Pitt earns national recognition for supporting small businesses
PITTSBURGH, PA — The University of Pittsburgh’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) was named Regional Export Promotion Program Member of the Year by the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) during its 2022 annual conference.
EXIM Bank is an independent federal agency that provides competitive and necessary export credit to overseas purchasers of U.S. exports to promote and support American jobs.
The Pitt SBDC’s mission is to grow the economy of western Pennsylvania by providing entrepreneurs with the education, information and tools necessary to build successful businesses. Their goal is to help businesses thrive while opening windows of opportunity for entrepreneurs to fuel the commonwealth’s economy and has been recognized by the Pennsylvania SBDC as both a Center of Excellence in Digital Services and Center of Excellence in the Supply Chain.
“At the Pitt Small Business Development Center(SBDC) we help clients from throughout the region export their products and services, from industrial chemicals and coatings to food items to camping trailers to gardening soil,” said Brent Rondon, Pitt SBDC Sr. Management Consultant for International Trade. “Through the Pitt SBDC’s International Trade services, companies get international business consulting as well as training seminars and webinars to help them with their exporting initiatives. Our goal is to assist Western PA companies that are new-to-export as well as those that are already exporting.”
Pitt’s SBDC is a resource for small business owners across Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence and Washington counties, providing thousands of hours of consulting services, workshops and other support at all stages of the business lifecycle.
This is the second time in recent years that Pitt has earned national recognition for helping Pennsylvania’s economy and local entrepreneurs. In 2020, the SBDC was chosen by the U.S. Small Business Administration as the No. 1 small business development center in the country.
“The knowledge that local resources have of their markets is invaluable to our mission at EXIM,” said EXIM President and Chair Reta Jo Lewis in a press release. “We look forward to continuing our work with the Small Business Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh as we advance the global competitiveness of small business exporters.”