Are You Ready to Export? Featuring WA Department of Commerce

Wednesday Webinar with SBA Seattle District is an ongoing series of free, virtual, webinars covering a variety of topics to benefit small business owners. On the fourth Wednesday of each month is Are You Ready to Export? featuring conversations with different members of the Washington Export Outreach Team (WEOT). For 2025, the focus will be Partners in Exporting: how WEOT agencies collaboratively work together along with other organizations to support Washington businesses to sell their goods and services internationally

Learn how the Washington State Department of Commerce supports businesses looking to export. This session will cover the Small Business Export Assistance (SBEA) Team’s Trade Show and Trade Mission Delegations, the cost-saving benefits of the STEP Voucher program, and how businesses can leverage the expertise of Washington’s network of overseas representatives.

We’ll be joined by Ludo Ortuno, founder of CIDEP, Washington’s representative in Canada. Ludo will share how CIDEP helps connect Washington companies with the right partners and opportunities, with a focus on B2B and market research services.

Whether you’re already exporting or new-to-export, this session will provide practical information on how the SBEA and our network of foreign representative can support your global growth!

Callum Cleary | STEP Program Coordinator, Washignton State Department of Commerce

Callum is Washington’s STEP Program Coordinator, helping small businesses—both new-to-export and experienced exporters—offset costs related to international market expansion through the STEP Export Voucher program. Prior to joining the Washington State Department of Commerce, he worked for a trade remedy litigation firm providing international trade analysis and import-export policy compliance and enforcement research work for domestic manufacturers, trade unions, trade associations and consumers before regulatory agencies and courts.

Ludo Ortuno

Ludo, COO of CIDEP, is responsible for delivering the organization’s FDI and Trade services. With 17 years of experience in Foreign Direct Investment and International Trade, he has managed over 100 Lead Generation and in-market representation contracts and supported numerous SMEs in expanding their exports in Canada. Ludovic is also an active member of SIDO, an association of U.S. state economic development organizations, where he has contributed to panels and training since 2015.

Washington Export Outreach Team (WEOT)
Washington Export Outreach Team (WEOT) is a collaborative team of local, state, regional, and federal export assistance agencies who provide you with the tools and resources needed to sell goods and services internationally. WEOT was formed in 2013 in response to a national mandate for Federal Government Agencies to work with local resources to provide a higher level of support for companies conducting business international trade.

About the Host
John Brislin is SBA's International Trade & Finance Specialist (Export Finance Manager) for Washington State, Northern Idaho and Alaska. He has over 23 years of private-sector international banking and trade finance experience working at Bank of Boston (Bank of America) and Bank of California (U.S. Bank). John has over 12 years of public-sector export trade finance and risk mitigation experience working at Export Finance Assistance Center of Washington (EFACW), Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank) and SBA Office of International Trade (SBA OIT). He looks forward to working with Small Businesses so they can turn their export opportunities into actual sales and to achieve the ultimate goal of getting paid—especially on time—for those sales.

Host or Publisher SBA Seattle District Office