| Luis Fuster, Latin American Trading Group Inc. is Georgia's 2007 Small Business Exporter of the Year |
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Luis E. Fuster, whose company exports U.S. produced poultry, beef and other frozen foods to South America and the Caribbean, was selected the 2007 Small Business Exporter of the Year in Georgia by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Fuster also received the SBA Regional Award for the same category. The Company used SBA Program to Expand Overseas Markets. Fuster will receive the Exporter of the Year Award from Terri L. Denison, SBA Georgia District Director, later this spring at an Atlanta luncheon hosted by the Georgia Lenders Quality Circle. He was nominated for the SBA award by the International Trade Center at the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (SBDC). In 1961, Fuster emigrated to the U.S. at age three with his family from Cuba after Fidel Castro took control of the country. His father and uncles had owned and operated the largest meat processing facility in Cuba prior to the revolution, but arrived in Miami penniless. As his father reestablished himself in Puerto Rico in the meat processing industry, Fuster—now the third generation of his family to work in the industry—learned the business from the ground up, from the slaughter house to processing to marketing. In 1988, with the proposed NAFTA regulations set to increase exports into Latin America, Fuster left the family business to join a firm in Texas that focused on trading poultry and other meat products into Mexico. For the next 14 years, Fuster gained experience as a trader in meat products while building a network of vendors and buyers within the Latin American market. In 2003, Fuster and his wife, Zaida Perez-Fuster, established Latin American Trading Group (LATG). Realizing he didn’t have the capital to support enough sales as a direct supplier, Fuster offered his services as an “Export Management Company” to vendors he had worked with over the years. Under this arrangement, he could market their products in Latin America, handle logistics and negotiate the sales as well as handle collections while splitting a percentage of the profits with his vendor customers. “The fact that Mr. Fuster could make such an arrangement with his vendors demonstrates the absolute confidence they had in his capabilities, experience and integrity as well as their respect for him as a person,” said Charles Boyanton, Director of the SBDC International Trade Center. Fuster continued with his export management relationship with vendors until 2005 when he decided that LATG had enough experience to approach a lender for bank financing. This would allow him to buy and sell export meat products under his own account. Fuster sought assistance from Charles Boyanton at the SBDC’s International Trade Center. The SBDC is part of the University of Georgia system but receives some federal operating 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. In mid 2006, Fuster attended a meeting hosted by Regions Bank with participation by the U.S. Export/Import Bank, the Small Business Administration and the Department of Commerce. This was the first time he learned about the SBA’s export loan programs for small businesses. Following his work with Boyanton and the SBDC, Fuster was able to get a preliminary commitment under the SBA’s Export Working Capital Program. The program commits SBA to guarantee a bank loan to finance confirmed export sales. Later, Fuster worked with personnel 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 in late 2006 with an SBA guaranty.
Fuster’s new SBA-backed financing 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 exceeded expectations and would double over the next year and a half. In nominating Fuster for his award, Boyanton pointed out that his trading company has been profitable since inception. “Fuster showed his ingenuity in structuring a capital intensive business so that he could rely initially on the support of vendors rather than his own limited capital.” Luis Fuster, President |
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