Get Started: Export help for small businesses

Two members of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship have introduced a bill that would require the Small Business Administration to help small companies export their goods and services.

The Go Global Act of 2012 would allow the SBA to hire 20 more staffers to give counseling and financing help to small businesses. It would also require the SBA to develop a program to train employees of the Office of International Trade to work with small businesses.

The bill was introduced by Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who chairs the committee, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. The legislation also would require the SBA to develop a small business export strategy that will include recommendations for improving export opportunities for small companies.

The strategy would also include recommendations for protecting small businesses from unfair trade practices by other countries. And it would include recommendations for getting more input from small businesses as the government develops its trade and export policy.

According to Census Bureau figures, small businesses had a total of $276.7 billion in exports in 2010. That was nearly a quarter of the country’s total exports of $1.1 trillion.