ITC at SIUE Hosts Expert for Screening International Business Partners
The International Trade Center (ITC) at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville will present “Due Diligence: Best Practices for Screening International Business Partners” from noon-2 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28 at SIUE’s Morris University Center Maple/Dogwood Room.
As part of its Trade Luncheon Series, the ITC will host Louise Kern, managing director of Global Business Information Services, Inc. (GloBIS) and an expert in the business information industry with over 30 years of international experience.
“This insightful presentation will make us all better equipped to screen future sales leads from around the world,” said Silvia Torres-Bowman, director of the ITC at SIUE. “Participants will learn about actual cases where companies were targeted by scams – from Beijing to Bahrain – so they can avoid falling victim, too.”
The workshop is designed to teach quick evaluation from a computer, whether a business relationship should be pursued or dropped. Participants will walk away with a checklist of concrete steps to follow to screen every prospective partner.
“China is a category in and of itself when it comes to fraud,” Torres-Bowman said. “We will highlight common Chinese scams and how to avoid them.”
GloBIS has investigated many international trade fraud cases that could have been prevented through simple open source internet screening. Participants will learn tips to incorporate into a standard routine to avoid wasting time or getting burned.
Seeing the surging need for high quality business information in the increasingly global economy, Kern founded GloBIS in 2003, initially with a China focus. Now covering any company, any size, anywhere in the world, GloBIS clients include the U.S. Department of Commerce, defense contractors, law firms, banks, and small to large companies in every industry.
Kern has lived in mainland China, Austria, Germany, and France, speaks fluent Mandarin and German, and passable French. She has both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Chicago, and a graduate diploma in Chinese International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Nanjing (China) University campus.
Registration and a networking luncheon begin at 11:30 a.m. The fee is $25 and includes lunch and parking. Registration is required as space is limited. Access the registration flyer by visiting siue.edu/business/itc.
The International Trade Center at SIUE serves businesses in Southwestern Illinois by providing individualized, free export consultation to Illinois businesses: identification of foreign buyers, agents and/or distributors through trade leads; international market analysis and more.
The ITC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. It has a longtime partnership with the Illinois Office of Trade and Investment (OTI), which maintains a full-time staff of both foreign and domestic-based international trade and marketing experts. OTI also manages 10 foreign trade offices located in Belgium, Japan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Mexico, Canada, Israel, India, Brazil and South Africa.
Photo: Silvia Torres-Bowman, director of the SBDC International Trade Center at SIUE.
