San Antonio, April 13, 2015 – The International Trade Center, a Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Institute for Economic Development, announced today that through their SBDCGlobal.com program, they have completed the 2015 SBDC Trade Advisor Certification four-module training series.
Started as an annual webinar training series in 2012, the SBDCGlobal.com Trade Advisor Certification Series is designed for small business advisors working in the US SBDC network. It provides a solid foundation of knowledge to begin or continue to successfully assist clients in international trade activities. The completion of all four modules, including assigned casework and a final case study to be reviewed by International Trade Center Staff, will grant attendees a SBDCGlobal.com Trade Advisor Certificate.
Topics for the series included: skills that SBDC advisors need in order to build a client base that will allow them to create economic impact; how to structure the advising engagement for maximum results; the details of working with international trade market research and data analysis; how to present results to clients and keep a client base; and concluded with an export client case study that attendees had to work on. The 2015 series trained 77 SBDC advisors from 54 centers in the US.
UTSA International Trade Center Assistant Director Doug Smith and Senior. International Business Advisor Alberto Rodriguez-Baez, conducted the training February 25 through April 8.
“The Trade Advisor Certification Series is a standard-setting training that provides our colleagues in other SBDCs foundational and specialized trade consulting knowledge”, said Alberto Rodriguez-Baez, Sr. International Business Advisor. “We designed our International Trade Advising guidelines based on our own successful consulting principles and private sector advising best practices, in a manner that can be transferred onto other SBDCs. It’s so exciting to see SBDCs around the country using our trade consulting know-how to assist small and medium businesses in their communities”, added Rodriguez-Baez.
The International Trade Center at UTSA is one of the largest and most successful trade assistance organizations in Texas. It helps companies become globally competitive through technical trade consulting, customized market research and innovative training programs. The center is a specialty SBDC program in the South-West Texas Border SBDC Network. Follow them on Twitter (@TexasTrade) and like them on Facebook (Facebook.com/texastrade).
For more information on the SBDC Advisor Trade Certification Series, visit http://www.sbdcglobal.com/index.php/us/advisor-training-2/advisor-certification-series.html.
