products

Nevada exports increased 35 percent in the first nine months of the year, as manufacturing, agriculture, and mining sold more goods to foreign countries, a trend state officials would like to have continue or even increase in the coming years.

Exports totaled $8 billion last year, a significant increase from $1.5 billion in 2001, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The question state officials are asking is how can Nevada support successful and startup businesses looking to export their goods to markets worldwide?

Alan Di Stefano, director of global business development with the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development, said it begins with helping businesses market their goods to foreign markets.

"Exporting should be part of your business plan," Stefano told about two dozen business owners Friday during a statewide video conference on how small business owners can get financial assistance in exporting their products.

"We have the resources and funding to get into the hands of small businesses," he said.

Those resources include the Nevada Investment Trade Revenue Opportunities, or NITRO. The grant is designed by the U.S. Small Business Administration and administered by the governor's office to increase the export of Nevada products to foreign countries.

Stefano said the program was funded in part by $203,878 from the SBA. The program's total budget is $271,000 for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. The funds are strictly matching funds, he said.

To be considered for the program, companies have to be in business for at least one year, and demonstrate by tax returns that they are profitable. Stefano said NITRO will even assist business owners in researching the appropriate markets for their products.

"Do you know why you would export?" Stefano asked. "That's because 95 percent of the world's population is outside of the U.S. and 70 percent of GDP is outside the U.S."

Darryl Hill, owner of DCI Motors LLC in Pahrump, traveled Friday to the Sawyer Building looking for help and advice in marketing his custom scooters and a three-wheeled gas disability scooter, known as V2.

"We are designing and manufacturing a new scooter designed for disabled veterans," Hill said. "We have approached the (Veterans Administration). We are also getting interest from Mexico and Brazil."

Hill said there were wounded veterans in every country, with the same problems veterans in the U.S. face every day. DCI Motors, which was founded in 2002, employs 10 people, but that figure is expected to increase by at least 50 with the new V2 gas motor scooter, he said.

The trolleys, trams, electrical vehicles and buses manufacturing by Specialty Vehicles Inc. are already sold around the world. Nancy Munoz, founder and CEO of the Henderson based firm, took part in the seminar because her company is expanding and needs to look at marketing the firm to new foreign markets.

"We are expanding into armored vehicles," Munoz said.

She said Specialty Vehicles began exporting its buses and trams in the 1980s, when the Singapore Zoo saw their advertisement in a U.S. Department of Commerce magazine at the American Embassy.

"That was around 1986," Munoz said. "Now they are one of our biggest clients."

Stefano will host a second video conference on Dec. 10. For more information or to register to attend in Las Vegas, Reno or Carson City, go online to nitro.nv.gov.

Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at csieroty@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @sierotyfeatures on Twitter.