New ground: emerging nations offer sales opportunities to small U.S. companies

Black Enterprise, Oct, 1995 by Rhonda Reynolds

Africa is more than the Motherland to E. Gerald Parker; it's a land of business opportunity. The president of two-year-old Pharmaceutical Sources International in Cincinnati is looking for African buyers for his new Safe Snap syringe, which has a retractable needle.

Parker developed the needle in response to a major medical concern: the fear of getting pricked by syringes contaminated with Hepatitis B or HIV. Now the pharmacist is selling Safe Snap to clinics throughout several African countries, particularly South Africa.

Pharmaceutical Sources, which has five employees, had sales of about $250,000 last year. But Parker is already close to sealing a $500,000 deal to sell Safe Snap to a South African clinic. He hopes to gain a significant market share in the Motherland by next year. South Africa bought $20 billion worth of global goods and services in 1994; $2.4 billion of that came from the U.S.

Parker exemplifies a new breed of black entrepreneurs who are answering Commerce Secretary Ron Brown's call to export products to emerging nations. Many of these new markets are rebuilding their economies and are in need of basic supplies.

A big part of the Commerce Department's mission is to support U.S. commercial interests and to assist the business community in expanding sales and market share around the globe. Why the global push? Because U.S. exports equal U.S. jobs, says Brown. He believes that firms engaged in import and export stimulate economic growth and employment in this country.

Even though two-thirds of U.S. goods are exported by multinational corporations, the Commerce Department is currently assisting small and midsize firms.

The U.S. is still the world's largest exporter. In 1994, U.S. imports reached $664 billion, and exports totaled $513 billion, accounting for 12.3% of the world's total export market. And U.S. goods increased to 7.6% of the nation's gross domestic product, up from 7.3% in 1993.

The Commerce Department notes that the top emerging markets for U.S. exports are the Chinese Economic Area (made up of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan), India, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Poland, South Korea, Turkey, Argentina and South Africa. The largest categories of goods sold overseas include capital goods (planes, etc. , industrial supplies and materials, automotive products, consumer products, foods and beverages.

According to the Commerce Department, the Chinese Economic Area is the largest emerging market-China alone has a combined population of 1.2 billion--and has enjoyed an annual economic growth rate of 13% in the past two years.

Harold D. Span, president of SASCO Inc., a New York-based export company, has been trading with China since 1983. The trade veteran exports toys, foods and even aluminum caps used for soda cans. But the latest thing he's hawking to China is chicken feet, which the Chinese consider a delicacy.

Span says he opted to trade with China because all purchases and payment for exports are guaranteed through letters of credit issued by the Bank of China. "Importing is the passport to the future. Unless you're involved in global trade, you've written your obituary," says Span.

Regardless of which products you want to export and which emerging nations you want to trade with, the key is to do your homework and study the market. To help gather information on trading with emerging markets, contact the Commerce Department at 800-336-4307. Also, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Network (202-463-5460) enables small companies to buy, sell and invest in markets around the world using their computers.