CT receives $240K SBA grant to promote small business exports

Contributed Isabel Casillas Guzman, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

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The U.S. Small Business Administration has awarded Connecticut a $240,000 grant to support and promote small business exports.

The funding is part of $20 million in federal State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) grants the SBA awarded Monday to 43 state and U.S. territory international trade agencies.

Since its creation in 2010 as part of The Small Business Jobs Act, STEP has awarded $255 million in grants and recorded over $6.8 billion in exports, with more than 18,000 small businesses receiving grants to fund their export opportunities and increase their footprint in over 100 countries, the SBA said.

With STEP grants, states solicit applications from small businesses. According to the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), the funding is available from Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 29, 2025.

DECD said it has created an Export General Assistance Fund (GAF) to increase the number of eligible small businesses that export, increase the value of exports by those small businesses and increase the number of exporting small businesses that are exploring new trade opportunities.

Activities eligible for funding include trade shows, trade missions, marketing and internationalization, U.S. Department of Commerce services, export training opportunities, website translation and export business-to-business matchmaking, DECD said.

Information on applying for a grant is available here.