Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 24, 1993                   TAG: 9312300003
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EXPORTS

An export office in Roanoke?

That's right. For those who have yet to notice: It's a whole new world out there, and Western Virginia is part of it.

In the past, much of this region has tended to look to Roanoke as a hub for commerce and services. Roanoke still is that (as the thriving medical and banking industries in the city, to name just two examples, make clear).

Yet, in fact, Roanoke and the region have always been connected to the larger world, whether people knew it or not. The railroad hauls coal to the coast for shipping. Wesvaco is a major exporter, and so on.

Now what's emerging - slowly - is the realization that small businesses also must seek their place in the global marketplace.

This ought to be a major focus of the new state office, housed at the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce and staffed by Cindy Arrington, an export development manager with a wide territory to cover.

On the agenda are international trade conferences, mentor programs, trade missions, and support and advice for businesses seeking to export. Good.

Meantime, the Blue Ridge Small Business Development Center - also located at the regional chamber - has announced it will be one of a few sites in Virginia to offer a computer-based export information system.

This database can help local businesses match their products and services with foreign buyers. It ought to be widely accessed, as they say.

It is about time the state gave more attention to the export potential of small businesses in Western Virginia. The potential is vast, and mostly untapped.

First, though, business people themselves must be willing to explore exporting. It has to occur to entrepreneurs in these parts that there's a wealth of opportunities beyond the Blue Ridge.

If this occurs to enough businesses and they act on it, getting the help they need, the potential for jobs generation in this region far surpasses what might be gained by recruiting a footloose factory or two.