 Aloha. This is Rob Hack with another episode of Exporting from Hawaii. Today's guest is Jamie Lum. She's the Business Development Program Manager at DBET, and we're going to jump in and start speaking with Jamie about what Hawaii State government resources are available to help exporters. And first, maybe Jamie, you can tell us, what is DBET? So, DBET stands for Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, and basically DBET is the state agency charged with implementing policies and programs to spur economic growth for the state and to be able to provide jobs and industries that are supportive of our residents and our lifestyle. So, the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, that's a big charge. Yes. And the person that runs DBET reports directly to the governor. Correct. So it's an appointee. Yes. And what is your department? I'm with the Business Development and Support Division. So we work directly with businesses. We have our, which we'll talk more about our High Step Program, but we have other programs like our Enterprise Zones and our Community-Based Economic Development Program and Opportunity Zones. Programs that help small businesses to grow in Hawaii. We also have some responsibilities dealing with international relations. That's kind of a carryover from previous administrations. So we, all of our sister-state relationships with prefectures and provinces in other countries, we oversee those relationships. So I just, I recently saw you at the Taiwan event celebrating the sister-city or sister-state relationship with Taiwan. I think that's 25 years. Yes. That's an important export market for Hawaii that I think a lot of our companies don't necessarily take advantage of because we do have a close relationship with Taiwan. It goes back, as you said, 25 years. Right. And we've actually leveraged many of those sister-state relationships, particularly in Japan and China, for some of our trade missions and, you know, economic opportunities. So what's, do you recall, what is the sister relationship with China? What city is that? We have with, of course, I'm going to say Guangzhou. I know, Japan is Chigasaki. There's some relationship with Guangzhou. That might be a city in the county of Honolulu. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Because ours, with the prefectures. Oh, that's good. Okay. So how long have you been with Tibet? Actually, almost 30 years. Wow. So you know the ends and outs. In your department of business development and support, how many people are working on export-related topics, international topics? I would say there are 10 of us total, probably about six of us, are either fully dedicated to that or spend, you know, a significant amount of time with helping companies and interested in exporting. That's great. And do those people in your office, including you, do they work with other parts of the Hawaii state government to talk about the Department of Agriculture? Yes, we do. We do work across with the Department of Agriculture, you know, helping companies that are food and egg related. We do work with the University of Hawaii and other, actually other educational institutions on our international student attraction program, which is not part of our export program for just reasons of definition of what is an export under the SBA. So we do work with a lot of educational institutions. Education is an important export. Yes. It's a very valuable export for Hawaii, too. And I think in future episodes of this show, we'll cover that in more detail. Can we bring up slide one, please? What I'd like to go through very briefly is I've talked in the past about the ecosystem that is available here in Hawaii. And I find that the organizations that are listed here cooperate quite closely and do a very good job of helping companies export all over the world. And maybe we could just talk a little bit about this for a second because we'll jump into high step right now. Maybe you can explain in general, what is step and then what is high step? Sure. So the step program is the state trade expansion program. It's a program that is administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration. It's been around for going on eight years now, and it was implemented as a way to really increase U.S. exports. And that's the whole goal is to get U.S. companies exporting and increasing, trying to increase market share across the global economy. So high step is simply the Hawaii state trade expansion program. Every year, SBA puts out a call that funding is available. And so it's done on a competitive basis. So we do put in an application along with other states and territories. And so we've been fortunate enough to be awarded funds for the last several years to be able to put together high step and bring together all of these people that, as you say, are part of the exporting ecosystem for our Hawaii companies. And I think year after year it's really becoming better and better. We're working more closely and better to help our small businesses in Hawaii. Yeah, I completely agree with you, especially compared to some other states that I've met with people I've talked to. I feel like our ecosystem here works very carefully together. Not a lot of egos involved and people cooperate and try the goal is to just get companies exporting. Exactly. Oh, that's great. Okay, let's jump to slide two if we can. We'll dive deeper into what is high step. There's three components that I know of. Can you walk us through these very briefly? Right. So high step is an export development program. And so we've basically come up with three components for it, starting with laying a foundation for companies with the export readiness program, which is basically a training and business advising mentoring program for small businesses that are either just exploring exporting, starting to export, or they may be already experienced exporters but are looking to expand in some way. We do work with that, as you know, with the Hawaii Pacific Export Council. They are contracted by the state to put that program together. The second component is our Hawaii pavilions. And so basically, we've selected various trade shows throughout the US, international trade shows in the US and abroad that are beneficial for our Hawaii companies to participate in. And we go in as a group under the banner of Hawaii. And companies come in and exhibit and basically are looking for buyers and distributors for their company and their products. And then the last component is our company assistance, which is, again, it's a competitive process. Companies can actually apply for funding that it's on a reimbursement basis, but it can help them to implement certain portions of their export plan, which they would put together when they go through the export readiness portion of the program. That's great. Yeah, the export readiness program, I've been working with several companies, mentoring them and consulting to them on how to develop an export plan, get ready for an export market. And as you know, most of our companies in Hawaii gravitate towards Japan, but HighStep is not aimed at Japan. It could be Germany, Brazil, some export market. Okay, if we could, let's go to the next slide and talk about eligibility very briefly. Okay. So basically, the program is open to any company that's registered to do business in Hawaii. They first of all must meet the standards of the SBA standards as a small business, which basically 98% of all companies in Hawaii would be able to meet. And one of the one of the other criteria which SBA has implemented and is strictly implementing this year is that it has to be a product or a service that is of US origin or 51% US content. So right, right. In the past, we have stated that we give preference to companies that meet that same definition for Hawaii made products, but we haven't said that it would only be for companies that meet that Hawaii made. But now that is something that needs to be adhered to as far as the US content. And then some other things like basically making sure that they have enough resources to be in exporting and so forth. Other than that, they have to be they can't be barred from receiving federal funds. And then they just have to be registered with our Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs here in Hawaii and and the tax department and have a tax ID number. And so, you know, those are the basic criteria for participating in high step. We have other criteria if they're applying for company assistance, but we can go into that later when we talk about. Sure. And then let's jump into the next slide is on high step ERP, which is part of the program that I'm very familiar with. But maybe you could just walk us through this a little bit. Talking about how the Hawaii Pacific Export Council or other organizations will mentor companies and get them prepared an export plan to follow and start exporting or market expansion. So we have two parts. We have our training seminars, of which you're very familiar with. You help us put those together. But the as far as the business advising and mentoring part of the this export readiness is when companies go on to our website, which will have several times on their invest.hawaii.gov, and they fill out a high step. It's not really an application. It's really a registration form. So we get information about the company. And so they get into the system. And then what happens is then our partners have different roles. They get sort of an initial consultation with the small business development centers to kind of figure out where they at in terms of their level of exporting expertise and what are some of the problems or issues that they might have. And then they get referred out to other partner organizations. So SBDC is one of those Hawaii Pacific Export Council and the Patsy Minx Center innovate Hawaii if they have manufacturing issues. So each of our partners has a particular area of expertise, and they have a role to play in helping companies. And then they contact companies and work one on one with mentoring them and helping them with their export development plan and any other issues that they might have. So it's, you know, it's we encourage companies to, to register so that they can get into this into the pool, because it really is like registrations free. Yes, yes. And, and, and then they can get just getting into the mailing list. Right, right. But you know, eventually they they can some of them get very, very valuable advice that, you know, sometimes you have to hire a consultant for sure. So it yeah, it's it's very beneficial. Okay, with that, we'll take a break and we'll be back to talk about more about the High Step program with Jamie Lum from the bed. This is Think Tech Hawaii raising public awareness. For more than 100 years, American Humane Association has been teaching kids to be kind to animals. Those in our homes, on the farms, on the silver screen, and wildlife conservation caring for the world's vanishing creatures. But we can't do it alone. Visit kindness 100.org to find ways to teach kids how they can make a more caring, compassionate, and humane world for all of us. Hi, I'm Ethan Allen, host on Think Tech Hawaii of Pacific Partnerships in Education. Every other Tuesday afternoon at 3pm, I hope you'll join us as we explore the value, the accomplishments and the challenges of education here in the Pacific Island. Hi, welcome back to Exporting from Hawaii. This is Rob Heck, and we're with Jamie Lum from the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. We left off talking about the High Step program and the ERP, which is the export readiness program, part of High Step. And in the ERP, what D-Bed is doing is helping companies develop an export plan. And SBA class, we should say SBA is Small Business Administration, SBA classifies exporters in this category. There's two different kinds, market expansion, meaning a company already has done some exporting, but they're trying to do more of it. And then possibly there's more of these companies than there are market expansion, but they're new to exporting or NTE. Do you have any information in Hawaii? What's the breakdown of NTE versus market expansion? I'm just going to assume it's like 95% to 5% or something like that. Because it's sort of self-identified, sometimes companies might identify themselves in one category or another. And as you know, working with companies or when we work with companies, we might consider them more advanced than they think they are or vice versa. Some companies I think that do a lot of online sales think that they might be a market expansion when maybe that's not quite, they're really still newbies. So just looking at the registration of when people register and again, just knowing that these are self-identified, we give them some guidelines on how to, you know, what category to mark. But I would say about two thirds are new to export and about a third market expansion of the ones that have enrolled with companies ask me about that 51% US content. How do they calculate that you have an algorithm? Actually, so we have a worksheet that we use that we've actually borrowed from and then they know that we've used it with the Maiden Hawaii. The people that organized the Maiden Hawaii Festival because in order to be in that event, which is August of every year, you have to meet that 51%. So it has to you look at what, you know, what you're bringing in from out of state and then calculating the cost of various things, labor, and if there's any packaging or if there's any, there are direct and indirect costs. And then so yeah, there's a formula that has been put together for that. But this is this is clearly made in US versus made in Hawaii. Is that correct? Do you give any preference to companies that are made in Hawaii more than companies that can say made in the US? We Well, I mean made in made in US made in Hawaii. But we do say we do state we give preference to that. And that that would be if you know if say we have a waitlist of companies for you know, a Hawaii Pavilion or something like that, we would tend to go with the made in Hawaii company. Okay, great. One that's doesn't meet them. That's a good segue into pavilions. Can we bring up the next slide please? Because you're actually traveling soon to a pavilion. Yes. And that's Orlando? Yes, I'll be going to Orlando for that surf. So yeah, which is I know it sounds like surf expo, but it's really become a resort lifestyle show. So there's the sport part of it. But a lot more and more of the exhibitors are people that have apparel and footwear and gifts and souvenirs and just things that are kind of that resort lifestyle, which a lot of our companies fit into that space. And so you as an international expert, you are going to surf expo because there are foreign buyers and distributors that will have you coming to that show. It's been recognized as a yes, as an international expo. Yes. There are, particularly attracts a lot of buyers from the you know, European market from the South American market, but they are there are a lot of actually buyers from China and Japan, we've seen that come to the show. So yeah, it's been it's been a good show for our companies. And again, it fits in with the types of products that that a lot of our companies are manufacturing. So it's been a good show for if the company were to apply for funding from deep and they had all the criteria that and they were able to get funding, they could go to an international show that is not in your list of approved show. Correct. Correct. But there are pavilions that DBET highlights and goes to every year. How many, how many pavilions will there be? Let's see. I know we have six. Yeah, I think so. We have surf expo. We have our biotech show. We have outdoor retailer. Hong Q. Oh, we had Dima. And and then the Tokyo International Gift Show. So I guess it's the dive equipment and marketing show. That's in Las Vegas. That was it moves around. But it was in Las Vegas. Yeah, next year, we'll be in Orlando. Okay. And I bring up the slide again, please. I've been to the Tokyo International Gift Show, which is called TIGS several times, but only this past year that I take part in the Hawaii Pavilion. And it was very interesting and very helpful. Now, I don't think companies understand what a good deal it is for them to take part in one of these Hawaii pavilions because really, your organization is subsidizing the bulk of the cost. Right. Right. So for example, you could a company could get into the pavilion at surf expo in Orlando for some hundreds of dollars or $1,000, something like that. But if they were to organize it and go on their own, and try to get boost base and furniture and electricity and carpet and all of that stuff, you could easily be looking at five or six times or more that fee rate. Of course, you have to travel and hotels and food and all of that stuff. Nonetheless, I find that it's a fantastic deal. Tokyo International Gift Show I know is probably, is that the biggest one you would take in? Yes, definitely. We have over 70 companies, almost 80 companies that went to the 2018 shows. Yeah, it's a big pavilion. I'm just guessing off the top of my head, there must have been 40 booth spaces or something to that effect. 38, I think. I think our companies need to get involved in these things more because a trade show like that, you might see 50, 60,000 visitors or more over the three or four days of the show coming potentially past your booth, past your products or service, your advertising. I mean, it's really remarkable. And for the amount of money that they have to spend to take part in that, I think it's a fantastic bang for the buck expenditure. When you go to Orlando, how many companies are going with you? We have about a dozen companies going. That's great. Right. And so companies would apply to go to a pavilion, a Hawaii pavilion through your website at invest.hoi.gov. So what happens is when a company fills out the high step application form or registration form, they do check off what components are they interested? Are they interested in the export readiness, pavilions, company assistance? And then when they say, Hawaii pavilions, they check that off, there's a drop down menu that then they can check off the particular shows that they're interested in. And then when we actually get four to six months out, and we really start heavily recruiting, then we go back and see, okay, which companies expressed interest through the high step registration. So we'll go to those companies and say, hey, you indicated you're interested. And this is what we're, what the fees are, and are you interested? And then they come back and give us more information. So Does that carry over from year to year? Yes. So we'll always go back to the companies that participated in past shows. They're already in our database. We have a database of, gosh, I don't know how many companies now, hundreds of companies that we use to recruit. Good. Let's talk for a minute about the bio show because I've never been to that one. But I'd like to go. What is it? Do you go to that one? Yes. And where's that? That that is also one that moves back and forth between the east and the west coast. This year is in Philadelphia. Okay. Yeah. And how many Hawaii companies? That is a smaller number. We have anywhere from, say, four to eight companies. Because you know, our biotech industry is, is pretty small. But there's a lot of potential. And because of the the amount of work that they also do with with the university and our Cancer Research Center, there's a lot of overlap and a lot of work that goes on. So we actually work with the university to help recruit companies to that they, you know, through their office of innovation and research, because they're always looking at some of the technologies that are coming out of the university to, you know, spur into to companies that are, you know, so, so we work closely with them. But the potential for partnerships and just, you know, across the globe is there's a cost to go to the bio show roughly the same as it's a little less because we organize that one a little differently. We don't give them dedicated booth space, like they don't have their own 10 by 10 or half a booth. We we organize it a little differently. But they have a presence in in their and yeah, it's a little different to because you don't have necessarily buyers coming by, you know, because a lot of it is research technologies that they're trying to sell. So, you know, you have different types of people that you're working with. So a lot of a lot more meetings going on in the looks good. So lots of networking. Yes. And does DBAT help facilitate those meetings or are companies finding those meetings? Actually, bio has a system on their website. Once you register as an exhibitor, you can go in and request this matching. Yes, business matchmaking online. So if a company joins the pavilion, are they automatically included? Is that covered in the cost? They're able? Yes, what a good deal. Yes, it's already included. Well, that's great. So typically, when a company goes to one of these pavilions, how many staff from the company are attending? Usually about two, maybe three. Usually about probably three is the most but there's probably some companies that just go one. Yeah, no, there are. And in the high step participation in general, are you seeing mostly Oahu companies? Or is it expanding out to the neighbor islands or Big Island and Maui companies? Yeah, we're getting involved. We're definitely seeing a big increase in the neighbor island participation. I think a lot of it is in the last two years. As you know, we did our roadshow because you've been with us. We actually went to each of the islands to do a kickoff and you know, did a face to face to inform them about high step and how they can get involved. So I think that's helped. And I think the seminars that you sponsor that are put out by webinar to that helps get more and more people involved. I hope it does. Okay, that's great. Can we bring up the final slide, please? And let's have Jamie tell us how to get in touch with her or her team at Debat. Again, they have a very good website at invest.hawaii.gov. If that's all you can remember, go to that website and then there's a tab at the top that's called exporting and then everything about exporting is underneath that it's very easy and well laid out site. You can access it from desktop or mobile. I've done it many many times and I know that it's has a lot of good information there that's easy to digest. And you can also register for everything that company would want to register for free, free to register. Correct. Correct. And how would people get in touch with you in the future if they had direct questions about high step or other debate programs? Actually, if you go on to the website, my email is there. So, yeah, it's, well, it's Jamie, yeah, Jamie.k.lom at hawaii.gov. But if you if you go on to the website, my email address is there. Again, invest.hawaii.gov under the exporting tab, go to high step and fill out the registration form. Again, we ask questions about your company about, you know, if you're new to export or if you're a market expansion as we talked about, we do ask some questions about your revenue so we can kind of figure out where your company is at in terms of just the business itself and your exporting sales. Of course, this is all kept confidential, but it's it's again to give us a profile on where the company is at and then based on what you indicate you're interested in, you'll be contacted for, you know, pavilions and so forth. And then you'll get into the pipeline for all of the export readiness, the business advising and so forth with our partners. Great. Well, thank you, Jamie, for being here today. This is an excellent episode. I really appreciate it. And this is Rob Hack, finalizing this episode of exporting from Hawaii. We'll see you in two weeks. Thank you.