Podcasts about Exim Bank

Groong Week in Review - April 20, 2025Topics:US-Iran Talks, Israeli ThreatsTrump Admin Support for AzerbaijanGyumri Election Effect on Civil ContractFomenting Hate towards Artsakh ArmeniansGuest: Hrant MikaelianHosts:Hovik ManucharyanAsbed BedrossianEpisode 429 | Recorded: April 21, 2025https://podcasts.groong.org/429#ArmenianPolitics #VaticanControversy #ArtsakhCrisis #AzerbaijaniPropaganda #USIranTalksVIDEO: https://youtu.be/i0u_ZkVT11cSubscribe and follow us everywhere you are: linktr.ee/groong

14.00 EXIM BANK ออก 5 มาตรการช่วยเหลือ SMEs บรรเทาผลกระทบจากกำแพงภาษีสหรัฐฯ

Economia Underground, um podcast institucionalistaNeste episódio temos o prazer e a honra de receber nossos queridos amigos Hugo Carcanholo e Fabricio Missio, recém agraciados pelo Exim Bank of India BRICS Economic Research Award pelo trabalho "ESSAYS ON EXCHANGE RATE AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE". Neste trabalho, os profs. tratam da relação entre a taxa de câmbio real e o desempenho econômico, analisando possibilidades de impulsionamento deste processo de crescimento econômico no longo prazo.Nos siga no Instagram: @economiaunderground

ส่งออก ยุคทรัมป์ 2.0 ยากกว่าเดิม ธุรกิจไทย ไปทางไหนดี ? ไทยขาดดุลการค้าราว 337,000 ล้านบาท ปี 2567 ต่อเนื่องเป็นปีที่ 3 ประเทศที่ไทยขาดดุลด้วยมากที่สุดคือ จีน และประเทศที่ไทยเกินดุลด้วยมากที่สุด คือ สหรัฐอเมริกา นโยบาย “ทรัมป์ 2.0” เริ่มต้นอย่างเป็นทางการแล้ว หลัง ดอนัลด์ ทรัมป์ เข้าพิธีสาบานตน นโยบายด้านภาษีที่จะเกิดขึ้น จะส่งผลดีหรือผลเสีย ต่อภาคการนำเข้า-ส่งออก ของไทย หลังจากนี้อย่างไร Talk ลงทุนแมน ชวน ดร.รักษ์ วรกิจโภคาทร กรรมการผู้จัดการ ธนาคารเพื่อการส่งออก และนำเข้าแห่งประเทศไทย (EXIM BANK) มาร่วมวิเคราะห์แนวโน้มที่จะเกิดขึ้น พร้อมคำแนะนำสำหรับธุรกิจไทย ให้อยู่รอด และหาโอกาสใหม่ ที่หลายคนอาจคาดไม่ถึง ไปพร้อม ๆ กัน

Sandra Donzella from the U.S. Export-Import Bank discusses how ExIm programs, including export insurance and financing, help U.S. businesses expand internationally while minimizing financial risks.

The Export-Import Bank this year celebrated 90 years in business. Established during the Franklin Roosevelt administration, it helps U.S. exporters with buyer financing they may not find from the private sector. Today the Exim faces a strong challenge from China's export credit agency as the great powers competition intensifies. Here with an update on where the agency is headed, Exim Chairman Reta Jo Lewis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Radhika Das, IFN Journalist, interviews Ric Khoo, Vice President, EXIM Bank of Malaysia, on Islamic finance's enhancement through Credit Takaful

In this episode, we chat to Chris Gibbs, CEO & Executive Director of American Rare Earths, an Australian company that owns and explores rare earths projects in Wyoming and Arizona, USA, and is essential for clean energy technologies. With a degree in business studies, Chris has over 28 years of experience in the resource sector across the globe and is an innovative leader with a proven track record for implementing organisational change and delivering business results. He gives us an overview of American Rare Earths, updates on the projects, their relationship with the Critical Materials Institute, leadership, and culture within organisations, and health and wellbeing so a lot of content to unpack. KEY TAKEAWAYS The company is focused on rare earths and is exploring significant projects in Wyoming and Arizona. It aims to become a major producer of neodymium and praseodymium, which are essential for clean energy technologies. American Rare Earths recently received a $456 million letter of interest from the Ex-Im Bank, which will help finance the construction of their processing and refinery facility. Additionally, they have secured state funding from Wyoming to support their Cowboy State Mine project. The company is committed to advancing sustainable technologies in rare earth processing. They are collaborating with research organisations to explore cleaner methods, including the use of bacteria for separating rare earths, which could reduce chemical usage and environmental impact. Chris emphasises the importance of a strong organisational culture, likening it to a successful sports team. He believes that treating people well, fostering open communication, and creating an environment of trust are crucial for building a motivated and effective workforce. BEST MOMENTS "Our vision here is to create the next major rare earth company in this space. We've got a significant project in the United States, potentially the largest rare earth resource in the heart of the US." "The irony of this is the company is called American Rare Earths and here you are, you're talking to an Australian who's got a lot of experience in North America." "We're the only mining company, aside from ourselves, in Rio Tinto, who are actually partnering or a member of the Critical Materials Institute." "It's not just about physical wellbeing, it's about mental wellbeing. It's about just, quite honestly, about just trying to be better people helping each other." "Every incident and accident is preventable. Health and safety is key, but I always go a little bit further than just the health and safety." VALUABLE RESOURCES Mail:        rob@mining-international.org LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/ X:              https://twitter.com/MiningRobTyson YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DigDeepTheMiningPodcast  Web:        http://www.mining-international.org https://americanrareearths.com.au/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-rare-earths/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfTk3D2fQZ5DSTMKbR1jMVw https://x.com/ARRLimited ABOUT THE HOST Rob Tyson is the Founder and Director of Mining International Ltd, a leading global recruitment and headhunting consultancy based in the UK specialising in all areas of mining across the globe from first-world to third-world countries from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. We source, headhunt, and discover new and top talent through a targeted approach and search methodology and have a proven track record in sourcing and positioning exceptional candidates into our clients' organisations in any mining discipline or level. Mining International provides a transparent, informative, and trusted consultancy service to our candidates and clients to help them develop their careers and business goals and objectives in this ever-changing marketplace. CONTACT METHOD rob@mining-international.org https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/ Podcast Description Rob Tyson is an established recruiter in the mining and quarrying sector and decided to produce the “Dig Deep” The Mining Podcast to provide valuable and informative content around the mining industry. He has a passion and desire to promote the industry and the podcast aims to offer the mining community an insight into people's experiences and careers covering any mining discipline, giving the listeners helpful advice and guidance on industry topics. 

American Rare Earths Non Executive Director Mel Sanderson joined Steve Darling from Proactive to announce major news that the company has received a non-binding Letter of Interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) for a debt funding package of up to $456 million. This funding will support the construction and execution phase of the Cowboy State Mine (CSM) area at Halleck Creek. Sanderson noted that this funding aligns with the entire initial capital expenditure estimate for the CSM as detailed in the March 2024 Scoping Study. The CSM project represents the first phase in the development of the Halleck Creek deposit, a significant rare earth asset crucial to the U.S. supply chain. EXIM, the official export credit agency of the U.S. Federal Government, issued the Letter of Interest based on preliminary information provided by American Rare Earths, highlighting expected U.S. exports and job creation. The funding offer comes under EXIM's Make More In America Initiative, with a proposed repayment tenor of 15 years. This financial backing underscores the strategic importance of the CSM project and its potential to bolster the U.S. rare earths industry. EXIM will now conduct its due diligence before proceeding with any final financing arrangement. The Company will update the market upon finalizing a definitive funding agreement with EXIM. #proactiveinvestors #americanrareearthslimited #asx #arr #otcqx #arrnf #adr #amrry #wyomingrareinc #RareEarthElements #MiningNews #CleanEnergy #WyomingMine #EXIMBank #USInvestment #CriticalMinerals #GreenEnergy #ProactiveInvestors #invest #investing #investment #investor #stockmarket #stocks #stock #stockmarketnews

The impact of climate change on the world around us is there for everyone to see—from stronger and more frequent storms to the loss of Arctic Sea ice.  But Sherri Goodman says the threat isn't just to crops or the polar bears, but to American national security. Sherri Goodman, Senior Fellow at the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program and Polar Institute, and Secretary General of the International Military Council on Climate & Security, is credited with educating a generation of US military and government officials about the nexus between climate change and national security, using her famous coinage, “threat multiplier,” to fundamentally reshape the national discourse on the topic. Sherri serves as Vice Chair of the Secretary of State's International Security Advisory Board and on the EXIM Bank's Council on Climate. A former first Deputy Undersecretary of Defense (Environmental Security) and staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Goodman has founded, led, or advised nearly a dozen research organizations on environmental and energy matters, national security, and public policy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of French Insider, Noel Rimalovski, Managing Director of GH Partners LLC joins host Brian Weimer, Telecom Team Leader of Sheppard Mullin, to discuss cross-border initiatives in the satellite and space industry. These initiatives include France's CoFace compared to The EXIM Bank in the United States, the emerging small launch industry, and the potential for commercial opportunities on the moon.   What We Discussed in This Episode: How does working with France's CoFace differ from working with The EXIM Bank in the United States? How does The EXIM Bank compare to the way France approaches export credit agency financing? Who can access financing from an export credit agency? Can a French company approach The EXIM Bank? Aside from SpaceX, who are some of the players in the nascent industry of small launch providers? Are the small launch providers that have proliferated in recent years targeting SpaceX's market? Is the recent multi-orbit trend lately likely to continue? Why is it essential for space and satellite companies to ensure alignment with their government? Is there any real potential for large-scale commercial opportunities on the moon? Is the space industry transitioning into a more commercial chapter of financing? Is there a push for more sustainable projects in the space industry?   About Brian Weimer Brian Weimer is a partner in Sheppard Mullin's Washington, D.C. office, where he also serves as Leader of the firm's Telecom Team and Co-Leader of the CFIUS Team. Brian provides regulatory and transactional advice across the entire telecommunications ecosystem. As leader of the firm's Space & Satellite practice, he is perhaps best known as a leading lawyer for the satellite industry.   About Noel Rimalovski Noel Rimalovski brings a deep background in M&A and corporate finance to GH Partners.   Throughout his 20-year career, he has provided advisory services to clients, including sales and acquisitions, restructurings, capital raisings, valuations and fairness opinions to domestic and international clients in the Telecommunications, Media, Technology, Industrial and Consumer sectors.  Before joining GH Partners, Noel served as Senior Vice President at Macquarie Capital (USA), 2007-08, in the Telecommunications, Media, Entertainment and Technology Group. While at Macquarie, he completed $1.8bn of investments in the telecommunications sector. Prior to Macquarie, he was Director in the Mergers & Acquisition Group of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and its predecessor Wasserstein Perella, where he completed over $20 billion in transactions in the Industrial, Consumer, Technology, Telecommunications and Media sectors.  Prior to joining WP, Noel gained experience as a banker on structured financings, securitizations and proprietary investments at Millennium Capital Markets and Lazard Frères.   Contact Information Brian Weimer Noel Rimalovski   Thank you for listening! Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every week. If you enjoyed this episode, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show in Apple Podcasts, Deezer, Amazon Music, or Spotify. It helps other listeners find this show.

สินค้าจีนครองตลาด ตัดราคา ผู้ประกอบการไทยต้องทำอย่างไร ให้แข่งขันได้ ? ประเทศไทยมีมูลค่าการนำเข้าสินค้าจีนสูงถึง 4.7 แสนล้านบาท คิดเป็นสัดส่วนราว 41% ของการนำเข้าสินค้าอุปโภคบริโภคทั้งหมดของไทย ซึ่งนับวันสินค้าจีน ยิ่งมีบทบาทมากขึ้น ทั้งตลาดในไทย และตลาดโลก ด้วยราคาต่ำกว่า ในระดับคุณภาพที่ดีขึ้นเรื่อย ๆ ทำให้ผู้บริโภคเลือกใช้สินค้าจากจีนมากกว่า แล้วผู้ประกอบไทยจะสามารถแข่งขันในตลาดสินค้านี้ได้อย่างไร ? Talk ลงทุนแมนชวน ดร.เบญจรงค์ สุวรรณคีรี (ดร.นะโม) รองกรรมการผู้จัดการธนาคารเพื่อการส่งออก และนำเข้าแห่งประเทศไทย (EXIM BANK) มาสะท้อนข้อเท็จจริงที่เกิดขึ้น พร้อมวิเคราะห์ทิศทาง และภาพรวมของสินค้าจีนในไทยหลังจากนี้ จะมีทิศทางอย่างไรต่อไป ?

Tym razem wyjątkowo, cały ranking dotyczy tylko polskiej gospodarki, bo tak wiele w niej się dzieje. Spada sprzedaż mieszkań i spada bezrobocie, choć w przypadku tego drugiego nie oznacza to braku zwolnień grupowych. Wspaniała może być końcówka roku dla przedsiębiorców. Wakacje składkowe od ZUS zostały przyjęte, czyli "rozdawnictwo socjalne na rzecz najbogatszych w państwie". Na jakich zasadach i czyim kosztem? Wiadomo też, jak ma wyglądać struktura finansowania elektrowni atomowej w Polsce. A chodzi o 150 mld złotych! Czy faktycznie udział w finansowaniu będzie miał amerykański EXIM Bank? Co ciekawe, z tej samej instytucji finansowane były pożyczki udzielone Polsce w czasach Edwarda Gierka w latach 70. Banki w kraju liczą zyski. Tylko w ciągu pierwszego kwartału zarobiły więcej niż w całym 2020 i 2021 roku łącznie! Trudno w to uwierzyć, ale pojawiło się narzekanie, że jesteśmy za mało zadłużeni. Jakiej grupy szczególnie dotyczy temat? Z podcastu dowiesz się również, że chętnie inwestujemy w obligacje. Hitem są te trzyletnie. Tematów jest jak co tydzień - 10. Ranking Hirscha: 10. Spada bezrobocie 00:00:55 9. Już wiemy jak sfinansować elektrownię atomową 00:07:30 8. Prąd znowu drożeje na rynku hurtowym 00:17:51 7. 10,3 mld zł zysku w bankach po trzech miesiącach roku 00:25:21 6. Składka na ZUS w 2025 urośnie najmniej od czterech lat 00:32:02 5. Minister finansów: jesteśmy za mało zadłużeni 00:39:15 4. Ogromny popyt na obligacje detaliczne 00:46:10 3. Wakacje kredytowe w TK, agencje ratingowe wskazują na problem z prezydentem Dudą 00:51:54 2. Spadek sprzedaży mieszkań, może nie być kredytu 0 proc. 01:00:56 1. Rok 2025 zaczniemy od obniżek stóp procentowych 01:09:18

Financial Support For Exporting, Trade – Judith Pryor, Export Import Bank of U.S. “We help anyone in the United States who wants to sell their good or service overseas through short, medium, and long-term financing tools for international buyers. It's usually medium term and long term. We provide foreign buyers with the ability to purchase U.S. goods and services. So we're debt financiers to buyers of American goods and services. On the flip side of that, and more often with small businesses than not, we provide export credit insurance, which is short term, 30, 60, 90 days to ensure payment of goods received.” Judith Pryor on Electric Ladies Podcast One of the most important lessons from the pandemic economy is that we can collaborate across borders and industries, even with competitors, when it's for mutual benefit. Addressing climate change takes that kind of collaboration too. These deals are risky and complicated, but there's a small government agency that most businesses and entrepreneurs don't know is there to help structure and secure the deal, reducing the risk. It's called the Export Import Bank of the U.S. (EXIM Bank). Listen to this fascinating interview with Vice Chair and First Vice President of the EXIM Bank, Judith Pryor, on Electric Ladies Podcast with host Joan Michelson (live at the EXIM Bank office). You'll hear: How the EXIM Bank works, deals it can help with and how it can secure financing across borders. How EXIM Bank helps bring electricity to rural areas, and helps U.S. manufacturers secure their supply chains. How EXIM Bank earns billions of dollars in revenue on its deals that goes toward paying down the national debt. Particular support EXIM Bank provides for women- and minority-owned businesses doing trade deals. How economic security and international trade support national security. Plus, insightful career advice “I have a couple of quotes that I have written on my blackboard that I use often when I'm speaking publicly. And one of them is, ‘whatever you are, be a good one.' That was Abraham Lincoln said that. So it's, if this is what you've chosen to do, be good at it. Do give your best, give your all.…You're going to have bad days, but try to make them good days ….I have a fortune cookie phrase that ca literally came out of a cookie that I have taped my monitor upstairs that says, listen to yourself more often. I think as a woman, yes, we tend to question ourselves more.” Judith Pryor on Electric Ladies podcast   You'll also want to listen to: (some might be recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio) Kristen Sullivan, Deloitte Audit Partner & Head of the firm's Sustainability practice, on the final SEC climate rules Polly Trottenberg, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation, on the transportation revolution taking place. Celinda Lake, Founder/CEO of Lake Research Partners, on women voters, climate and the 2024 election. Suzy Deering, (then) Chief Marketing Officer, Ford – on bringing change to a legacy industry as an outsider. Isabelle Grosmaitre, Founder/CEO of Goodness & Co. climate resilience and ESG consulting firm. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our podcasts, blog, events and special coaching offers. Thanks for subscribing on Apple Podcasts or iHeartRadio and leaving us a review! Follow us on Twitter @joanmichelson

In today's episode of the IC-DISC show, Eric Miller from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EX-IM) provides valuable insights into how this 90-year-old institution supports American exporters through strategic financial services. I also learned that EX-IM is one of just two governmental agencies that is an actual profit center. ​ Before joining EX-IM, Eric worked for a privately-held exporter that was a customer of EX-IM. His expertise both inside and outside of EX-IM sheds light on crucial products like export credit insurance, export financing, and financing for foreign buyers. These solutions can alleviate common hurdles inhibiting international trade growth. ​ We also talk through some real-world examples of these various EXIM solutions. This is a must-listen episode for any company doing substantial direct exports.   SHOW HIGHLIGHTS Eric Miller from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) discusses the role of the bank in aiding exporting companies with financial services, operating without costing taxpayers. We delve into how Ex-Im Bank and the Small Business Administration (SBA) offer loan guarantees and insurance to boost companies' borrowing capacity. Eric shares insights into export credit insurance and how Ex-Im Bank's products can help resolve common financial challenges in international transactions. The discussion covers Ex-Im Bank's new domestic project finance product, designed to support projects that have a significant export component. We touch on the requirement for a U.S. majority in product content, aiming to foster manufacturing and job growth in the United States. Eric explains the importance of services, like engineering and architectural services for foreign projects, requiring a U.S. majority for cost. We discuss government resources that can aid businesses in exporting, such as tax incentives and the Gold Key service provided by the U.S. Commercial Services. The episode highlights the STEP grant, a federal program managed by states to support companies with export-related expenses. Eric and I settle the Tex-Mex vs. BBQ debate with an appreciation for both, adding a lighthearted twist to the episode. Contact information for Eric Miller is shared for listeners who wish to connect and further explore export financing options. Contact Details Email (eric.miller@xmexim.gov) Phone Number (713-306-7969) LINKSShow Notes Be a Guest About IC-DISC Alliance About Export-Import Bank of the United States GUEST Eric MillerAbout Eric TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Dave: Hi, this is David Spray. Welcome to another episode of the IC Disc Show. My guest today is Eric Miller of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, colloquially known by the acronym of XM. More useful takeaways for privately held exporting companies than any guest I've ever had. We talked about the history of the XM, its purpose and the four service offerings that they have for privately held exporting businesses. We also talked about three other governmental arms that can also be of value. The other interesting thing about Eric is he actually was a customer of XM early in his career when he was a minority owner of an exporting business. So Eric's a really dynamic guy. He's really passionate about serving exporting companies and he really understands what it's like to be in the shoes of their customers. I really recommend you take a listen to this one. It's really valuable hey good morning Eric. Welcome to the podcast. Eric: Thank you, Dave. It's a pleasure to be here. It's an honor. Thank you. Dave: Well, the pleasure is all mine. So where are you connecting from today? What part of the world are you in at the moment? Eric: The great state of Texas. I'm in the Houston area, born and raised in Texas and been all over the world, but this is home. Oh, that's awesome. Dave: In fact, I think you even stayed close for college, right. Eric: I did. I'm a Cougar alumni, so a proud Houston native. Dave: Awesome, so I'm really excited to have you on. You are with the Export Import Bank of the United States, correct? Correct so we also go by XM Bank, sorry. Eric: Yep. Dave: So tell me about XM, tell me about the kind of the history of the organization and why it exists, and then we'll get it. We'll see where the conversation goes. Eric: Yeah, no, it's a good question. I'm biased, of course, working here, but I think it's one of the most fascinating government agencies that exist. We're set up in the executive branch of the federal government. We've been around for 90 years. Most people haven't heard of us. We are small. We've got anywhere between 400 and 500 people as a part of the agency. Most are headquartered in Washington DC, but we do have a dozen regional offices scattered throughout the US and all the major cities. I cover the Houston office and in doing so, I work with exporters in the great state of Texas and help them export more US made products and services. That's really what we're about here at XM Bank is supporting our US companies that are exporting a US made good or service. We're on the finance side of that help. There's other government agencies. Throughout the whole process of a transaction, whether it's finding buyers, whether it's financing a transaction or even getting grant money to help you export. There's other support, but EXIM is specific on the finance piece. Dave: Okay, and so does EXIM. At the end of the day, you know, does this cost taxpayers, you know, billions of dollars to have this thing in place. Eric: Yeah, that's another good question. So you know, we're one of the few agencies historically that have actually built a surplus of money for the taxpayer. In other words, we're using less than we're making and we send money back to Treasury. It changes year to year, but historically, if you look over the past you the past 20, 30 years we're generating a surplus and sending that back to treasury, so costing taxpayers billions of dollars. No, we like to operate a little differently than a government agency. We are an independent government agency, which means we're not inside a cabinet, but we are set up in the executive branch and we like to say we run at the speed of business Internally, we're very efficient, we're very effective and we're very aggressive, trying to reach out to US companies and get them involved in helping them. Dave: Well, that is awesome. I think it sounds like just a win, right. It's a win for the taxpayers. It's actually a profit center, if you will, for the taxpayers. It's good for the exporters, it's good for the country. Am I correct? I think the only other government agency I've ever heard of that's a profit center is like the Patent and Trademark Office. Have you heard that too? Eric: I think you're right. Now, I haven't researched that myself, just in passing and conversations I've heard of the same and there might be one or two others out there. But yeah, it's an unusual feat of a government agency to kind of generate that surplus for a taxpayer and send it back to Treasury. We do charge, you know, fees and that's how the agency itself makes and brings in money. We charge fees for our different products and you know we have products like export credit insurance. To just kind of dive into what we do, yeah, let's do that In export credit insurance to just kind of dive into what we do yeah let's do that In export credit insurance. So let me take a couple steps back. When an exporter engages in international business, when they find a foreign buyer in a country and they say, hey, here's what I sell, whether it's a product or service, there's always a sticking point. If you will product or service, there's always a sticking point if you will in the negotiations, when it comes to money flow. And what I mean by that is the exporter will say, hey, I'll ship my product or I'll do the service, but go ahead and wire me money before I ship it. And then the importer, the buyer there's always a reluctance to say well, I don't want to wire you money, because what if you close your doors? I never hear from you again. So when there's a new relationship and there's a transaction that's trying to occur, money, the movement of money, is always a sticking point. Who sends it first? And exporters lose a lot of deals because of this. I speak to exporters on a daily basis and every week there's at least one that says I wish I would have known about this. It would have helped me with the last negotiation I had with a foreign buyer who said you know, ship me the product on open account and I'll pay you 60 days later. I wasn't comfortable with that as an exporter so I closed the door and lost the deal. So XM gets involved and we say no, go ahead. And you know, if they're asking for credit terms, go ahead and provide that to them and we will back you up on the payment. We will insure that receivable from default. So if something goes wrong and the foreign buyer doesn't pay back the exporter as intended, we will insure it. They put a claim into us. So when I say claim, just like any other insurance policy, right, you're driving a car and you get to an accident, you file a claim. Something goes wrong with the house, you file a claim with the home insurance provider. We're no different. We're an insurance provider on foreign receivables and the government gets involved in this space because you know, david, look at the trade deficit. Last year we're nearing a trillion dollars. Most years, from year to year in the last 10 years, it's getting worse and worse. So what I mean by that is we're bringing in way more than we're sending out, and what we have found through our research as a government agency is the number one reason more US companies are not sending more product abroad is the number one reason is fear. They are fearful of what that process looks like and the government gets involved. Then we say let's take away that fear. We'll put the risk on our shoulders as it relates to credit insurance. Go ahead and give your foreign buyer terms or open account. We'll shoulder the risk and if they don't pay you, we'll pay you. And we want to help the trade deficit. We want to as a government agency. We want to stimulate US manufacturing. We want to create jobs through exports. That's really what the mission is here at Ex-Im Bank. Dave: Okay, yeah, no, that's really good. And do you specifically underwrite each customer? You know each foreign customer, or is there just you guys? Just use some general parameters. Eric: Yeah, no, it's a good question, like what does that process look like? So we have four different credit insurance policies. We can do everything from hey, we'll underwrite every buyer if you're not comfortable with it. Or hey, we'll give you a policy where you can do your own underwriting according to our credit standards but give you that autonomy inside your company to do it without coming to us every time there's a buyer. So there's different approaches. Most exporters like the autonomy because they can approve a credit right then and there, rather than sending us the paperwork and then us process it and then get back to them. So it just depends on timeline. But yeah, we can do either. Dave: And does the policy insure 100% of the invoice or is there a co-insurance piece where your customer is taking some of the risk? Eric: So the coverage will be anywhere from 90 or 95%, depending on which policy. Most of them are in that 95% range, but some of them are in the 90. Okay, they have the option. Dave: Yeah. So it's enough that as long as the company's got decent margins right, if their margin's greater than 5% or 10%, then their risk is just if a deal goes bad. They didn't make any money on that deal. Eric: That's a fair way of looking at it? Dave: Yep, but they have enough skin in the game that they do want to make a profit on that transaction. They want to all that trouble. So they have a motivation to not, you know, sell to people who you know they have serious concerns about their ethics or integrity or ability to pay. Eric: Exactly, and that's really what it's all about. Hey, I've got a new relationship and you know, name a country. They're asking for open account. And open account, you know, most people are comfortable with that in the US. They have a recourse in mind. Hey, if I don't pay, here's the process where I can recoup. But that all goes away when you send it to a foreign country. Like you know, how do I even get my money if I don't? I'm dealing with a different legal environment, political currency, culture, I mean. The list goes on and on. So that's where, wherein lies the fear for the exporter. And there's government agencies, both local, state and federal, all of them. We want to surround the exporter, prop them up, take away the fear, shoulder the risk and get them comfortable in international business. Dave: Okay, so you may mention the one person you were talking to that said they wish they'd known about XM because they kind of lost this deal. Do you have another case study, if you will, or example and obviously you don't have to mention the specific company by name where everything did work out kind of a success story, where maybe they were not exporting much but with this credit insurance it really helped them materially increase their sales? Do you have any examples like that, just to help people further understand? Eric: Oh yeah, we have a whole list of resources on our website. There's a section dedicated to success stories of all the different companies and we like to diversify the industry and the product and we've got you name it and it's probably up there. One that just immediately comes to mind is a company and they've been kind of a strong advocate of Ex-Im Bank. They're called BuzzBalls and it's alcohol manufactured here in Texas in the Dallas area, and they were very successful domestically. I mean, you can find these little alcohol glasses basically in any kind of retail store in the US. But as they looked abroad they wanted to de-risk a lot of their open account with distributors and really I think the last I heard they either doubled or tripled the revenue by focusing on foreign buyers, distributing it to the distributors, the foreign distributors giving them credit to pay and Ex-Im Bank insuring the risk. I mean, it's just one interesting example that you know, if little cups of alcohol can move abroad, mostly anything can. Dave: Oh, that's great, I love that and thank you for that. Thank you for that example. So now let's say that a company is contemplating exporting and let's say they have this large potential order you know large for them, you say it's a $5 million company annual revenues and suddenly they have this pay for the materials from their supplier and they maybe don't have enough working capital to do that and maybe they're in a spot where you know a traditional bank loan or line of credit. They're maybe, just maybe what you'd call not bankable. What happens then? Does the whole process just fall apart? You know they've got the credit insurance but they don't have the cash to buy the goods. What happens then? Eric: Yeah, that's really the second big problem in international trade. So the US banking system in general is challenging to help US companies fill export orders, and what I mean by that is, in your example, a $5 million revenue company. It can even be bigger than that, it could be 20, 30, 40. The problem with a lot of US companies is when their foreign sales start to get significant and they go to the bank and say, hey, I need a line of credit, not just for my domestic business, I need it for my international too. There becomes a problem in the banking system. There's this view that it's high risk and, as bankers tend to be more conservative and shy away from risk, so most times US companies have problems getting the money they need to fill these export purchase orders. So government gets involved, Ex-Im gets involved and SBA also has a product similar to the Ex-Im bank. It varies according to the banker who wants to use the product, but the idea behind it is we become a guarantor of repayment to the lender. So in your example, $5 million a year company, $2 million foreign sale that we're going to insure they walk that over to the bank and they say, hey, I got insurance on the receivable. Great, it's a $2 million deal. Now I need a million bucks or whatever as a line of credit to build all this stuff or go out and buy it. The bank will say, okay, where's it going? Oh, it's leaving the country. I can't help you. But when you come back with a US purchase order, then we can get serious in our talks. The company is stranded and they can't get the money, the capital they need to fill these orders with working capital. So we get involved and we say, hey, if they're presenting financial statements and the financial statements merit the ability to borrow what they're asking for a million, whatever it is and you're only saying no because it's an export, go ahead and give them the money that they need that they're asking for again, as long as it meets the credit standards, and we'll co-sign, we become a repayment guarantor to that line of credit so they can have access to the money that they need to fill these foreign buyer purchase orders. Guarantees and insurance is really kind of what we're about here at Ex-Im Bank to enable this cross-border trade. On the finance piece, Now, with that line of credit that we guarantee, they could also use it to issue bid bonds or performance bonds or standby letters of credit. Because another problem in our banking system is when a exporter bids on a foreign tender, that tender sometimes will say hey, if you want to bid on this, you got to put up a performance bond or a bid bond and that kind of weeds out the non-serious suppliers versus the serious. And when they want to supply that bid bond and they go to the bank, put the equivalent amount of cash in your account, I'll escrow it and then issue the bond. And then the exporter you know has this confused look. And well, I don't want to pay for my own deal and block my own cash. So under the XM line of credit you can actually use borrowed money to issue those bid bonds, performance bonds, standby LCs at a reduced cash collateral, so you're not tying up your cash. Dave: Interesting. Eric: And what's the? Dave: typical I think the term like if you're factoring an invoice, it's called. I think it's called like the advance rate, like what percentage you could borrow, like on the you know the purchase order or the invoice that you create. What's that percentage? You know, through the XM financing. Eric: So we put it into two categories pre-export and post-export. Okay, pre-export is the working capital right, the inventory, work in process, finished goods. So under that you could borrow a 75% advance rate. Then post-export, once it becomes a receivable, you could borrow 90. So it's pretty generous advance rates and typically it helps exporters fill these purchase orders much easier if we weren't involved. Dave: Yeah, Cause I think I was a CFO of a company many years ago and we were growing rapidly and we're using factoring and the. It seems like the advance rate we were able to get on the factoring for domestic sales, let alone international, was only like 70 or 80%. So, and even I think I'm told that even if a company has a line of credit that they're backing with inventory and domestic receivables, that still a typical kind of advance rate is really only like I think, about 80. And so you're talking about an even higher, if I'm using the correct term, than what a traditional bank would provide to a traditional bankable customer for a domestic sale. Is that accurate, based on your knowledge? Eric: Yeah, very accurate. And sometimes you know I go back to the example of US banks don't like export orders, and they don't. Sometimes they will give an advantage. They've got a traditional line of credit set up for domestic. They may say we'll let you borrow 10, 20, 30% advance rate on the export stuff. With our guarantee we can expand that to 75, up to 90. So it could be that we expand the borrowing base or just let alone get them access to it for export orders, with our guarantee. Dave: Okay, yeah, this is really valuable and I can't wait to get the word out to our contacts. So, on the working capital piece so how does that work then? Is the process that they call up their bank and say, hey, do you guys do anything with XM and they just work purely through their banker? Or do they call you up and say, hey, we need some working capital? We don't really have a big banking relationship. Can you recommend somebody? Help me understand the logistics? Eric: of it, Absolutely. Yeah, it's a good question. We recommend starting with us. It's very easy to get lost in the banking system and trying to figure out who to talk to about getting the setup. A lot of time exporters will speak to their local relationship manager and they start talking about XM working capital and they're like you know who's XM? I don't, I don't even know what you're talking about. Slow down, so it's more efficient to start with us and if they're working with a bank that is in our lender network, we can go directly to the right person and connect them with the exporter to have those conversations. If they're working with a lender that is not inside our our network, we can still locate a lender to set up kind of a XM specific line of credit if that's something they want to pursue. Dave: Okay. Eric: Okay. Dave: Now this is really valuable. Does the bank have any other service lines besides the foreign receivables insurance and the working capital? Eric: We've got a couple others. One of them is called foreign buyer finance. Okay, this is a real interesting one. This is when a US company is selling capital equipment to a foreign buyer and when that capital equipment quotation gets to the foreign buyer, what we see often is they'll go to their bank. In some of these emerging markets, developing countries, the buyer will go to the bank and say, ok, you know, I got a quotation for, let's say, you know, john Deere equipment, ag equipment or Caterpillar, construction equipment or mining equipment, whatever. They go to their bank and they say I need to borrow to pay the US company for the equipment. And when they get a term sheet from their local bank, if you're familiar with international business and international finance, the cost can be much higher than what we're used to paying in the US as far as cost of capital Cost of capital I've seen even triple and quadruple in some of these developing markets. And then the buyer the deal falls to the wayside because the buyer can't afford to pay the bank all this cost associated with the capital. So in situations like that and kind of high cost capital markets, we can get involved and find a lender, as long as we've got good audited financial statements and they meet credit standards, we can find a lender to give that foreign buyer a term loan, a three to seven year term loan, of which we guarantee repayment of to the lender, to buy that US made capital equipment. So, in simple terms, we can finance a foreign buyer when the foreign buyer is buying US made equipment, and what we have found is the US companies that really know this product inside and out use that as a competitive advantage. They're saying, hey, sure, on one hand, here's my quotation for the equipment and on the other hand, I can get you finance if you need it. And I can get you finance if you need it. And the companies that do that well, I mean their sales shoot through the roof because now they become this finance facilitator for foreign buyers to access cheaper capital, which we've even seen companies where maybe they're 10% higher on the bid than some of the other countries, but they're saving them 15% on the finance. Dave: Yeah, I can see that. Yeah, I can see that that's really clever. I was familiar with the first two pieces, but I really was not familiar with that. I mean, yeah, that's a real competitive advantage. I mean it makes you wonder how a company in I don't know pick your country, brazil, that you know is trying to compete Like how do they compete when they can't? I'm guessing that they probably don't have the same type of capability to offer you know these, you know more attractive financing rates. Eric: So, yeah, that's a great point XM Bank we're also referred as an export credit agency, eca. So every developed country in the world has the equivalent of us. Out of, let's say, roughly 200 countries, there's 120 of us representing the nation of each country. So what we know is, as it relates to international business, there are, you know, foreign. When there's foreign competition in the tender, sometimes that foreign competition knows about their local ECA also. Right, so they could be offering the same thing. Hey, I can get you, you know, finance through my local ECA. You know name, a country, country. So we want companies in the US to be aware of how we can help them and support them, just like other member countries of partner ECAs do, because it's a competitive advantage and if they're not aware of it, it's a loss really for the exporter. And I mentioned four products. So we went over export credit insurance, the working capital getting the foreign buyer a loan, and then the fourth one. It came out about a year and a half ago. It's a new product that we're super excited about and it's really domestic project finance where there's an export nexus. And what I mean by that, david, is let's take an industry, let's take LNG. When an LNG liquid natural gas. When liquid natural gas projects in wherever let's call it Texas, when they go live and you've got a solid entity set up for the purpose of building an LNG plant maybe there's corporate shareholders, maybe there's individual shareholders, whatever it may be when banks take a look at this and they see that it's a domestic project finance structure meaning the off of any kind of contract will repay the loan Bankers don't like that. Bankers don't like project finance. If we look at a project where there's an export nexus and what we define as an export nexus is 25% of the sales will be exported we could potentially be a lender or a loan guarantor to that domestic project as long as there's going to be 25% foreign sales, and we could go down to 15% if it's a small business, so we can involve oh, that's really cool. Dave: Yeah, because I mentioned the bank is going to say, yeah, it sounds like a great opportunity. Go find some investors to fund this and then, once you start exporting the LNG, give us a call. We'll give you some working capital and you'll work with XM to ensure the receivables, but until then, hey, it's on you. Eric: That's it. That's the problem. That's where a lot of these projects get stuck in the banking system as it relates to traditional banking. They can't get the money they need to lift this project up, and it could be a great project, but yeah, banks like to see history right. I want to see your balance sheet income statement, cash flow last three years. Let me underwrite it Well, there is none. It's a new project and we're building it. Well, we can't help you Go find some investors, and that's typically the conversations. So, instead of these deals disappearing, as long as there is solid offtake agreements, we can look at that, potentially to repay the loan, and we do that on the foreign buyer side too. Dave: Yeah, and to be fair to the bankers I know many bankers and have great relationships If a bank is paying 5% for a deposit and they're lending it out at, say, 8%, by the time they pay their fees and stuff they really don't have a lot of margin left. So you know they have an imputed default rate. You know that they can tolerate of like half a percent, right, maybe 1%, right. I mean, that's just their model. Eric: Margins are thin, you're right. Dave: Yeah, and they're probably even I'm guessing even prohibited from saying okay, yeah, we'll finance this deal for you, but this is high risk. So instead of a 7% loan, it's gonna be 30%. I mean, the banks probably aren't even allowed to do. There's probably usury laws or something. Am I correct in that? Eric: Yeah, yeah. So they would definitely view the risk differently as a domestic project finance. But I would say, even more so, the regulatory issues involving domestic project finance probably prohibit the lenders from doing that. Dave: Even oh yeah, yeah, that's right. I never thought about that. Eric: There's definitely some challenges in that space. I never thought about that. There's definitely some challenges in that space. Dave: Yeah, that makes sense because really, from a holistic perspective, you would say hey, bank, this isn't your sweet spot. This is like venture capital, risk capital. Let them find a lender, like a hard asset lender, that'll charge a much higher rate, or let them raise equity capital to finance this. This isn't what you're designed for, mr First National Bank, Exactly. Eric: Okay. Dave: What are some of the limits, minimum maximums for these different products? Let's start with the credit insurance. Is there a minimum size that you all have insurance? Is there a minimum size like that you all have? I mean, I'm guessing if somebody has a hundred dollar foreign receivable that they want to insure, probably doesn't really make sense for everybody. So is there a minimum size? Is it a hard minimum or kind of a soft minimum? Eric: Yeah, that's a great question. So we don't have a minimum per se, documented minimum, but yeah, it's got to make sense right To go through the process. So I mean, we've insured receivables as low as a couple thousand bucks, so that's for credit insurance. For working capital we also don't have a minimum, but that's set by the lender. So we say hey, as long as the lender will do the loan, we'll take a look at the guarantee and most lenders that we have spoken to we probably would say that the minimum with most lenders is around a half a million for a working capital line of credit. And then on the foreign buyer side, again it's got to make sense to the lender. We don't have a minimum. Most lenders, I would say the minimum I've seen where a US lender would give a loan to a foreign buyer is also around a half a million. Maximum, no maximum, but anything above 25 million has to go to our board. The largest we did in the bank's history was in Mozambique, for an LNG facility was 5 billion. Oh wow. Dave: And then are there limits on the working capital and credit insurance, similar limits that require board approval. Eric: Anything above 25. Yep, it's the same 25 number, correct, which it's. You know it's not prohibitive, it just adds another layer to the process. Yeah. Dave: And even again, even if XM wasn't involved, I know a lot of banks, just you know, when loans get above a certain amount they want to syndicate them with other banks, just for their own risk. And I think a lot of times those syndication amounts for a medium-sized bank will start in that 10 to $25 million, as I understand it. And then what about the domestic projects that have 25% export expectations, any minimum or maximums there that you've seen? Eric: So I would say there's no hard set minimum, but the soft minimum I'm seeing is probably 5 million plus and the reason for that is the SBA, the Small Business Administration, also a federal government agency. They have similar products that go up to five, so this will take it past five and we don't want to compete with another government agency. They have similar products that go up to five, so this will take it past five and we don't want to compete with another government agency, so it's five below. Sba might be a better fit. Five above we're probably the only game in town. Okay, zero to five, taking some notes on this Five plus. Dave: You know, one of the other interesting things is we've had this conversation that if you think people have never heard of XM, they're even, I think, less likely to have heard of the ICDISC program. You know we specialize and what's interesting is how is the number of parallels? I mean, the thing that I can't, you know that blows me away is how logical everything is with XM. Like you know, there's a, you know there's a perhaps a belief that some government programs, agencies that there's no real logic to it. It was just it was some negotiation in Congress and they had just some arbitrary rules. But you know, as I kind of look at these, they just all seems very logical, right? And you know, like you know, above a certain amount you need board approval Again, just like in a bank, right, when they're doing a $25 million loan, it's probably got to go to a loan review committee or something. But the other thing is there's some similarities between XM and the ICDISC and one of them is the 51% US content. Can you explain how that works with XM, because I think it's pretty much the same as ICDISC. Eric: To my knowledge it is also yeah. So it goes back to really the mission right Creating jobs through US exports, and we want to stimulate US manufacturing. So we can't support a trade where you know Houston companies buying from China and sending it down to you know name a country in South America. There's no value add for the country. So Congress basically put a policy to the agency that says anything that we support has to be greater than 50% US content. So another way of saying it's just 51%. Right, majority of the product has to be US content, and the way that we calculate that is we look at the cost. So if they're selling a widget that they sell for $100, but it costs $70, we're going to look at the $70 and say $30 of that, 70 needs to be US content. So that's really we look at the cost and the majority of the cost needs to be US made, whether it's product. Dave: Or another way of saying it is no more than $36 foreign cost Yep, that makes sense. Eric: And if it's a service, by the way, sometimes we get these service questions, by the way, because sometimes we get these service questions where, hey, you know, I'm an engineering company designing, you know, a refinery plant for a foreign buyer. How do I look at that as far as US content? So what we do is we say, okay, start with your invoice. Right, whatever you're billing out, if it says engineering services or CAD drawings or whatever, take that and then look at the cost and greater than 50% needs to be US citizens or green card holders as part of that cost for services. So we basically look at the citizenship of the provider for evaluating US content and the cost. Dave: Yeah, and that's somewhat similar to the ICDISC really only includes two types of services that are eligible engineering services and architectural services for foreign construction projects or services that are an integral part of the sale. You know, like if you sell a product for a million dollars and there's a $200,000 installation service, as long as that's an integral part of the, you know the project that qualifies, you know that service does. But yeah, that's interesting. So let's say somebody says hey, you know, eric, I really like the sound of this and I'd like to talk to you. But you know, I just feel like you know, you're probably a lifelong government employee. You probably want to work right out of college. You don't know what it's like to sit in my shoes. You don't know what it's like to have been on the private side. You know having these foreign customers. What would you say to them? Eric: Yeah, so being a government employee is new to me also, yeah, so after college I started at a company and worked there for a decade, grew into sweat equity. I was a part minority shareholder and I was a customer of Ex-Im Bank for 10 years. Yeah, we were a company that exported capital equipment all over the world, but with a concentration in Sub-Saharan Africa. Okay, and we grew rapidly with the help of Ex-Im Bank. We used all the products of credit insurance, the working capital, getting the foreign buyer a loan and that really became a competitive advantage to the company. Because we looked at ourselves saying, hey, we're an equipment supplier, but so is the other hundreds of companies around, if not thousands of companies. How do we make ourselves different? And the finance became very important to that conversation, because you can Google, search equipment companies in the US and you're going through thousands of pages trying to find an equipment supplier. But not everybody is saying, hey, we have financial solutions too. If you need them, we can get you a loan. We can sell to you an open account with our insurance. We can get the capital we need to fill these export purchase orders. We can get the line of credit that we need to send bid bonds and performance bonds to some of these large tenders. So, going back to your question, I've been at Exxon for seven years, but the majority of my career was in the private sector and being a minority shareholder of a company that used the bank that I work for now to grow a small business. Dave: What a great story, like it would seem like you have the perfect background for your role I mean, you're actually a customer for your role. I mean you're actually a customer. So the private companies that you're trying to help you really do understand what it's like to be in their shoes. Eric: I think most employees that work here at ExxonMobil found we're very service oriented. We like to help. We like to help. It's fun for us to help. It's fun for me to help. The best part of my day is meeting small business exporters, helping them become aware of all the resources that are available to them to become more competitive and grow, like we did when I was with that company. Dave: Yeah, it's just amazing how similar our days are. That's also the favorite part of my job is when I get a phone call from somebody and they say hey, you know, bob said I should call you. You know we're. Our exports have really grown a lot, and there's this thing called ICDISC and you know, tell us about it, are we the right fit? And it's great to be able to help them. Oh, I was just going to ask you something. Oh, what about indirect exports? Do they qualify under an indirect export? Eric: Great question, yeah, so under the working capital it does. So if you have an exporter that's selling to you know name a major company, let's say a major oil and gas company who in turn is exporting that out, we call that an indirect export. That does qualify them to get the capital they need to fill that order. Dave: Yep, Another parallel with the IC disk. The IC disk is the same way. Yeah, Most of our clients are actually indirect exporters. So some of the products would not be as beneficial, you know, like the credit insurance, for example, because they don't have any foreign receivables. But you know, they don't have any foreign receivables, but they still may have use for some of the other products. Okay, so I've got just a couple more questions. Eric: Well, first off, is there anything we didn't cover that you wish I had? I would say there's other government resources that every exporter should know. Dave: Okay, what are those? Eric: Yeah, so one of them is the US Commercial Services. They're a part of the Department of Commerce and they've got an office in every major city in the US. I think there's a hundred, if I remember right, a hundred US Commercial Service offices scattered throughout the US. If you're in Houston, there's one in Houston. Great folks, we work with them closely. They've got some really good products as well for exporters. One of them is called the Gold Key, and the Gold Key it basically connects buyer and seller. So once the agency understands the company, they met with them. They understand the company, they understand what they're selling. They have to be what's called export ready. So an existing business that's already selling, let's say they're successful here domestically and they want to export. You know, let's say that to the, to our closest neighbors, first Canada and Mexico. But they're like hey, I don't, how do I even do that? How do I find a buyer, how do I find a distributor in these countries? That's really the first step in kind of the. The maze of exporting is first you got, you have to have a buyer. We're kind of second to that right. Once you have a buyer, then it's money talks and then we get involved. But even before us. The commercial services can get involved and under the gold key they can find distributors, partners, buyers in foreign markets. Wow, yeah, under the gold key. So they basically, once they understand the business, they work with the embassy in that country and say, hey, I've got, you know, bob, here's his company, been around for 10 years, successful in the U? S, but they want to start with Mexico. And can you find them buyers, can you find them distributors? And they try to play matchmaker. So they generate a list and they recommend going to the country that you want to export to shake hands, stare them in the face, sit down with them physically, because that's another important thing in international business you can't just stay behind the phone or email. You really have to go to these places. Dave: Wow, so that's amazing. Now the bad news, Eric, is you and XM may have just dropped to number two as far as my favorite government agency. I mean, depending on where a company is, that might be even more valuable, right? Because without the customers, they don't even need the other products of XM. That's really cruel. Eric: That's right yeah. I mean they need a buyer before they come to XM. They need a foreign buyer and commercial services can help with that. Dave: So be careful. You're about to list some other agencies and may further knock you down on the priority list, so be careful there. Eric: That's OK, we're here to help. So you know. Another problem with small businesses you know I'm selling domestically. You know successful I'm selling domestically. You know I'm successful. Maybe I'm running on thin margins. I don't have the capital that I need to go into all these countries and spend all this money and cross my fingers that I get business. And I just don't want to spend that kind of money and risk that kind of money because I need to keep my lights on and pay employees first. So there's something called the STEP grant S-T-E-P grant. Dave: STEP grant. Eric: It stands for statewide trade export promotion, so most states participate in it. It's federal money given to the states who in turn give grant money to companies who are looking to export, and they can use that grant money for travel you know, hotel, stay, airfare. They want to do website translation on their website from you know English to Mandarin and Spanish to. You know capture half the world. They want to. You know create design, create print flyers. You know any kind of marketing collateral that will aid them in promoting their company to foreign buyers. This is a reimbursable grant, which means you apply for it. You can say, hey, I want to go to Mexico, my airfare is going to cost this, my hotel is going to cost this, conference in Mexico is going to cost this, and all together it's going to be $10,000. So you apply for it and then, once approved, you can get up to 75% of that back. Dave: So you have to actually spend the money. Eric: First you got to spend. That's the key thing there. You got to spend the money, but you got to get it approved. Once it's approved, then you spend the money and then you come back and give them your receipts. Dave: Wow, that's pretty cool. Does that fall under one of the federal agencies? Is that kind of the ultimate umbrella, or is it really more of a state by state program? Eric: In Texas the Department of Ag is administering the fund and I think it does vary state by state on who holds the money and approves it and disperses the money, and I may be wrong, but I think it goes up to $10,000. It's either $7,500 or $10,000 max amount that can be approved. Okay, you can apply every year. Some companies do that. Okay, and what else? Are there some other? The SBA, small Business Administration Sure, most people know them for domestic business, but they also have an export arm called the OIT, which is Office of International Trade. So they have export finance products just like we do. They're not competitive to one another. They're slightly different in various aspects. They can get you working capital, usually for smaller loans, or they can get you something called an international trade loan and what that is used for is like, hey, I need to buy some capital equipment to go into my factory and it's going to cost a million bucks and it's going to generate export sales, that kind of finance structure. Dave: Is the structure kind of the same, or does the borrower have to put up a bigger percentage? Or do you know? Eric: For the international trade loan. I think it's similar. They guarantee the lender just like we guarantee the lender. The international trade loan I think it's similar. They guarantee the lender just like we guarantee the lender and lenders. You know, we like to say the lender makes the decision because our guarantees are slightly different than one another. So some lenders will say, hey, I'm more comfortable with XM, or hey, I'm more comfortable with the SBA, or hey, this is above $5 million. The only one you could do is XM Bank. So it's really up to the lender to evaluate the guarantee and what fits them best. Dave: Well, that is awesome. Any other government agencies that you tend to work with regularly those are the big ones. Eric: They'll always be in the same circles the SBA, the commercial services, and ourselves in the same circles, promoting as much as we can to our communities. Dave: That's awesome. Well, this has been so informative. I really appreciate the time. I just have two more questions, and they're really kind of fun ones, okay. So the first one is if you could go back in time and give advice to yourself, like right, when you were graduating college, what advice might you give to yourself? You know, with the benefit of hindsight, you know, if you kind of go back in time. Eric: What advice might you? Dave: give to yourself. You know, with the benefit of hindsight, you know if you kind of go back in time what advice might you give to yourself, you know? Things to do instead, or do sooner, or what comes to mind. Eric: That's a really good question, you know, going back in time, I would say, for the company that I worked for and some of the things that I don't like to say did wrong. But if we could repeat it and how we would do it differently. When the business grows and we grew fast our operational costs also grew fast and I think if we were better controlling the operational cost when there was a dip in revenue, there wouldn't be so much growing pains or slowing pains. I think getting a better grasp operationally on a business when it's going through the growth phase is key to its long-term success, because a business is not always going to accelerate up. There's going to be peaks and valleys and as long as you manage the operational cost of the company, it can get through. You know look at COVID right Nobody predicted that how many businesses went through all kinds of painful experiences. So that, going back in time, just from a business standpoint, I think that would have been super helpful in our judgment and assessment of looking towards the future. Dave: Okay, I really like that. Well, we just have one left, and this one's even more fun. Don't think about this, I just want. It's kind of a snap answer. Okay, so you're a native Texan, right Native Houstonian, tex-mex or barbecue. Eric: Oh, I got to go with Tex-Mex. I love barbecue, barbecue. Oh, I gotta go with tex-mex. I love barbecue, but you know the chips and queso and salsa and guacamole. Dave: I don't think everything competes with that. Yeah, I, I asked this question of all my guests and and I had two answers that were interesting. One answer was if it's, if I know that the food is going to be average, I, I absolutely would take the Tex-Mex, because Tex-Mex has more tolerance for averageness. Ok, they said. But if it's going to be world class, then they would take the barbecue. But they don't want mediocre, tough, dried out brisket. Ok, so I'm like, well, that's a good one. And then I had a guest telling me about I forget the name of the place, but it was a place that had like brisket tacos or brisket enchiladas, and they basically said both, they'll take both. Eric: There you go. I like that. Dave: Yeah, I am with you. If people want to get ahold of you, what's the best way to reach out? I know you're on LinkedIn. Are you very active on LinkedIn? Eric: Not super active on LinkedIn, but I'm very accessible Cell phone, email, office phone. You can always get ahold of me. Dave: What's the email address? Eric: So ericmiller M-I-L--LE-R X-M-E-X-I-Mgov gov. Dave: So eric.miller@xmexim.gov and if they want to just call you, what's the best number to reach you? Eric: at 713-306-7969 awesome. Dave: well, thank you so much for taking the time to come on here. This may be the most information dense episode I've ever done for an exporter. Usually it seems like we've got one or two good nuggets, but we may have a dozen takeaways, so thank you so much for making time out of your day and this has really been fun. And don't be surprised when this goes live if you don't have a few folks reaching out to you. Eric: I look forward to it. Thanks for having me. It's been an honor. Special Guest: Eric Miller.

ExIm Bank has the mandate to help US exporters and special set-asides that may benefit small companies. Listen for details on Two Minutes in Trade. 

ส่งความสุขสู่ชุมชนและโลกที่ยั่งยืนในโอกาสต้อนรับปีใหม่ 2567 กับงาน “EXIM Green Wishes Market” ติดตามรายละเอียดและความน่าสนใจได้ในรายการ พูดคุยกับดร.รักษ์ วรกิจโภคาทร กรรมการผู้จัดการ EXIM BANK ติดตามข่าวสารเศรษฐกิจ ธุรกิจ การเงิน การลงทุน จาก การเงินธนาคารทีวี ได้ที่.. Facebook : bit.ly/3JTh19E YouTube : bit.ly/2QvvMcG

Nuclear energy has been in the headlines more in Dubai, than at any previous COP.Nuclear power has had more prominence at this year's climate talks than at any previous COP. In fact, some people have even been calling it “the nuclear COP”.That's partly because the hosts, the United Arab Emirates, have been a pioneer of nuclear power in the Gulf region, building four reactors to meet 25 per cent of its electricity demand. At this year's COP, 24 governments set a goal to triple worldwide nuclear power generation capacity by 2050. To discuss the implications of this pledge, and analyse the current state of the nuclear industry globally, Ed Crooks is joined by Henri Paillere, who is head of the planning and economic studies section at the International Atomic Agency. He says there is now a much wider appreciation of the central role that nuclear power can play in tackling climate change.Nuclear technology is also seen as offering some big commercial opportunities. The EX-IM Bank, the US export – import bank, recently launched a package of measures intended to support sales of US Small Modular reactors – SMRs. Reta Lewis, chair of the Ex-Im bank came to the COP and spoke to the Energy Gang, to highlight the bank's support for SMR investment around the world.SMRs are expected to play a key role in the future of nuclear energy, as Dr Sama Bilbao y Leon, who is the director-general of the World Nuclear Association, which represents the international nuclear industry, said when she joined Ed in the studio.We'll be following the latest developments from COP28 right to the end of the summit, so subscribe and join the conversation – we're @theenergygang.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of Simply Trade, hosts Andy and Lalo discuss the opportunities and challenges small businesses face when looking to expand into international trade. Their guest, Laurent Kahl from the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center, shares valuable insights on the resources available to help companies navigate importing, exporting, and global growth. Key topics covered include: - The 90% of consumers that exist outside the US and untapped potential for American companies internationally - Services the SBDC offers like market research, financing assistance, logistics support, and trade compliance training - How the planning process works and importance of developing a strategic game plan for international expansion - Examples of clients the SBDC has helped break into new markets like a chemical manufacturer exporting to China - Documentation, labeling requirements, and other compliance considerations for importing - Options for sourcing products from alternative countries to diversify supply chains - Financing assistance programs through SBA, Ex-Im Bank and other partners - Training resources on the mechanics of international trade through webinars and conferences Small business owners and executives looking to explore global opportunities will find valuable guidance on utilizing free SBDC consulting services to help strategize expansion plans and navigate regulatory requirements. Listeners gain insight on how to take the first steps into international trade and resources available to help small companies compete on a global scale. Enjoy the show. Show references: Global Training Center - www.GlobalTrainingCenter.com Simply Trade Podcast - twitter.com/SimplyTradePod  Laurent Kahl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurentkahl/   Georgia SBDC - www.georgiasbdc.org Looking for an SBDC near you: https://americassbdc.org/find-your-sbdc/ Contact SimplyTrade@GlobalTrainingCenter.com or message @SimplyTradePod for: Advertising and sponsoring on Simply Trade Requests to be on the show as guest Suggest any topics you would like to hear about Simply Trade is not a law firm or an advisor. The topics and discussions conducted by Simply Trade hosts and guests should not be considered and is not intended to substitute legal advice. You should seek appropriate counsel for your own situation. These conversations and information are directed towards listeners in the United States for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only and should not be In substitute for legal advice. No listener or viewer of this podcast should act or refrain from acting on the basis of information on this podcast without first seeking legal advice from counsel. Information on this podcast may not be up to date depending on the time of publishing and the time of viewership. The content of this posting is provided as is, no representations are made that the content is error free. The views expressed in or through this podcast are those are the individual speakers not those of their respective employers or Global Training Center as a whole. All liability with respect to actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this podcast are hereby expressly disclaimed.

EXIM BANK PRESENTATION Mr. Shen Xusheng, Director of the Transport Finance Department – The ExportImport Bank of China, Shanghai Branch ???????????????????????? 7th International Shipping Forum Pudong Shanghai, China. Organized in partnership with Columbia Shipmanagement and Singhai Marine Services and with the support of the Shanghai/Pudong Government. For more info please visit here: Capital Link Forum

Landry Signé, senior fellow in the global economy and development program and the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution and executive director and professor of the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, leads the conversation about Africa on the global stage. FASKIANOS: Thank you and welcome to today's session of the Fall 2023 CFR Academic Webinar series. I'm Irina Faskianos, vice president of the National Program and Outreach here at CFR. Today's discussion is on the record and the video and transcript will be available on our website, CFR.org/academic. And, as always, CFR takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. We're delighted to have Landry Signé with us to discuss Africa on the global stage. Dr. Signé is a senior fellow in the global economy and development program and the Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings Institution. He's also a professor, executive director, and the founding codirector of The Globalization 4.0 and Fourth Industrial Revolution Initiative at Arizona State University's Thunderbird School of Global Management, and distinguished fellow at Stanford University's Center for African Studies. He serves as chairman of the Global Network for Africa's Prosperity and is also the author of numerous scholarly publications and several books. His most recent is entitled, Africa's Fourth Industrial Revolution. And it was published by Cambridge University Press this summer. So, Dr. Signé, thank you very much for being with us today. I'm going to throw you a very big question, and you can take us in the direction you would like, by talking about the important challenges and opportunities facing countries across Africa. SIGNÉ: Hello, everyone. And thank you so much, Dr. Irina, for so kind an introduction. It's a pleasure to be with all of you today. So when it comes to Africa, I want to highlight a few key trends why Africa is playing such an important role in the global sphere. So the first thing that I want to share to everyone is Africa's transformation is more substantial than what most people will think. And this is for many reasons. One is that, especially pre-pandemic, trade and in and with the rest of the world have grown for about 300 percent, which exceeds the global average of a little bit less than 200 percent. So that is a key dimension to highlight. And this is also driven by the competition between emerging countries, such as, of course, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, China, and more established and industrialized nations such as the United States, France, and others. So that is one of the key trends that I want to highlight. So Africa is richer and is transforming much more than what most people will be thinking. So the second trend that I also want to highlight, why Africa is so important in the global sphere, is that by the end of this century Africa could reach about 40 percent of the global population. Listen, I said 40 percent. So this is incredible, especially as the continent represent now only about 17 percent of the global population. So that is a key dimension to take into consideration when speaking about Africa, how Africa engages with the rest of the world. A third trend that I also want to highlight is really the rise of global partnerships and the competition, as I highlighted, between emerging and established powers. So, as a matter of fact, between 2006 and 2016, for example, China trades with Africa surge with imports increasing by 233 percent, and exports increasing by about 53 percent. This is a substantial growth in engagement. And if we compare—so with Russia, for example, it was about 142 percent of change in imports from Africa and about 168 percent change in exports with Africa. So in comparison, and with the rest of the world was only about 56 percent for change in imports and 18 percent for change in export. So this is another key trend. And a country like the United States still needs to expand and to do much more in terms of those engagement. This also apply with—to the countries in the European Union in general. So another trend that I want to highlight is really the, let's say, fast urbanization that we see on the continent. So the continent will be growing from about five cities—will reach about five cities of more than ten million inhabitants, in comparison of only three in 2015. And will exceed fifteen cities of more than five million inhabitants, in comparison of about five to six in the recent year. So another point, when people speak about Africa, I want to speak about industrialization in Africa. Of course, we have to acknowledge the diversity of the continent. Some would say fifty-four member states, because we have about—those other ones recognized by the United Nations. But don't be surprised if you also hear people mentioning instead fifty-five countries, because the Western Sahara is also consider as a member of the African Union. So when speaking about industrialization, people may—some people may consider Africa as deindustrializing. But that is because they're not looking at one of the things that we call at the Brookings Institution industries without smokestacks. Those industries are important because they have similar characteristic when they compare to traditional manufacturing. And those similar characteristics include, for example, the tradability, they are labor intensive, and the store—they absorb a high quantity of moderately skilled workers. But they are also—they also have a high level of productivity. Irina, you mentioned my book on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. I want to connect, because when people speak about digitalization, innovation, they will mostly think about the Silicon Valley. They will think about some of the emerging nations—Israel, India—in addition to the U.S., of course. A key dimension to highlight is that in the 1990s New York City had more mobile phone subscribers than the entire continent of Africa, where now the continent has hundreds of millions of mobile phone subscribers. So in addition, we have disruptive innovations such as mobile banking, with M-PESA, for example, which is a digital application allow—which allow to provide banking services, digital banking services, to African citizens. This is another illustration of the important dynamics with Africa. Let me finish with about two or three additional points, and I'm looking very much forward to the conversation. I will highlight the critical importance of regional integration. We have, for example, the African Continental Free Trade Area, which was adopted in 2018, ratified by a sufficient number of country in 2019, and was officially launched in January 2021. And that is an incredible speed from the signing to the coming into force of the second-largest trade organization in the world, or let's say trade area in the world, after the World Trade Organization, of course, in terms of number of countries. So this is a key dimension. And another trend to highlight, despite some of the challenges that we see in many African countries in terms of democratic retreat. The overall trend is that African citizens want democracy. So they want accountability. But they also want democracy to deliver. And let me finish with a trend related to business. The combined consumer and business spending in Africa will reach or exceed $16 trillion U.S. dollars by 2050, and about $6.7 trillion U.S. dollars by 2030. So Africa really is a place with phenomenal opportunities, despite the challenges that we see. Climate change affects Africa more than other regions, for example. Some of the most vulnerable countries in terms of state fragility. We have, as I also mentioned, some democratic recession. But despite those challenges, the continent is really growing and is really transforming at a very important pace. And I enthusiastically look forward to engaging, to answering your many questions. Thank you so much. FASKIANOS: Thank you very much. That was a great overview. Obviously, this is such a big topic. So now we're going to go to all of you for your questions. (Gives queuing instructions.) Alright, so the first question we're going to take is from Pearl Robinson. Pearl over to you. Q: Hello. Very pleased to meet you. I have a question, something I'm going to ask you to do. I'm at Tufts University. FASKIANOS: Thanks, Pearl. Q: Can you use this wonderful, optimistic introduction, and connect it with a discussion of the wave of coups in the West African Sahel? Because I find myself having to talk about both. And I thought that you began with the last decade's narrative of Africa's growth and opportunities. And today, everybody is talking about democratic decline and all of these coups in the context of everything. So I'd like you to put your talk onto an introduction for me to talk about the coup situation. SIGNÉ: Absolutely. Thank you so much for the question. So I have studied the—also the democratic situation in Africa from the—from the independence to the last decade. And one of the reasons, of course, when you have democratic interruption, there are serious reasons to be concerned. And this is mostly related to the ability of democratic governance to deliver. Typically when democracy is promoted with many of the Africans, one of the key argument which was chose is that democracy allows citizens to have a better standard of living, deliver economic outcomes, education, health, security, good governance, less corruption, among others. And many of the countries which have faced a coup are countries—when you think about Mali, we think about Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, among others—there are countries where citizen are facing serious economic—a serious economic situation, deteriorated by the pandemic, of course. They are not the only country but deteriorated by the pandemic. You also have a question—the security question in the Sahel especially, with violent extremism. But I want to put things in perspective because democratic development is a slow-moving process. And although it is very unfortunate some of the development that you are seeing in terms of coups, when you look at Africa in the long-term perspective, when I was looking, for example, in the 1980s, almost the entire continent was red. Red, meaning authoritarian. But now the majority of African countries have elections. More than half of those country have free, fair, and transparent, meaningful elections. They are able to choose their government. And this so I'd just highlight those point, to say I classify those countries—I had them in four categories. So one was the uninterrupted democracy. So the countries which once they become democracies, they remain uninterrupted democratic. And those countries are outperforming overall, economically speaking and with many of the other benefits of democracy that I've mentioned. But the countries which are interrupted are mostly the countries where democracy is not necessarily delivering wealth. But will that change the broader trend on the continent? I don't think so. So I think, yes, we have to acknowledge those challenges. We have to act vigorously to address them to reduce the negative impact. But those are not necessarily—I don't think that that makes Africa a hopeless continent, as depicted by the Economist in the early 2000s, as discussed before. I'll pause there. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to take a written question from Tanisha Fazal's student Jack Drouin, and they're at the University of Minnesota: Will Africa as a whole ever compete at the same level as the United States and China in international trade and production? SIGNÉ: So the idea behind the African continental trade area is to make Africa stronger internationally when dealing with the rest of the world, while unlocking also the potential of trade within Africa. For example, when African countries trade with one another, more than 40 percent of products exported are manufactured products. Which mean that they create jobs and opportunities for young people, for women, for the economy. They accelerate industrialization. And when African countries trade with the rest of the world, about only 17 percent of those countries—of those—of the products exported are manufactured products. So the idea really behind the African Continental Free Trade Area is not just to grow African trade with—and improve countries' trading with one another. But it is also really to make Africa stronger when engaging with other countries. As a matter of fact, Africa still represents less than 3 percent of global exports. So this the reason why when I engage with some leaders, some are wondering if whether the AfCFTA was really needed. There is no doubt that the African Continental Free Trade Area was needed, because partnering and coming together to engage with them makes the continent stronger. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I've never seen so many questions. So I'm going to go next to Fordham IPED. They have their raised hand. It's the International Political Economy and Development Program at Fordham. Q: Hi. My name is Julisha. I'm a student here at Fordham in the IPED Program. And thank you for your presentation, Landry, if I may call you that—I'm sorry, Professor. My question is—and I come from the continent. My question to you is, you seem very optimistic about Africa, as we call it. But why exactly? What gives you this optimism, given the fact that different countries have varying problems, and also we've got different levels of infrastructure and productive capacities? And then also, we haven't had that much success in relation to the regional FTAs. So why optimistic specifically about this one? Should we focus more on maybe building stronger regional bodies and then come together as one consortium? SIGNÉ: Thank you so much for your question. I don't think that it is either/or. And you have to put in perspective also, again, when—I like to look at things from a historical perspective, putting things in context. And when we put things in context—again, I mentioned, for example, before, in less than a couple of decades Africa went from being a continent almost full of authoritarianism, to a continent where in perhaps the past six, seven years you have had an incredibly important number of countries which where the incumbent lost the election or was changed through an electoral process. So those are important gains not to overlook. When we also speak about poverty, for example, so we are also seeing positive—although, and I published an article at Brookings about it—why, despite the fast economic growth just before the pandemic, the continent had an important number of poverty. The key dimension here was poverty in terms of percentage of the population went down, but the continent is also growing at a fast rate, the population of the continent. So which means that even if you're in relative number you have a reduction of poverty, in absolute number we can still have an important number of poor. But if you also put that further in context, by removing—of course, you could not remove them—but by considering Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo, which are countries with the highest concentration—not the highest, but an important number of poor, the picture related to poverty on the continent will be very different. Another reason of my lucid optimism is that Africa—more than 50 percent of the African—close to 60 percent of the African population is below the age of twenty-five. So what this means, that everything is possible in an incredibly short duration. You probably know what we have named the Cheetah—what George Ayittey has named the Cheetah Generation. So the generation of young Africans who are dynamic, they are innovative, in opposition to the elephant who are moving slowly. So this is also another characteristic. When you look at innovation and you look at entrepreneurship, the general entrepreneurship survey globally, when you compare Africa to the rest of the world, the percentage of optimism, of interest in innovation, in entrepreneurship, of willingness and of respect for the field is also higher in general. So, again, I understand why most people will be focusing on challenges versus opportunity. But you also know, like me, that when in 2000 the Economist wrote that article about a hopeless Africa, in 2011 they wrote another issue about Africa rising, apologizing about their previous assessment. Because six to seven of the world's ten fastest-growing economies in the first decade—the first fifteen years of the twenty-first century, were located in Africa. So yes, we have numerous challenges. But most countries, which were at the level of development of many of the African countries, have also had challenges. So. yes, we have to address those challenges. And that is also part of what my work does with the Brookings Institution—identifying how to bridge the gap between the policy intentions and the implementation outcome. And a part of doing that is also to shift the mindset from looking exclusively at the challenges that Africa is facing, to also think about what are the opportunities? How can we identify those opportunities? How can we transform those opportunities into reality, into positive outcomes? Because the young generation in Africa deserve it. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to take the next written question from Dayanara Miranda, who's an undergraduate student at Lewis University: My question is, besides agricultural and mineral resources, what other markets can African countries enter to grow their economies? SIGNÉ: So, that is another extremely important question. And let me say, overall Africa—so, it depends as to whether we are speaking about the consumer spending, household consumptions, or whether we are speaking about business spending. In terms of household consumption, by 2030 the continent will receive about $2.5 trillion U.S. dollars of household consumption or consumer spending. And some of the largest sector include food and beverage because people need to eat, but also include housing, healthcare, financial services, transportation, and education. So to put things in perspective, African countries will be growing faster in some of those sectors compared to the growth of other developing economies. Now, if I also think now about the business-to-business spending, so the continent will be home of about—of more than $4 trillion U.S. dollars by 2030. Of course, the largest area for that spending will include agriculture and agri-processing. But we will also have manufacturing, construction, utilities, transportation, wholesalers, and retailers in terms of resources. So, yes, a place—Africa is an important business destination for people who are, again, open to identify opportunities and to manage the risk. Of course, have risk, but those risks also exist in Latin America, exist in the Middle East. exist in the broader—in the broader Asia, and also in the—in some of the advanced economies. So, again, I think, like, a change of mindset is important. One of the reasons why China become the first trade partner of Africa, the first investor in infrastructure amount order, is because while other countries were looking at the challenges that Africa is facing, China and other emerging countries were looking at opportunity and how to manage their risk amount order. Of course, that is not to say that the Chinese model of engagement is necessarily the right one, but it's just to say that the difference of mindset may explain why some country may be identifying more opportunities than other. But I'm also very happy to highlight the fact that recently, the U.S. administration has also been very much active—much more active in terms of engaging with Africa from an economic perspective, from an opportunity business perspective, including the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. Thank you. FASKIANOS: Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to take the next question from Dorian Brown Crosby. Q: Yes. Hello. Thank you, Professor Signé, for this discussion. I'm from Spelman College. And I do have a question regarding remittances. Can you speak to the current impact of remittances that those in the diaspora are sending to African countries? And how is that affecting Africa's economic trajectory? Or even speak to a specific country. Thank you. SIGNÉ: Absolutely. Thank you very much for the questions. Remittances are playing a key role in Africa. In some of the countries they are exceeding even, let's say, the official development assistance. So that is a key point to highlight. Perhaps the nuance that I want to bring is that most of the remittances are sent for consumption, for family consumptions, among others. A shift that we may want to see happen is to turn—(inaudible)—to increase perhaps those remittances, and especially the category of remittances, shifting only from consumption, for productive use, for economic use, for entrepreneurial activities, as well on the continent. But, yes, remittances are key for development. They are extremely important. They are making a difference. And I connect with that question with the notion of diaspora. The rising role of the diaspora is also one of the key trends. Of course, I didn't—I wanted to be brief in my preliminary comments, but diaspora are really playing a key role in fostering the relations between Africa and the rest of the world. They play the role of investor. You have also the remittances, as you have just mentioned. They are diplomat. In addition of the higher representation that we are also seeing of people of African origin in international organizations, whether we speak about the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the International Finance Corporation, among other. So there's really a trend where the diaspora playing a key role, both financially to remittances and have an increased demand, also for investment. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to combine two questions, two written questions, because they are along the same lines. One from Thomas at Oklahoma State University and Kihoa from Adelphi University, and it has to do with China: China's trade with—China's aid to Africa, is it purely altruistic? Should African states be receiving Chinese aid? And should Africa be giving aid to historically authoritarian regimes? And then the second question is to have you talk a little bit about the Belt and Road Initiative, and how that initiative is influencing trading partners with other Western countries. SIGNÉ: Absolutely. Thank you for the important question. So let me—to further speak about China in Africa, some key trends to highlight is that, first, you have an exponential growth of exports to Africa, increase imports from Africa, substantial lending to African countries. So China is already one of those, the major lending on transport, power, and mining, the Ex-Im Bank is really leading the way in terms of loans. I do prefer to speak about development versus assistance, development finance instead of developing assistance, or on the longer term, a growing trend in terms of FDI. So China is dominating also the important investment on the continent. You have an important presence of Chinese workers, and forgot—not to forget the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which remains critical to an action of the multiplication of the of the Confucius Institutes on the continent. Despite that important presence, a key element you mentioned is that per Afrobarometer survey, African citizen still prefer the U.S. model of development to the Chinese one. So this is an important dimension that I want to highlight. And whether China is altruistic, it's important to mention when we speak about the commitment, they are not necessarily—China is a country with its own national interests. Perhaps the way of doing business is different, but they are not acting toward Africa, from my perspective, from an altruistic perspective. They're really looking to achieve interest, whether from a geopolitical dimension, economic interest to secure especially energy, power, mining, oceans, agricultural lands for food security in China, among others. And many of the other countries in the world are doing the same. So I'm not—so, of course, we are speaking more about China, but most of the countries when they're acting globally they are acting in alignment of their interests. And probably Jentleson, for example, has mentioned when we speak about the U.S. foreign policy as some of their drivers, which include what are the—of course, we have power, we have peace, we have prosperity, and we have principles. So foreign policy decisions are usually, let's say, the result of a tradeoff between either power consideration, peace consideration, or security consideration, economic consideration, and principle consideration, which could include democratic development, and, of course, humanitarian intervention, and so on. So it depends on which country we are talking about. And to just connect it to the broader Belt and Road Initiative, I think that, of course, it is part from my perspective of China ambition to become the next global power. And in my conversation with many of the African leaders, their main concern—including head of states and head of governments—so their main concern is given the gap, the infrastructure gap that we have on the content, financing gap that you have on the continent, China is providing an alternative and China is acting quickly. However, many of the leaders with whom I'm engaging will prefer to deal instead with, for example, the United States. The United States is probably acting slower than some of the other players. But this is also because of the democratic process and the compliance mechanism, among others. But despite that, I think that there are still tools which can allow to be compliant, to respect the democratic principle, but also act faster, with more agility. And we are having conversations. I testified before the Senate on some of those questions, before the House of Representatives, before the U.S. International Trade Commission, sharing perspective on how the U.S. can further leverage its strength and the alignment to advance U.S.-Africa prosperity. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to take the next oral question from John O'Toole. Q: Well, thank you, because my question directly kind of follows off of that. So that's very fortunate. FASKIANOS: Fantastic. Q: So my question was related to, like, Africa on, like, the global security scale. So, like you said, like, Russia and China are investing heavily, are—and becoming, like, major players, some might argue, in an attempt to be, like, first to market, in a way, in terms of being, like, colleagues with Africa. And you can't really pick and choose who your partners are, especially if the people you want to work with, like the United States or the EU, aren't moving as fast. But is there a concern that growing relationships with China and Russia could morph into a global security conflict? And that some African leaders might be afraid of becoming perhaps the next Lumumba where they're characterized as, you know, perhaps a communist pawn, or something? Is that part of the thought process? SIGNÉ: Thank you for the important question. So it's important to highlight a few considerations here. Typically, when many of the more established powers, whether you're speaking about France, the United States, UK, when they are engaging with many of the African countries they take into consideration the principles that I mentioned before, whether we speak about democratic principles, human rights consideration, humanitarian consideration, among other. So those are really key dimensions that are taken into consideration with more traditional African partners, although it is not uniform. So you will also have the same country which will be trading both with some of the authoritarian countries. But when doing so, they will often bring the question of democratic governance, of human rights in the conversation. And the difference there with countries such as China or Russia, is they are decoupling trade, investment, and principle quotient of democracy—democratic quotients, human rights quotients. For obvious reason, when you look also at your level of democratic development, or at the situation of human rights in your—in your countries. So now, what are the potential risk for the continent? I think that the—many of the—we have seen the presence, whether in an official capacity or in an unofficial capacity of foreign forces in Africa, including from Russia. So to what extent are they influencing the political sphere? To what extent are they fueling or contributing to fuel some of the insecurity and conflict that we have, as we say, in the Sahel? Or to what extent are they helping those country to address some of the challenges faced? I think the growing support that we have seen for Russia, or China, or for some of the emerging countries is related to a narrative, which may not always be founded, but a more appeasing and more respectful narrative that they have when engaging with some of the African countries. But that doesn't mean that they are acting in a way which better advance the interests of those countries. And African leaders are often in a complex situation where they don't necessarily—some of them, of course, will be very clear in terms of their preferences for Western countries. And others, in between, where they want to be certain that they will not be dropped, if I can use the terms. And this is because historically, even some of the best partners of the West—and we look at the case of Niger, when the military coup happened, so despite some political discourses the West was not able to do much. So those are elements which create also a certain level of insecurity on the continent. So yeah, your question is extremely important. And I think that there are risks which are associated with the—with the growing involvement of those emerging powers, like China, especially as it is shifting or has shifted from the economic quotient to a more security, military quotient and cooperation. But some of the countries with which they are cooperating, or perhaps even most of those countries in terms of military engagement, are not necessarily countries with their reputation or leaders with the reputation of—or with the best record in terms of democratic progress or in terms of human rights. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to take the next question from Zachary Billot, a student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas: How will increased environmental challenges related to climate change impact institution and governmental efficacy in Africa? Can Africa be expected to transition to green energy if there isn't substantial foreign investment? SIGNÉ: Absolutely. It is extremely important. Thank you for the question. It's extremely important to highlight the consequences of climate change on the continent, especially in the fragile countries, in the fragile regions, especially also when combined with governance challenges. So many of the conflicts in the Sahel—and I publish a—I co-published a report with Brookings on the question on how—on the nexus—on the climate change-security-development nexus. So many—if climate change doesn't necessarily—the relation between climate change and conflict is not necessarily causal, but there is a strong correlation at least when it comes to exacerbating initial conditions in regions where you have poverty and where governance is already quite weak. So the question is, yes, climate change is increasing the likelihood of conflict, especially in an area where we already have bad governance, or poor performance. And how to address some of those questions? Of course, we have involved also in drafting the human development—the Sahel Human Development Report, where the topic is on using energy to unlock Africa potential to contribute to sustainable development, how we can leverage in a sustainable way. And, yes, I do believe that the continent has a path. So of course, I will not necessarily disclose the findings, because they will have to be officially launched by the United Nations Development Program later this year, early the next one. But there is a clear path for Africa to achieve a greener future, especially as the continent has, I would say, the luxury of learning from what has been done on the negative experiences of some of the advanced economies. But also on capitalizing on technology to achieve those goals. Now, you mentioned about investment. Yes, that is an area where global partners who have committed, including the United States, France, Canada, among others, to support a greener revolution, economic revolution, energy transition, industrial development on the continent also have to play their part. Of course the global community, the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, among others. So Africa has the potential to achieve it, but not alone. With the collaboration of global partners, including some of the biggest polluters. FASKIANOS: Great, thank you. I'm going to go next to Alicia Hoffman. Q: Hello. How are you? I have a question regarding some previous legal agreements that were put forth between the ACP countries and the European Union. So my question is, I would like for you to highlight and discuss the role of the comprehensive legal agreements such as the Rome Agreement, that is now defunct, the Lomé Agreement, the Cotonou Agreement and now the post-Cotonou Agreement, which was just finalized last month, and get some of your opinions or your thoughts about the post-Cotonou Agreement in fostering the economic development of African countries. And also mitigating the issues dealing with migration and even human trafficking that kind of were not really addressed clearly in those earlier agreements, such as the Rome, and Lomé, and the Cotonou. SIGNÉ: Thank you so much for the extremely important question. So I think that to put things in context, as you mentioned, the Lomé Agreement, the Cotonou Agreement, and other agreement, when we look—again, I like to look from an historical perspective. So we clearly see that if a single agreement was almost having the impact of a magic stick, Africa will be in a different position now. So all those agreements, of course, and some of those agreements are benefiting, at least per the perspective of some of the African countries, they are benefiting more the European Union countries and France than perhaps, per se, in the absolute term, the African countries. Because many of the key players in those countries in industrial development, among others, are foreign corporations, which are originating from those countries. But let me instead speak in a in a broader perspective. I think that the responsibility for Africa's development really lie primarily with African leaders and citizens. So it's a notion that I think we should really come back to. Of course, when we discuss then the relation within Africa and the rest of the world, Africa has been historically in a situation where it was abused—from slavery, to colonization, and so on. But as you have seen in in my permanent record, I'm also part—most of my work consists not only at looking at those structural asymmetries that we can see on the continent, but at giving back the responsibility, accountability of the African leaders, despite the asymmetrical relation they may be having with some of the other part of the world, still have the power and the responsibility to better deliver for their citizens. So, yes, I think that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), as I mentioned, also represents an opportunity to address some of those challenges. But, of course, some countries will—we also have the political economy of the AfCFTA, in the sense that some country—and the ones which are the most advanced, economically speaking—the most enthusiastic about accelerating the implementation. But the beauty of the AfCFTA is that they also acknowledge some of the country we may potentially be left behind and have specific growth or special and differential treatments allowing the countries with more challenges to be—to be developed. So, again, I think that, yes, it's extremely important for Africa when engaging with the European Union to really find a configuration which would unlock the industrial development of the continent, and not necessarily just rely on the primary goods, among others. FASKIANOS: So, thank you. I'm you're going next to Charlotte Langeveld, who's a lecturer at Ocean County College: To which identity do the young African people prefer to be associated with, ethnic or national identity? While national identity is superficial and ethnic is real, it has consequences for the future of the continent. SIGNÉ: So yeah, so that is probably a specific survey should be developed and in a systematic way to provide a definitive response to that question. But we have different, again, multiple belonging. Like some African citizens, especially young people, will want to be presented as African, even beyond your nation, or as global citizens. But it is clear that ethnic—the ethnicity continues to play a role on the continent, because although younger Africans speak less than the previous generation local dialects and languages, so it is important to also highlight that it is part of a broader cultural system. So I don't think that it is either/or. So if you think also about citizens of the Africa—of the European Union, are French people considering more French than European, or more European than French? I would say it probably depends, but that multiple belonging remain valid. And although the comparison is slightly different, are Californians believing that they are more Californian than American or are more American than Californian? So, but understanding also the potential implication of the question is that it is extremely important to keep—in nation-building to go beyond the questions or the notions which are dividing, to focus on the common values, and systems. So I don't think that's a problem for young people to have multiple belongings or ideas of belonging. What is—what could be a bad thing is to use those differences for discrimination, for poor governance, among others. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to go next to Kimberly Pace. Q: Hello, Landry. It's nice to see you. I have—my question is—hi, University of Alaska, Anchorage. My question is regarding women and girls. My question is, you know, given the role that violent extremism has had in Africa, what is the effect—what do you think is the effect on the economic and political opportunities for girls and women across African countries? Would love to hear your response. SIGNÉ: Absolutely. Hello, Kimberly. And so great to see you. And so I'm looking forward to following up after this session. So this is an extremely important question. There is no future of Africa without a full acknowledgement of the critical importance of women and girls, and not just economically speaking, politically speaking, in all the spheres of society. Just speaking economically, the gross domestic product of the content in some country could be increased by more than 50 percent with the full—or, about 50 percent—increase from 2 to 48, 49 percent with the full integration of women in society, in the economy, among other. So, and it is incredibly painful to see how in some countries, especially in situations of conflict, some of the first victim—the main victims, are girls, are women, or young people in as well, in general. So it is therefore extremely important, I think, to further empower women. But when you speak about empowering women, most people will think about empowering them politically, in particular. But for my conversation with many heads of state—former head of states, including President Banda or President Gurib-Fakim, so in our conversation it appear clearly that one of the best way to empower women politically is first to empower them also economically. Because when you're empowered economically you can organize a campaign, you can be a fully contributing member, and you can be independent. So, yes, addressing conflict, human rights challenges, will be a way to further protect women, because when you have war, when you have civil conflict, they are typically the most vulnerable people and they are often the one who are the most abused by a protagonist. So yeah. So I fully concur to the fact that we have to act in a more vigorous way to protect women, to create opportunities for women, and to empower women. And some of my best models, not to say most, are women. And starting with my mother, my sisters, and yeah. So I couldn't agree more with you. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to take the next question from William Decourt, who's at Hamilton Lugar School at Indiana University: You mentioned surveys indicating widespread support for democracy across the continent. How have you seen public opinion in Africa responding to or shaping norms of liberal governance on the continent? And has it been affected by other challenges, such as the recent coups, influence from Russian mercenaries, and perhaps from increased Chinese investment too? SIGNÉ: So, just to be certain that I understand, and thank you so much for the important questions, is also about some of the trends on the continent related to democratic support, and the overall political situations. One of the reasons, and please, Irina, feel free to engage and follow up as needed. So one of the reasons why we have seen coups, of course, some—you have to put things in context. I mentioned that before. Many of the African citizens really want democracy to deliver. And not just democracy to deliver—if you live in rural contexts. At the origin of modern states is the social contract, which require that while a citizen will be giving up some of your fundamental—some of your rights, you will receive in exchange from states basic public services and goods, including security, economic opportunities, among others. But when those are not delivered, whether in a democracy or in a nondemocratic regime, that is when you have more challenges. Which could lead in some cases to a military coup, as we have seen, because then coup leaders may justify that—may justified their action by the imperative of restoring security or bringing about economic opportunities. So I think that is a point that I first want to highlight, to insist on the fact that, yeah, so the—those surveys show that on one hand, Africans want democracy. On the other hand, they want those democracies to deliver. And sometime even in democratic countries, some leaders are not necessarily governing in the way which is aligned with accountability. And those are the reasons why some coup leaders will also be supported by some citizens as an alternative, not to restore a long-term authoritarian system, but perhaps organize a transition. But from my perspective, it's one of the reasons why I think that—for many reasons. But one of the key reasons why I think coups even in a very contested context are extremely bad is one of the best predictors of a coup is a previous coup. So once military got involved in politics, even after a successful short-term transition and return to power to the civilians, the likelihood of having another coup is high. So that is one of the reasons why I think it's very important to invest in citizen, and invest in democratic development, and also invest in making democratic countries, African democracies, African democratic countries, deliver better for their citizens. FASKIANOS: Well, Landry, we are unfortunately out of time. And I apologize to all of you who had wonderful questions, we could not possibly get to them all, and raised hands. So we will just have to continue the conversation, and organize another conversation around these important issues. But, Landry Signé, thank you very much for being with us today. We really appreciate your comments and your analysis. And you can follow Landry on X, the app formerly known as Twitter, at @LandrySigne. It's spelled S-I-G-N-E. And our next Academic Webinar will be on Wednesday, October 25, at 1:00 p.m. (EDT) with Stephen Biddle, who's an adjunct senior fellow here at CFR and professor at Columbia University, to talk about military strategy in the contemporary world. And in the meantime, I'd encourage you to learn about CFR paid internships for students and fellowships for professors at CFR.org/Careers. Please visit CFR.org, ForeignAffairs.com, and ThinkGlobalHealth.org. We have been posting a lot of content there in light of the Israeli-Hamas conflict. So there are a lot of resources on our homepage that I commend to all of you. And again, Landry Signé, thank you very much for being with us today. SIGNÉ: Thank you so much, Irina. And thank you so much for the wonderful questions, conversation, and to the incredible team which has put everything together. FASKIANOS: Thank you. (END)

Exim Bank is playing a growing role in financing the export drive of US small business. In California alone, they have 650 exporter clients who ship overseas, product worth $14 billion. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-herlihy/message

In this episode, we have the privilege of hosting Elena Mendez from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank). With over a decade of experience at EXIM Bank and an extensive background in international banking, Elena brings a wealth of knowledge to the table. Elena sheds light on the pivotal role EXIM Bank plays as the official US export credit agency. She emphasizes that the core objective of EXIM Bank is to promote, sustain, and amplify American jobs through fostering US exports. The agency's programs are centered around the prerequisite of significant US content, crucially contributing to the nation's workforce and economic growth. Delving into the details, Elena explains how EXIM Bank assists exporters with its various programs, including export credit insurance. This insurance safeguards exporters against non-payment from foreign buyers, enabling them to confidently engage in international trade. With a focus on small businesses, EXIM Bank collaborates closely with partners like the Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) to ensure exporters are well-prepared for the global market. Elena also discusses the process of initiating EXIM Bank programs, emphasizing the importance of engaging with US exporters who meet the eligibility criteria. She highlights the collaborative nature of EXIM Bank's work, involving US suppliers, exporters, foreign buyers, and lenders. Elena's insights also extend to how EXIM Bank helps exporters secure financing, navigate government contracts, and diversify their revenue streams. She underlines that EXIM Bank's resources are often underutilized due to lack of awareness, making it crucial for exporters to explore these opportunities and drive growth. Join us for an enlightening conversation on how EXIM Bank empowers exporters, fosters economic growth, and contributes to a thriving global business landscape. Recorded live at this year's Florida SBDC Network Small Business Success Summit hosted at The Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort.  Learn more about the U.S EXIM Bank: https://www.exim.gov/

In this audio we are going to learn about EXIM Bank. Following topics have been covered in this audio: - Introduction to EXIM Bank(Export & Import Bank of India) - Role of Exim Bank

หลังจากได้คุยเรื่องวิธีการผ่านวิกฤตกันไปใน Talk of The Cloud EP. 18 วันนี้ ดร.รักษ์ วรกิจโภคาทร กรรมการผู้จัดการ ธนาคารเพื่อการส่งออกและนำเข้าแห่งประเทศไทย (EXIM BANK) กลับมาพูดคุยกันต่อว่า การช่วยธุรกิจขนาดเล็กให้โตไกลในระดับนานาชาติ ด้วยกลยุทธ์ Nobody to Somebody สร้างคนตัวเล็กสู่เวทีโลก มีวิธีคิดและลงมือทำอย่างไร โดยธุรกิจที่จะเป็นตัวแทนเรื่องราวในครั้งนี้คือ SiamBugs ฟาร์มเลี้ยงจิ้งหรีดในชลบุรีที่มีเป้าหมายยิ่งใหญ่ ผลักดันการส่งออกผลผลิตแปรรูปจากจิ้งหรีดไทยในเวที Future Food ระดับโลก โดย คุณอ้อ-สุวิมล จันทจร ลูกค้าของ EXIM Thailand ที่เปิดฟาร์มให้ดูกันตั้งแต่จุดเริ่มต้นจนถึงผลผลิตที่จับต้องได้

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Dan Runde of CSIS discusses various ways China deploys soft power strategies in pursuit of geopolitical goals. Dan touches upon vaccine diplomacy, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Elections, and other multilateral organizations such as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), and the State Department's Bureau for International Organizations (DOS IO). Research Question: Dan Runde suggests interested students read Invisible China: How the Urban-Rural Divide Threatens China's Rise by Scott Rozelle and Natalie Hell, which upacks human capital and demographics challenges in China. Resources: Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned #74 Elham Tabassi on NIST, Technology Standards, and Trust #130 Teasel Muir-Harmony on Spaceflight, Foreign Policy, and Soft Power #144 Nick Eberstadt on Demographics Dan Runde's CSIS Webpage The American Imperative: Reclaiming Global Leadership through Soft Power by Daniel Runde United Nations International Telecommunications Union US State Department Bureau of International Organization Affairs Soft Power Invisible China: How the Urban-Rural Divide Threatens China's Rise by Scott Rozelle and Natalie Hell Link to full show notes and resources https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-151 Guest Bio: Daniel F. Runde is a senior vice president, director of the Project on Prosperity and Development (PPD), and holds the William A. Schreyer Chair in Global Analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a leading global think tank. Mr. Runde also served as the acting director for the CSIS Americas Program from 2020-2022. His work is oriented around U.S. leadership in building a more democratic and prosperous world. Among his many other contributions, Mr. Runde was an architect of the BUILD Act, contributed to the reauthorization of the U.S. EXIM Bank in 2018, and was an architect of Prosper Africa, a U.S. government initiative to deepen the United States' commercial and development engagement in Africa. He has been a leading voice on the role and future of the World Bank Group and U.S. leadership in the multilateral system. Prior to CSIS, Mr. Runde held leadership roles at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank Group. Earlier in his career, Mr. Runde worked in commercial banking at Citibank in Argentina and in investment banking at Alex. Brown & Sons. Mr. Runde was granted the Officer's Cross in the Order of Isabel la Católica, a Spanish civil order. Currently, he serves on the board of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF), Spirit of America, and the Ashesi University Foundation. Mr. Runde is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bretton Woods Committee. He is also a columnist for The Hill and hosts a CSIS podcast series, Building the Future: Freedom, Prosperity, & Foreign Policy with Dan Runde. Mr. Runde is also the author of the book The American Imperative: Reclaiming Global Leadership through Soft Power (Bombardier Books, 2022). He previously chaired two U.S. government advisory committees: the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid at USAID and the Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee at the U.S. EXIM Bank. Fluent in Spanish, he graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College and holds a master's in public policy from Harvard University. About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Tuvimos el honor de intrevisar a nuestro cliente, Marcos Sierra que tiene una poliza de seguro de crédito con Meridian Finance Group como su corredor. Hablamos de su experiencia sobre el proceso y la utilización de seguro de crédito.También fue un honor hablar con una de nuestras representantes del Export Import Bank de los Estates Unidos, Elena Méndez para discutir cómo el programa de EXIM difiere de otras compañías de seguros de crédito y los beneficios del programa respaldado por el gobierno estadounidense. Más sobre Marcos Sierra:Marcos Sierra, Ingeniero Electrónico, egresado de la Universidad Simon Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela, se especializa en el área de instrumentación y control de proceso, siempre enfocado en el área de la Industria de Gas y Petróleo, empresario desde el año 1996 en Venezuela y desde Octubre del 2012 Fundador y Socio de Texpetrol, Inc.; Empresa dedicada a la venta y distribución de prestigiosas marcas de Valvulas, equipos de instrumentación y Sistemas de Detección de Fuego y Gas combustible para las industrias petroleras de Texas, Louisiana, y también exportando para Latino America y África, que es la parte que lo trae como invitado a esta entrevista.Más sobre Elena Mendez:Elena Méndez se incorporó a la oficina regional de Export-Import Bank en Miami desde el 2012 y es la principal responsable de ayudar a los exportadores estadounidenses en Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes de EE. UU. Antes de unirse a EXIM Bank, la Sra. Méndez había dedicado la mayor parte de su extensa carrera bancaria al comercio internacional, el desarrollo de nuevos negocios y la banca institucional y corporativa, trabajando para varias instituciones financieras globales. Su diversa experiencia incluye trabajar en colaboración con empresas nacionales y extranjeras; las sucursales y filiales en el extranjero de corporaciones multinacionales; instituciones financieras extranjeras; bancos centrales y gobiernos extranjeros. Desde el inicio de su carrera con Exim Bank, ha estado involucrada en los programas de préstamos que ofrece EXIM Bank.

EPISODE 1439: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the author of THE AMERICAN IMPERATIVE, Daniel Runde, about how to reinvent America global leadership in a world increasingly dominated by Chinese economic and military power Daniel F. Runde is a senior vice president, director of the Project on Prosperity and Development (PPD), and holds the William A. Schreyer Chair in Global Analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a leading global think tank. Mr. Runde also served as the acting director for the CSIS Americas Program from 2020-2022. His work is oriented around U.S. leadership in building a more democratic and prosperous world. Among his many other contributions, Mr. Runde was as an architect of the BUILD Act, contributed to the reauthorization of the U.S. EXIM Bank in 2018, and was an architect of Prosper Africa, a U.S. government initiative to deepen the United States' commercial and development engagement in Africa. He has been a leading voice on the role and future of the World Bank Group and U.S. leadership in the multilateral system. Prior to CSIS, Mr. Runde held leadership roles at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank Group. Earlier in his career, Mr. Runde worked in commercial banking at Citibank in Argentina and in investment banking at Alex. Brown & Sons. Mr. Runde was granted the Officer's Cross in the Order of Isabel la Católica, a Spanish civil order. Currently, he serves on the board of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF), Spirit of America, and the Ashesi University Foundation. Mr. Runde is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bretton Woods Committee. He is also a columnist for The Hill and hosts a CSIS podcast series, Building the Future: Freedom, Prosperity, & Foreign Policy with Dan Runde. Mr. Runde is also the author of the book The American Imperative: Reclaiming Global Leadership through Soft Power (Bombardier Books, 2022). He previously chaired two U.S. government advisory committees: the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid at USAID and the Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee at the U.S. EXIM Bank. Fluent in Spanish, he graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College and holds a master's in public policy from Harvard University. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jamaica's tourism industry is filled with a lot of big players. And that's great for the country but it can make growing your small tourism business tricky, especially if you don't have the money! That's why EXIM Bank developed its SMTE Loan, specifically for small and medium tourism businesses.  This week we head back to the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival to learn more.  .  https://kalilahreynolds.com/programmes/moneymoves  Visit EXIM Bank's Business Advisory Service at: https://eximbankja.com IG: @eximbankja Giving you the tools to grow your business! *********** --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kalilahrey/support

 Did you know that coffee is the second most consumed beverage globally? Yup. And Jamaica's iconic blue mountain coffee is a major draw for tourists each year.  The 6th annual Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee festival took place last weekend and Team KRM was there with EXIM Bank to capture everything! .  https://kalilahreynolds.com/programmes/moneymoves  Visit EXIM Bank's Business Advisory Service at: https://eximbankja.com IG: @eximbankja Giving you the tools to grow your business! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kalilahrey/support

Tracy Gray is Founder and Managing Partner of The 22 Fund, a venture capital fund that is facing investment and equity injustice head-on – in the finance sector, women and people of color are historically and consistently underrepresented. In her varied career, Tracy has worked as Senior Advisor for International Business to the Mayor of Los Angeles, as a systems engineer (aka “rocket scientist!”) on a space shuttle mission, and following her 2015 TEDx Talk on “Why It's Time for Women to be Sexist With Capital,” established We Are Enough, a non-profit focused on educating ALL women on investing in women-owned, for-profit businesses. The 22 Fund builds upon that belief, that women and people of color don't need any more “mentorship” or “technical assistance”; they need capital and help with exporting. It is a “mission-driven fund looking for high-impact and high-end returns” for climate-focused, self-sustaining technologies and ideas, and intentionally includes these historically overlooked groups. Tracy focuses her portfolio on manufacturing companies, which are typically located in low- or moderate-income communities, with the goal of exporting to elevate the community via higher wages and greater access to opportunities. Exporting coupled with manufacturing sees wages nearing $100K annually on average, they're more likely to have healthcare, and increased generational wealth for women and people of color, says Tracy. “Our mission is to create the clean, quality jobs of the future” in these lower-income communities. The 22 Fund's portfolio has launched products as disparate as: a fertilizer grow-medium for indoor farming created from food waste, targeted for use in sub-Saharan Africa; an alternative to the petroleum-based carbon black, the main ingredient in textile colors, produced from wood waste; and, a hair care product for textured hair, which turned into Sienna Naturals, a company now co-owned by Issa Rae. Tracy believes the time is right for an “all-government approach” to manufacturing and exports. “America is an insular, consumer-based economy that expects to sell just to each other – a system based largely on the fear of being taken advantage of, or the unknown – but economic instabilities aren't well managed without exporting,” she explains. Relying on government services – the Department of Commerce, the Small Business Administration, EXIM Bank – essentially comprises a concierge service that can move a company through: Market analysis Marketing partners on the ground All the things you need to export And these government agencies don't market themselves so knowing what's available to you is critical to global success. The 22 Fund will help by “providing the capital that doesn't exist for these companies, especially for manufacturers, women, people of color, all of the capital gaps that exist.” All the entrepreneur needs to bring to the table is a good idea and the courage to succeed.   Links: The 22 Fund - https://the22fund.com/ TedxOlympicBlvdWomen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyggi2IYXXY US Department of Commerce – Minority Business Development Agency - https://www.mbda.gov/ Small Business Administration Office of International Trade - https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-locations/headquarters-offices/office-international-trade EXIM Bank - https://www.exim.gov/solutions/get-financing   Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/ Connect with Tracy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracydgray/ Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Ognadon Eddy Djagou (“Eddy”) is Founder and CEO of Muscatine, IA-based Djaagou-a Export LLC. He is also the Small Business Administration's Exporter of the Year for 2022! Born and raised in French-speaking Togo in West Africa, Eddy holds a BA in Marketing from a West African university and immigrated to the US in 2011 on a Diversity visa. The Immigration Act of 1990 inspired the Diversity Visa program, a lottery by which 15,000 people come to the US each year. In Togo, explains Eddy, between one and 2 million people apply for the lottery; only 100 to 200 are selected and submitted for consideration by the West African government. “My dream changed” upon arrival, he says. Following a two-year “integration” period in Illinois – learning English, working, obtaining proper identification – Eddy relocated to Muscatine, IA, where he quickly realized that its residents typically traveled at least an hour to neighboring cities to get any international or ethnic goods – like fufu! Established in 2017, Djaagou-a Export LLC grew out of an organic process of simply sending samples of US food products to friends in Ghana, Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, and other regions of West Africa. What started with small packages of goods by 2020 turned into container shipments of rice, sugar, meat and fish, snacks. Eddy set up a storefront, found a supplier in Chicago, and simultaneously launched an importing business, addressing individual requests from customers both domestic and abroad. A visit to his homeland found larger orders from West African-based importers and turned Djaagou-a Export LLC into a B2B, B2C, and B2G (government) operation. Today, Djaagou-a Export LLC has the added mission of supporting the local community with their own exporting endeavors, so Eddy continues to work closely with the State of Iowa, the US Commercial Service, EXIM Bank, and the Small Business Administration (including a STEP Grant used for website translation). The opportunities that were made available to him are available to anyone: trade shows in foreign countries, 50% reimbursement grants to get started in exporting (for sending samples overseas, for example), funding for expansion. His best advice? Small US businesses that imagine exporting as “risky” should be assured that there is a lot of opportunity and government resources that will help you succeed. “Do not look afraid, try something good!”   Links: https://djaagou-a.com/    Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/ Connect with Eddy - LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddy-djagou-4321611a0/ Twitter: @EddyDjagou Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Exim Bank is ISO certified. What does that mean? Joining me now to discuss why this is a major push from the Ministry of Industry Investment and Commerce for companies to get ISO certified we have Senior Securities Officer and Quality Officer at Exim Bank, Monique Burroughs https://kalilahreynolds.com/programmes/moneymoves Visit EXIM Bank's Business Advisory Service at: https://eximbankja.com IG: @eximbankja Giving you the tools to grow your business! *********** --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kalilahrey/support

โอกาส SMEs ไทยภายหลังการประชุม APEC และบทบาท EXIM BANK ในการผลักดัน “คนตัวเล็ก” สู่ตลาดโลก . พูดคุยกับดร.รักษ์ วรกิจโภคาทร กรรมการผู้จัดการ ธนาคารเพื่อการส่งออกและนำเข้าแห่งประเทศไทย (EXIM BANK) . ติดตามข่าวสารเศรษฐกิจ ธุรกิจ การเงิน การลงทุน จาก การเงินธนาคารทีวี ได้ที่... Facebook : bit.ly/3JTh19E YouTube : bit.ly/2QvvMcG . #MoneyandBankingPodcast #MBPodcast #Business #Investing

Do you have an online business but it's not where you want it to be? You're selling products but not raking in sufficient sales. Well there's a solution to this. Joining me now to discuss EXIM Bank's Ecommerce Funder we have Manager Loan Origination and Business Development , Hopeton Nicholson https://kalilahreynolds.com/programmes/moneymoves Visit EXIM Bank's Business Advisory Service at: https://eximbankja.com IG: @eximbankja Giving you the tools to grow your business! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kalilahrey/support

Today's topic: Should someone's social media presence affect whether they are hired or whether they are disciplined? On Team YES, Director at Human Resource Management Association of Jamaica (HRMAJ) and General Manager of Corporate Services at EXIM Bank, Colin Ebanks. And on Team Opposition, we have CEO of Ttech, Chris Reckord. Comment below and let us know who won! The winner will be announced on social media! Visit EXIM Bank's Business Advisory Service at: https://eximbankja.com IG: @eximbankja Giving you the tools to grow your business! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kalilahrey/support

Welcome to “Your Business Matters”, a new series brought to you by EXIM Bank. It's a debate geared towards “Bringing Thought-Leaders together with thought-provoking ideas and methods on business matters to help grow your business.” Today's topic: When starting a business, is it more important to do something you're passionate about OR fulfill a need in the market? Lisandra Rickards, Founder and CEO of Soul Career is Team Passion and Chairman of Wisynco Group, William Mahfood is on Team Fulfilling a Need! Comment below and let us know who won! The winner will be announced on social media! Visit EXIM Bank's Business Advisory Service at: https://eximbankja.com IG: @eximbankja Giving you the tools to grow your business! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kalilahrey/support

In this episode, I will be speaking with Craig O' Connor, the founder of the Renewable Energy Business Development Program at the U.S. Export-Import Bank that, since 2008, has generated over $2 billion in financing for renewable energy projects. We dive into the stories behind Exim's involvement in financing some of India's earliest solar projects and also discuss key financing terms that Exim Bank looks for when financing these projects. Hope you enjoy!

Find out why the EXIM Bank could be on our side as Tellurian Inc. develops the Driftwood LNG Project on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Some of you may have seen that last week the export, import bank of the United States unanimously agreed to start funding projects in the United States that have an accent […] The post CHAT with TELL | Two minutes with Charif Souki on EXIM Bank of the U.S. unanimously agreeing to fund a range of export projects appeared first on Tellurian Inc..

New research from AidData at the College of William & Mary in the United States provides the first insight into the loan contract between China Exim Bank and the Ugandan government for the expansion of the Entebbe International Airport. This is the same airport at the center of an almost year-long controversy over whether China would seize the facility due to a loan default.That allegation is, of course, not true and the contract confirms that the airport was never in jeopardy of being surrendered to China Exim Bank. But what researchers did find is a deal that was heavily weighted in favor of the lender with some very intrusive clauses.AidData Executive Director Brad Park joins Eric & Cobus from Williamsburg, Virginia in the U.S. to discuss his team's findings after carefully reviewing an unredacted version of the loan contract.JOIN THE DISCUSSION:CAP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProjectTwitter: @ChinaAfrProject | @stadenesque | @aiddataAidData Report on the Chinese Loan Contract for the Entebbe Airport Expansion Project: https://bit.ly/35BQiiE JOIN US ON PATREON!Become a CAP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff including our Week in Review report, invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CAP Podcast mug!www.patreon.com/chinaafricaprojectSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

US-based research lab AidData says a top Chinese lender has imposed aggressive repayment terms on a $200 million loan to expand Uganda's international airport criticizing the bank for forcing the government to repay its debt before funding public services. AidData says under the loan from China's Exim Bank to modernise the Entebbe Airport, the Ugandan government is required to channel all revenue from the country's only international airport into an account held jointly with the lender. Chinese creditors require governments to deposit some earnings from big infrastructure projects in bank accounts they control to serve as collateral.

It's our FIRST live episode of #MoneyMovesJa! Are you excited? So what are we talking about tonight? Well, Exim Bank has a special product , EXIM Express, garnered towards Small and medium sized entities, SME's, seeking working capital support. The turnaround time is quick and easy and financing is available up to 75%. Joining me now to discuss we have Business Development Consultant at Exim Bank, Winston Lawson. Don't miss it! https://kalilahreynolds.com/programmes/moneymoves Visit EXIM Bank's Business Advisory Service at: https://eximbankja.com IG: @eximbankja Giving you the tools to grow your business! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kalilahrey/support

In this episode of Building the Future, Dan Runde speaks with Jim Harmon. As the Chairman and CEO of Caravel Management LLC, co-chair of the Board of the World Resources Institute, and former President of the Export-Import Bank, Mr. Harmon has had a storied career across government, finance, and philanthropy. He shares his many experiences through his memoir, Up and Doing: Two Presidents, Three Mistakes, and One Great Weekend―Touchpoints to a Better World. In this episode, Mr. Harmon delves into the environmental progress of the World Resources Institute and how he was able to build up the EXIM Bank, Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund, and more. This episode was recorded on October 20, 2021.

Angie Yu, founder and president of Kentucky-based Two Rivers Fisheries, discusses her business of catching, selling and distributing Asian Carp globally; how she used SBA and Exim Bank to fuel her business growth; and where she sees the future of carp as an industry.

If you've ever wondered how a small business uses the US government program to help them export, listen in. ExIm's Jon Clark describes how the Export Import Bank of the United States is set up to support exports. At the least, if you're a small business that only sells cash in advance or via letter of credit, you should know about this program because perhaps your competitors use it to offer terms (and win sales).https://www.meridianfinance.com/https://www.exim.gov https://www.exim.gov/contact - find your local office

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://donnyferguson.com/2017/02/21/the-ex-im-bank-is-the-heart-of-the-swamp/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/donny-ferguson/message

June 2021 Ducere Live Leadership Series with Anthony Scaramucci. Anthony Scaramucci is the Founder and Co-Managing Partner of SkyBridge Capital, The SALT.org Conference and Mooch.FM. Scaramucci also co-founded investment partnership Oscar Capital Management, which was sold to Neuberger Berman, LLC in 2001. Earlier, he was a vice president in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs & Co. In November 2016, Scaramucci, a native of Long Island, New York, was named to President-Elect Trump's 16-person Presidential Transition Team Executive Committee. In June 2017, he was named the Chief Strategy Officer of the EXIM Bank. He served as the White House Communications Director for a period in July 2017.

We interview Lisa Bell, Managing Director, EXIM Bank Jamaica In this episode, we cover Government Assistance through EXIM. Some of what we looked at were: Businesses and particularly those falling within the SME sector are reeling from the effects of COVID-19. How can the EXIM bank help? What is the purpose of Exim Bank? What are some of the options available to business owners via EXIM? And lots more! Connect with Lisa Bell on LinkedIn. EXIM Bank; Telephone: 1876-630-1400 Thanks for listening to The Jamaica Stock Exchange & You, a podcast of the Jamaica Stock Exchange with your host, Heneka Watkis-Porter! We sincerely hope that you found this episode exploring government assistance through EXIM useful. Remember to join us next week when we'll be interviewing COK's Brand Ambassador, Ambassador Aloun Assamba on the Credit Union's role in raising capital for businesses! To stay in touch or to learn more about the Jamaica Stock Exchange, you can head over to jamstockex.com to register for a free account. Send us your feedback at podcast@jamstockex.com or find us on social media @jamstockex. The Jamaica Stock Exchange & You is produced by Heneka Watkis-Porter of The Entrepreneurial You podcast, you can find it at henekawatkisporter.com to hear leadership and entrepreneurship lessons from guests like the JSE's Managing Director, Marlene Street-Forrest, Richard Branson, Seth Godin and more. That's all for this episode, see you next time! Remember, as Warren Buffet says, "Rule number one: Don't lose money. Rule number two: Don't forget rule number one.” --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jamstockexpodcast/message

So, what exactly is EXIM Bank? What do they do and who do they help? You may have heard a lot about them, but now you can hear from them - Burnie and Kara interview Eastern Region Managing Director Sharyn Koenig all about EXIM's presence in S.C., and how our companies can benefit from EXIM. No, they're not just for the 'big boys' of business. Listen now!

In this Tea Leaves episode, Kurt and Rich chat with Fred Hochberg, former Chairman of the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) about how the historical underpinnings of tariffs, the role of the EXIM Bank and how it will play a more significant role in the post-COVID environment, and the role of U.S. international economic policy. The three also talk about Washington's trade policies in the context of the U.S. service economy. To access the full video of the conversation, please visit: https://theasiagroup.com/tea-leaves-podcast-fred-hochberg/