By : Mark Wilcox
Source : http://www.wyomingbusinessreport.com
Category : Small Business Grant
Earlier this week, the Small Business Administration began accepting applications for $30 million in grants to be used to increase exports by small businesses.
Each state is eligible for one State Trade and Export Promotion (STEP) grant, and only the officially designated state entity responsible for state trade and exports may apply. That entity for the Cowboy State is the Wyoming Business Council.
Last year, Agribusiness Director Cindy Garretson-Weibel was in charge of Wyoming's application to receive more than $42,000 in STEP grant funding for a project to assist small businesses new to exporting by conducting workshops, on-line webinars and face-to-face roundtables. The program was to use existing exporters as mentors to new-to-export companies. The funding was also to support small business participation in a trade mission led by U.S. Wheat Associates.
Wyoming earned a much smaller chunk of the grant funding than any other state with its proposal. Only New Mexico even shared five-digit territory, though it still received almost double the funding at $81,000. The average grant was $577,000 in 2011, the first year of a three-year pilot program under the STEP grant initiative. The program launched as part of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 and authorized up to $90 million in grants to states and U.S. territories to "increase the number of businesses that export, as well as the value of exports by small businesses."
The application period ends May 17, and awards will be presented Sept. 30.
At press time, it is unclear whether small businesses may propose ideas to Wyoming Business Council to be included in the official state application.
On the Web: www.sba.gov/STEP
Source : http://www.wyomingbusinessreport.com/article.asp?id=62506
