Albany State University College of Business students considering a career in international trade successfully completed the requirements to earn District Export Council Certification from the U.S. Department of Commerce for participation in the Export Fellows Program. Certificates were awarded to 19 students at a Certification Dinner held in February at Tokyo Sushi and Hibachi located on Dawson Road.  

The District Export Council, which is certified by the U.S. Department of Commerce, formed a partnership with the Albany State University Center for Economic Education/ Small and Minority Entrepreneurship to globalize learning opportunities for students and empower them to pursue careers in the import and export industry.

“When I received a call from Dr. Rick Martin of the Small Business Development Center-International Trade office, highlighting the former success of our Innovation in Logistics Education Grant, we knew that the Export Fellows Program would be an excellent opportunity for a cross-discipline of majors to gain some important credentials in the international education space,” said Kathaleena Edward Monds, professor of Business Information Systems and co-director of the Albany State University College of Business Center for Economic Education/Small and Minority Entrepreneurship.   

In order to earn the certification, students attended three consecutive, 4-hour sessions in exporting, proposal writing and market entry techniques. The final deliverable was a 10-page market entry project, and an international marketing plan for the product of their choice.

“Exposure to international trade and international travel are deemed critical avenues for expanding their knowledge of the global economy. We believe that this experience will provide our students with a competitive advantage in the global marketplace,” Monds said.

Atrailyus Beckham, a senior business information systems major, market entry project and marketing plan focused on exporting peanut products to Columbia. “After researching the rules and regulations for Columbia, I developed a marketing plan to export peanut products to Columbia. The logistics included moving the product from the farm to a silo in Atlanta,” Beckham said.
 
DEC members, Jeff Lamb, president of OptiLedge, an innovative alternative to wood pallets, located in Newnan, Ga., and Maureen Halstead, director of Global Product Management at KaMin, a performance minerals company located in Macon, Ga., presented the certificates to the students. Lamb and Halstead companies are active in international trade.

“I have always enjoyed my career in international trade, and we have such a huge need in the U.S. to try to grow exports and try to expose people to international trade. So I got involved in it more for professional reasons initially, but the first couple of times we ran a program like this, I just found that I got back ten times more than what I gave,” Lamb said.

Cynthia Bennett, professor of Business Information Systems, and co-director of the Albany State University College of Business Center for Economic Education/Small and Minority Entrepreneurship along with Monds organized the event.