Duquesne University's Small Business Development Center Joins Ex-Im Bank as City/State Partner for Support Small Business Financing

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Western Pennsylvania entrepreneurs can access the services and export-financing products of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) and learn more about exporting as a result of an agreement signed recently by the Ex-Im Bank and Duquesne University's Small Business Development Center (SBDC).

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110414/MM83673LOGO)

SBDC has joined the roster of Ex-Im Bank's City-State Partners to increase local export activity and create jobs, and is the agency responsible for working with businesses in the western Pennsylvania area.

"Ex-Im Bank City/State partners are an intricate part of our mission to finance small businesses," said Ex-Im Bank Chairman Fred P. Hochberg. "Duquesne University's Small Business Development Center has a bold program that will expand export finance opportunities to more Pennsylvania businesses to create more U.S. jobs."

Duquesne's SBDC is one of only three in the state to partner with the Ex-Im Bank. The SBDC offers no-cost, confidential consulting services and training workshops for small businesses and those who are thinking of starting a business in the region and looks forward to helping local firms increase their global reach.

"Businesses, particularly small ones, traditionally have been unfamiliar with Ex-Im's wide array of lending products and opportunities," said Dr. Mary McKinney, SBDC director.  "Ex-Im can be an active partner with businesses to help them secure export orders and comfortably offer credit terms to the foreign buyer that are backed up by Ex-Im's export credit insurance."

Founded in 1986, its services are available on the Duquesne campus and in outreach locations in Beaver, Butler and Lawrence counties, and in the Mon Valley.

In FY 2011, Ex-Im Bank authorized more than $890 million to help over 100 Pennsylvania businesses export. This figure included more than $165 million in small-business authorizations. At the end of FY 2011, approximately 18 percent of Ex-Im's Pennsylvania authorizations supported small businesses.

Since January 2011, Ex-Im Bank has expanded its outreach to small businesses through the Global Access for Small Business initiative. The initiative is dedicated to dramatically increasing the number of small businesses exporting goods and services to maintain and create U.S. jobs. Global Access is supported by a wide variety of representatives from business, financial and government partners and is part of President Obama's National Export Initiative (NEI). Small-business owners have been given access to these representatives for one-on-one trade counseling at 28 Global Access forums held across the country.

To learn more about upcoming forums, see the Global Access events page on Ex-Im Bank's website. Additional information on financing exports for all companies located in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Region can be obtained from Ex-Im Bank's Regional office located in the US Export Assistance Center at 33 Whitehall Street, 22nd Floor – Suite B, New York, NY 10004 or call (212) 809-2650.

About Duquesne University

Founded in 1878, Duquesne is consistently ranked among the nation's top Catholic research universities for its award-winning faculty and tradition of academic excellence. Duquesne, a campus of more than 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students, has been nationally recognized for its academic programs, community service and commitment to sustainability.

About Ex-Im Bank

Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees, export-credit insurance and financing to help foreign buyers purchase U.S. goods and services.

Ex-Im Bank approved more than $32 billion in total authorizations in FY 2011 -- an all-time Ex-Im record. This total includes more than $6 billion directly supporting small-business export sales -- also an Ex-Im record. Ex-Im Bank's total authorizations are supporting more than $40 billion in U.S. export sales and an estimated 300,000 American jobs in communities across the country. For more information, visit www.exim.gov.

SOURCE Export-Import Bank of the United States