UPDATE
MBITA continues to attract a vast arrary of new members diverse as the green lush redwood forests of the Santa Cruz mountains and the cool waters of the Monterey Bay.
MBITA new members range from financial services for export operations to manufacturers of equisite silk scarves.
Tony Livoti
Executive Director
tlivoti@globalmbita.com
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President
Tony Livoti
MBITA
Vice President
Shay Adams
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Members:
Dr. Edward Valeau
Hartnell College
Salinas
Victor Cordell
Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS)
Marcelo Siero
Houses.com
Jim Faith
GlobalTrade.com
Phil Cisneros
CCITA
Cristina Polesel
Membership/Event Manager
MBITA
This newsletter has been created by MBITA's editor
Cristina Polesel
cristina@mbita.org
MBITA welcomes the Marina Small Business Incubator as a new MBITA Corporate Sponsor. MSBI is a collaborative project between the City of Marina and the University of California's Monterey Bay Education, Science and Technology Center (UCMBEST) and is an integral part of the region's economic development vision after the closing of Fort Ord. Technology companies that are incubated in that area will graduate into the greater Monterey-Bay Area and into the business parks created by the cities and universities. The jobs that are created by these companies are expected to pay higher wages than the traditional agriculture and tourist sectors currently provide.
MSBI Clients
The Incubator currently hosts 10 resident clients, and it is developing an affiliate program for those start-up businesses that cannot move into the physical space, but will benefit from the business-development services proved by staff and executive associates. Three of the current clients are agricultural technology companies, developing technologies to bring lower costs and higher, sustainable yields to California and world-wide agricultural enterprises. These are Global Protein Products, Western Applied Technologies and Anzu Technologies. Real-Time Systems focuses on real-time monitoring of manufacturing processes, and China Circuits markets printed circuit boards manufactured in China. DEMA Publications is an on-line and hard-copy supplier of local-interest maps. Dawn Breaker Systems provides and ASP-model for servicing all human resources functions for school districts. And Pixel Ranch is producing an emergency-response graphic-interface product for computer, hand-held and hard-copy production.
Services
Staff and executive associates of the Incubator offer services to resident and affiliate clients to help them become established in the business world. Companies' needs are assessed for planning, strategy, human resources and funding. Then the appropriate assistance is brought in to help each business reach its incremental and long-term business goals.
MSBI Location
Located on Imjin Road off Reservation Road in Marina, California (six miles North of Monterey, Ca.), the Incubator is a not-for-profit business accelerator in close proximity to the more than 30 technology and science and research and education institutions in the heart of the region's unparalleled, year-round agricultural markets.
Contact
To participate in the Incubator's executive associates program or to become a resident or affiliate client, contact the Incubator.
Susan Barich
Director
Marina Small Business Incubator (MSBI)
1380 Imjin Road, Ste 148
Marina, CA 93933
Tel. 831-582-9718
Web: www.msbi.org
email: info@msbi.org
New MBITA Public Sector Partner
MBITA welcomes its new public sector partner, Chris Damm, new Director of the Monterey Export Assistance Center (EAC).
Chris Damm has been working for the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service since 1998. He has experience working in the Commercial Sections of U.S. Embassies overseas in the following countries: China, South Africa Taiwan and speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese.
Chris is available to help local businesses in the Monterey and Santa Cruz areas find buyers and distributors for their products overseas, as well as answer export related questions.
Contact:
Chris Damm
Monterey Bay Export Assistance Center (EAC
411 Pacific St. Ste 316 A
Monterey, CA 93940)
Tel. 408-271-7300 X 108 or 831-641-9850
Web: www.buyusa.gov/norcal, or www.usatrade.gov
email: chris.damm@mail.doc.gov
MBITA New Member:
New MBITA member Carmella D'Oro is a consumer goods company which designs and produces a line of high-end designer silk accessories and apparel for the woman over fifty.
Formerly known as Spirit of Silk, this company was founded in 1994 by artist and designer Carmella Weintraub, a long time Santa Cruz resident. Until last year all designs were executed by hand and have focused on accessories.
Carmella D'Oro's designs on silk are inspired by the global, multi-cultural experiences of the designer. Colorful, bold and evocative images have been influenced by the intensely beautiful environments in which she has lived.
Modern Art motifs, as well as flora and fauna of the natural world grace Carmella D'Oro silks which are also combined with leather and velvets.
Born in California, raised in the Hawaiian Islands and of Northern Italian heritage, Carmella has been inspired to create a collection of clothing and accessories which speak to woman who appreciate "the good life" and who enjoy the color and vitality in their clothing choices.
After producing the accessories line for years by hand, Carmella D'Oro recently developed a production partnership with an Italian silk-screen company. Increased production capacity has allowed the company to pursue expanded domestic marketing and to position the company as a designer apparel and accessories line.
The company's mission is the co-creation of beauty through relationships and partnerships throughout the world. Like most artistic endeavors, this company is powered by the intrinsic pleasure of capturing the color and beauty of the world and making it into a functional object to be worn with pleasure and comfort.
Currently the company is exploring expansion into a full apparel line for special occasion clothing for the mature woman. MBITA has assisted the company in exploring and researching production partners in Italy for this anticipated expansion. Leather jackets lined in silk prints, Italian knits and luxury silk clothing will be included in this new collection. Carmella D'Oro's intended customers are the mature, successful women who need to look good in their community leadership roles, either in business or civic affairs.
Contact:
Carmella Weintraub, Owner and Designer
Carmella D'Oro
113 Jordan St.
Santa Cruz, Ca 95060
Tel. 831-458-3432
Fax 831-458-1330
Web: www.carmelladoro.com
email: carmella@got.net
MBITA welcomes Susan Wolfe as a new member. With fifteen years experience in public affairs, international relations and media, Susan provides a variety of consulting services that can be beneficial to your company. In today's competitive yet lean market, businesses need all the facts to help them make informed decisions. Whether you're trying to interpret a newly passed state law that affects your business, arrange an international fact-finding mission, or need a PR strategy for a new service or product, Susan can assist your company in the following areas:
· Knowledge of and experience in state and federal government, including USAID
· Understanding of regulatory issues, specifically telecommunications
· Management of trade and fact-finding delegations
· Understanding of and access to South African government and businesses
· Organization of high-level government meetings
· Corporate branding, public relations and media strategy
· Grant writing and fundraising
Susan Wolfe was the Director of Government and Community Relations at a children's media company in New York prior to moving to California. She was an integral part of a team that secured $5 million for a multi-media project in South Africa. Before that, she was a humanitarian aid worker and press officer for USAID in South Africa and worked on the Gore-Mbeki Bi-National Commission. Prior to that, she was a lobbyist in Washington, DC for the National Conference of State Legislatures and led a delegation of 15 state legislators to South Africa.
Her career has afforded her the opportunity to work with high ranking government officials from all over the world including diplomats at the United Nations. Her most recent consultancy was for Safer Africa, a leading African peace and conflict resolution think-tank, in which she was hired to promote Safer Africa's image and generate issue-specific projects in the United States.
Contact:
Susan Wolfe
596 Filmore St.
Monterey, CA, 93940
Tel 831-373-3516
email: dupreezwolfe@attbi.com
MBITA New Member: California Coastal Rural Development Corporation
MBITA welcomes California Coastal Rural Development Corporation (Cal Coastal) Cal Coastal was chartered in 1981 as a non-profit financial development corporation for the purpose of serving the financial needs of small businesses and farmers. The organization provides direct loans and loan guarantees to businesses located on the Central Coast through their offices in Salinas (headquarters), Monterey, Santa Maria, Lompoc and Santa Barbara.
Cal Coastal adds new programs to provide specific capital resources to the business community. In providing loan guarantees, the organization endeavors to serve niche markets not met by much larger lenders. Although Cal Coastal serves all business sectors, its niche is to provide capital to emerging businesses, thereby creating employment opportunities.
Loan Guarantee Program
This program promotes small business enterprises with special emphasis on assistance to those which will create or retain jobs. Funds may be used for inventory, accounts receivable, equipment acquisition and farm production, small business loans, revolving lines of credit, short and intermediate term loans. To qualify under this program a borrower must have received a commitment from a lender that participates in the Guarantee Program. The interest rate is negotiated by the lender and borrower.
Direct Farm Program
This program provides loans to family farms eligible for a Farm Service Agency (FSA) Guarantee. Funds may be used for crop production, harvest loans, farm ownership, farm improvements or equipment acquisition. To qualify under this program a borrower must be deemed eligible as a family farm by the FSA Loan Office. The interest rate is prime based variable rate on production loans and fixed rate or variable on farm ownership.
504 SBA Loan Program
This program provides affordable long-term, fixed rate financing to help healthy, expanding small and medium sized businesses grow. The loans are for acquiring long-term fixed assets, such as land, buildings, machinery and equipment, or for building, modernizing, renovating or restoring facilities. At present this program is limited to only Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. The interest rate is tied to U.S. Treasury rates.
Contact:
Herb Aarons
President
221 Main Street, Suite 301 Salinas, California 93901
Tel. (831) 424-1099, X 205
Fax (831) 424-1094
email: Herb_Aarons@calcoastal.org
Web: www.calcoastal.org
email: Herb_Aarons@calcoastal.org
Regional offices:
Salinas (831) 424-1099 Monterey (831) 641-0722
Santa Maria (805) 349-0798
Lompoc (805) 735-4600
Santa Barbara (805) 962-9251
Start-up and existing businesses that meet the targeted-income group criteria, are invited to attend the Marina Business Seminar Series (MBSS), Summer 2003. The workshops are free of charge and will be held from 9:00 a.m. to Noon, at the Marina Small Business Incubator (MSBI), located at the UCMBEST Center at 3180 Imjin Road (off of Reservation Road near the Marina Airport). Participants can sign up for any number of sessions, according to their needs.
The program is presented by a consortium of organizations that includes the City of Marina, California State University, Monterey Bay, the Monterey Bay International Trade Association (MBITA), Monterey Technology Institute (MTI) at California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and the Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) at Gavilan and Cabrillo Colleges. The consortium has been named Monterey Bay Business and Technology Consortium (MBBTC).
The nine-week series of business seminars, running from June 25 through August 20, is designed to highlight the start-up phases of business for those contemplating starting a new business and provide attendees with an understanding of how current technology trends and import/export strategies can open new markets and increase profitability. The unique consortium of organizations will provide qualified instructors and materials.
The program is funded by a microenterprise assistance grant from the State of California Community Development Block Grant to the City of Marina. To qualify as a participant, the maximum income level for a household with one person is $31,960 (Monterey County), $42,400 (Santa Cruz County), $37,560 (San Benito County), for two people it is $36,560 (Monterey), $48,440 (Santa Cruz), $42,960 (San Benito) for three people, it is $41,120 (Monterey), $54,520 (Santa Cruz), $57,960 (San Benito) ranging up to $60,280 for a household with eight people in Monterey. To receive this benefit, each individual will be asked to provide documentation of household income.
The topics and dates for the Marina Small Business Seminar Series Workshop Schedule are as follows.
6/25 SBDC Business Plan Seminar
7/2 MTI Take Your Business On-Line
7/9 SBDC Traditional & On-Line Marketing Strategies
7/16 MBITA Export Marketing Strategies & Import Procedures
*7/23 MTITech Trends for Small Business
7/30 SBDC Financing Your Small Business
8/6 SBDC Human Resources - Hire the Best
8/13 MSBI Creating Your Funding Presentation8/20ConsortiumFunding Presentation Review
* There will also be six half-hour 'webinars' on Export Market Strategy & Import Procedures given every Tuesday and Thursday from 4:00 to 4:30 p.m. at the convenience of your desktop starting on June 26th and ending on August 26.
ABOUT THE MARINA INCUBATOR
The Marina Small Business Incubator is a non-profit business accelerator dedicated to assisting technology start-up companies in the Monterey Bay Crescent with space and business resources. The Incubator is a project between the City of Marina and the University of California's Monterey Bay Education, Science and Technology (MBEST) Center .
To determine eligibility and to pre-register, please call Chris Khan at (831) 582-4791, or email him at chris_khan@csumb.edu. For additional information, click here.
MBITA Conference 'Global Trade Meets the World Wide Web'
Monterey, Ca - May 16th, 2003
What do you know about 'Global Web Marketing'? Do you know the tricks and blunders to outsmart your competitors and market your web site successfully in the web?
On May 16th, the Monterey Bay International Trade Association (MBITA) conducted a one-day conference entitled 'Global Trade Meets the World Wide Web' to provide a forum presenting services and products from leading companies in the World Wide Web marketing business community.
Hosted in Monterey at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS), the conference was sponsored by the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) and the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG) and co-sponsored by Silicon Valley International Business Incubator (IBI), Bay Area World Trade Center (BAWTC), California Chamber of Commerce, Silicon Valley Center for International Trade Development (SVCITD), California Technology Trade & Commerce Agency, TechVentures Network and San Jose Export Assistance Center.
The forum provided valuable information to the participants, who were 'export-ready', small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) seeking more cost-effective and efficient methods to promote their products and services worldwide through the World Wide Web.
Topics included presentations and workshops on global web services in the following sectors:
* Search engine services & index registration in foreign markets
* Global web site design, translation and function for maximum market penetration
* Making the Global Internet work for you
* Web conferencing & Global eCommerce online solutions
Andreas Mueller, Chief Strategist of Bloofusion discussed ways to optimize a web site by placing it at the top of the non-US search engine listings when a search for non-English keywords associated with your business is implemented. Registering a translated web site in local foreign indexes is as important as putting your company's name and contact information into the local phone book. It is absolutely necessary although you would not really consider it "marketing".
Philippa Gamse, President of Total Net Value Inc. spoke on how to take advantage of the numerous opportunities to reach global markets and audiences by utilizing the Internet. There are a number of issues to consider in creating a realistic strategic plan for your new internationally appealing web site. These include demographic research to learn more about the potential markets for your products and services in various countries, cultural differences that may impact your site design or content, language barriers, governmental restrictions and regulations, and security concerns. Ms. Gamse suggested solutions, resources for further investigation, as well as marketing and promotional tips and techniques.
Erik Schmidt, Principal of Fireteam Consulting LLC discussed Global web site design, translation and function for maximum market penetration. Making sure your web site downloads quickly enough for foreign executives with slower bandwidth is critical to be competitive in the global market, especially in regards to reaching developing foreign markets where fewer users have access to broadband internet service.
Mr. Schmidt demonstrated new software solutions that identify which country your visitor is coming from and automatically serves up a web page in that language, with a prominent text-link to secondary language choices.
Tony Livoti, Executive Director of MBITA demonstrated how to automate all of the import and export document processes with foreign partners, the government, banks, freight forwarders and custom brokers. These new services are provided at affordable fees to small and mid-sized enterprises.
Complimentary abalone appetizers were offered by MBITA New Member USAbalone of Santa Cruz, Ca., the second largest abalone grower in the U.S. and the number one producer of abalone pearls in the world. At the conclusion of the conference, Carmela's Gourmet, Monterey-based gourmet food manufacturer, provided gourmet salad dressings.
Sponsors, Partners, & Affiliates
tlivoti@globalmbita.com
www.tradeport.org
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