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2021 National Small Business Exporter Summit

You work hard every day to be a best-in-class manufacturer or service provider. Many of you have customers around the world.  Many more of you are exploring the potential and may like to hear about the real-world challenges involved and find out what resources are available to support exporting.  The upcoming National Small Business Exporter Summit is the perfect opportunity!

The 2021 National Small Business Exporter Summit will be held on February 24 and March 3 at 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. EST on both dates. The summit features top small business exporters from around the US who have earned the prestigious “E” award for exporting from their state (Governor’s Export Achievement Award) or the Presidential “E” award. Many Honorees have been nominated by their local DEC (District Export Council). Several Honoree Presenters share their best practices and lessons learned in approximately 30-minute focused remarks/Q&A. Attendeeshave the flexibility to join any/all event sessions live and also to access recordings of each session post-event. To review the summit as information continues to be updated please visit https://nasbite.net/exporters-summit/  The National Small Business Exporter Summit is an annual event hosted by NASBITE International, with the 2021 offering marking the event’s 5th anniversary.

NASBITE embraces virtual. We’ve taken the opportunity to embrace the “new” and look forward to providing increasing value to summit registrants. While hosting of the 2020 summit was disrupted by COVID, we were successful in taking the event online, and we were able to recognize the outstanding export efforts of 19 companies from 12 states across the US.  Attendees (75-100) were on hand to listen, learn, share, and engage in some very high-level networking opportunities. During the 2021 Exporter Summit, we will once again recognize another group of Outstanding Exporter Honorees representing a broad sector of industries from all across the US. Focused on top small and medium-sized exporters, attendees have the opportunity to connect with Presenters, Honorees and other Attendees.

Wisconsin. Over the years, several Wisconsin exporters have been invited to participate as Successful Exporter Honorees or have also been Honoree Presenters. These include Johnsonville LLC (Sheboygan Falls), Lucigen (Middleton), Connoils and Hydro-Thermal (Waukesha), Gamber-Johnson (Stevens Point), Patriot Taxiway (Lomira), Solberg/Perimeter (Green Bay), S3 International (Milwaukee).  ME Dey of Milwaukee (international freight forwarder) has helped sponsor the summit. Among numerous national Partner/Sponsors are the SBDC, SBA, EXIM Bank, US Department of Commerce, and several trade organizations such as WEGG (Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global).

NASBITE is also the home of the Trade Passport program, resources for learning how-to export, aimed at providing on-demand training, local resources, and rapid expert assistance to USA-based small-medium-sized businesses that are focused on international trade as a pathway to business growth.  This is a collaborative venture between NASBITE International (project lead) and numerous state-level partners including the Wisconsin SBDC https://www.trade-passport.org/about/   NASBITE is also the home of the CGBP (Certified Global Business Professional credential and include myself, and SBDC’s Chad Hoffman, and other Wisconsinite’s readers may recognize https://nasbite.org/cgbp/about/   Readers have learned about both of these programs in other communications with the Wisconsin SBDC Network’s Go Global initiative and newsletter.

If you have any questions about the 2021 National Small Business Exporter Summit or any other NASBITE information, you may contact me at

Aleda Bourassa CGBP, International Customs Services, Inc. www.icsbroker.com
NASBITE International Board of Governors
National Small Business Exporters Summit Planning Committee