MEDC International Trade Important Team Updates

The MEDC International Trade program will be operating in a new structure for fiscal year 2025. Effective Oct. 28, the team was reduced from five International Trade Managers (ITMs) to three, but we still intend to offer statewide support for Michigan businesses aspiring to develop sales into new global markets.

Updated territory coverage is listed below and on our new ITM Map:
 

Chris Bosio
Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7

Weiwei Lu
Regions 4, 9*
(Region 9: excluding Washtenaw County)

Brendan Cherry
Regions 9*, 10
(Region 9: only Washtenaw County)

Programmatic Updates

While the team structure and MI-STEP guidelines are changing for FY25, we will maintain the following services this year that we have traditionally offered:

• MI-STEP: Limited to travel uses only for FY25. Starting Nov. 1, 2025 $1.2 million will be available to Michigan small businesses to support export development activities, up to $15,000/year.

• Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers (GSGP): Our partnership with GSGP will continue in FY25, offering access to 135+ global markets.

• Automation Alley: We will continue to partner with Automation Alley to organize three trade missions in FY25. Automation Alley completed a successful October trade mission to Mexico with seven companies and is currently recruiting for upcoming trade missions to India in January 2025, and Southeast Asia in May 2025. Spots are still available, so please register if you are seeking to grow sales in these regions.

• Van Andel Global Trade Center: Technical assistance is available including new to export trainings and export compliance as well as regular export programming, such as the “Doing Business In” series.

• Michigan Small Business Development Center (SBDC): Early export assistance, landed cost analysis and international SEO support is still available through the SBDC for Michigan exporters.

• MSU International Business Center: Multi-country market research reports (Michigan Export Growth Program) and ExporTech assistance are available.

**Note: In FY25, MEDC International Trade program will not be offering subsidized support for legal trainings through Foster Swift, or microsite/marketing translation through IBT Online. However, we encourage companies to utilize these services as needed and can make appropriate introductions when needs arise. We have benefited greatly from these partners’ services and hope Michigan exporters will continue to utilize these services as needed to support the growth and development into new global markets.