| Acworth-based Firm Uses SBA Export Working Capital Program to Expand into Overseas Markets |
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Acworth - After gaining 30 years of experience in the meat industry, Luis Fuster started his own trading company three years ago with the help of Transcontinental Meats Inc., and its President, Bo Long. To help move his firm to a self-funded trading company, Fuster turned to the SBA and the International Division of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Fuster, whose firm is Latin American Trading Group Inc., first teamed up with Charles Boyanton, Director of the International Trade Division at the Small Business Development Center. The SBDC is part of the University of Georgia system but receives some federal funds through the SBA. “I cannot stress the quality of work that Charles and his office provided me,” said Fuster. “He took my ideas and put them into banking terms.” Working together, they developed a set of projections showing the transition of Fuster’s company at various levels of funding while outlining future financing needs. Last August, Fuster attended a meeting hosted by Regions Bank with participation by the Export/Import Bank, the Small Business Administration and the Department of Commerce. This was Fuster’s first contact with the SBA’s export loan programs. Following his work with Boyanton and the SBDC, Fuster was able to get a preliminary commitment under the SBA’s Export Working Capital Program. This commits SBA to guaranty a bank loan to finance confirmed export sales. Later, Fuster worked with several officials at the Summit National Bank who helped with both his financial plan and export credit insurance that came from a private credit insurer. Once that was in place, a large revolving loan account was approved by the bank last November with the SBA guaranty. “The SBA export program is a must,” said Fuster who recently hired his first in-house employee. “It’s the only way a small business can even up with the big guys.” Fuster’s new SBA-backed financing has allowed his company to expand exports of U.S. produced frozen meats, fish and French fries into new markets in Latin America and the Caribbean. The company’s sales have already exceeded expectations and Fuster is projecting they will double this year. Fuster and his family are part of three generations of meat producers/brokers that began in his native country of Cuba. He came to the United States in the early 1960’s but moved to Puerto Rico in 1971 where he graduated from the American Military Academy High School. After graduating from college in Puerto Rico, Fuster became interested in the international trading of meat products and went to McKinney, Texas where he worked for several years with Frank Lewis at his E.F. Lewis brokerage firm. In 1997, Fuster and his family moved to Atlanta and he started working as an international trader with Global Marketing Associates and its principal Steve Isaf. Later on, he joined AJC International, a major exporting company based in Atlanta, where he was involved with markets in Mexico and Central America. Fuster and his wife, Zaida, have a son who starts to college this fall, and a daughter who has finished her sophomore year at Kennesaw State University. Luis E. Fuster, President Contact: Jim Hightower (404) 331-0100, ext. 215Release Number: 06-36
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