Business owners encouraged to go global

Several business owners in southern Colorado might go global. Sen. Michael Bennet is encouraging companies to consider exporting abroad. About 30 business owners and entreprenuers gathered in Pueblo Wednesday to hear from several agencies what it takes.

Karen Gerwitz with World Trade Center Denver says Colorado’s main international export partners are Canada and Mexico. She says the main reason companies don’t expand abroad is because they don’t know how to.

“We really want to try to help companies down in Pueblo to expand their markets, get out of this economic slump and really start growing,” said Gerwitz, president of World Trade Center Denver.

“You gotta go where the money is and we all know that China’s economy is on the way up and they have money to spend,” said Tony Hass, a rancher in Las Animas County. Hass is looking into opening a beef-processing plant in southeastern Colorado and then selling the beef to China. He attended Wednesday ‘s meeting because he says he didn’t know what kind of funding was available to him. Fortunately for him, a Department of Agriculture employee was at the meeting and says there’s a good amount of federal funding available for agriculture business.

Other agencies offer business development grants. For more information, visit www.wtc.org and www.advancecolorado.com