Bush Administration Official Honors
Export Program Participants and Local Company
for Export Achievement

Albuquerque, NM --Today, Jacqueline Hayes-Byrd, Executive Director of Global Diversity Initiative, U.S. Commercial Service was in Albuquerque to highlight the Bush Administration's efforts to help local small- and medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs learn to grow their businesses through exporting.

Hayes-Byrd presented Export Fellows Certificates to participants in an Export Fellows Program, conducted jointly by the International Business Institute at Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute (TVI) and the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Export Fellows Program is a 3 week program with seminars on exporting fundamentals, small business financing options, and local entrepreneurial success stories designed to help New Mexicans develop business entrepreneurship and export skills.

"This is a great example of what President Bush has been talking about - ensuring that Americans are given the right tools to be prepared for jobs in the 21st century," said Hayes-Byrd.

Hayes-Byrd also presented the Commerce Department's Export Achievement Certificate to Smart Systems of Albuquerque. The award recognizes companies and organizations that have used the export services of the U.S. Commercial Service to make their first export sale or open new foreign markets.

"Most of the jobs in America are created by small businesses," Hayes-Byrd said. "Small and medium-sized companies like Smart Systems comprise almost 97 percent of U.S. exporters. The Bush administration will continue to work hard to help U.S. companies increase their exports and generate high-paying jobs for the working people of New Mexico."

Smart Systems Technologies, based in Albuquerque, manufactures and distributes home automation technology and equipment, and has been a client of the Santa Fe USEAC since early 2002. In October of 2003, Mr. John Freisinger of Smart Systems contacted the U.S. Commercial Service office in Santa for help in qualifying a potential client from Spain. The combined effort of the federal resources in the Santa Fe USEAC and the entrepreneurial spirit of the employees at Smart Systems proved to be successful, and Smart Systems has made their first significant activity in the international market with an export sale of over $50,000 to date.

The U.S. Commercial Service is a U.S. Commerce Department agency that helps small and midsize U.S. businesses sell their products and services globally. The Santa Fe U.S. Export Assistance Center is part of the agency's worldwide network, which includes 107 U.S. Export Assistance Centers throughout the United States and more than 150 international offices.

For more information on the U.S. Commercial Service, please visit www.export.gov or call the U.S. Export Assistance Center in Santa Fe at 505-827-0350.