Business Intelligence
April 09, 2010
Sealeze utilizes international trade resources with hopes of expansion
With the help of Business First and VEDP, industrial brush manufacturer Sealeze hopes to expand their business into countries such as Mexico, Germany, India and South Africa.
Sealeze is an industry leader in providing brush solutions to a broad range of industrial applications. They manufacture industrial brushes that seal, shield, guide, close gaps, clean and control static in a variety of applications to improve the operations and efficiency of their client businesses. Located in Chesterfield County, they manufacture and export all of their products from right here in the Richmond area.
In 2007, the Business First Chesterfield team met with Seleze to identify ways to help support their business needs. Through the process of the business survey, Karen Aylward, development Manager-Existing, Small, & Minority Business for Chesterfield County, learned of Sealeze’s interest in international trade. Further review by a member of the program’s international trade resource team, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), prompted Mark Myrick, International Trade Manager at VEDP, to contact Sealeze and introduce their services.
As a company new to exporting, Sealeze entered VEDP’s Accessing International Markets (AIM) program. AIM uses training and guidance from expert consultants to help companies tap into new international markets. Sealeze utilized this program to identify Mexico as a promising target market and participated in a trade mission to Mexico in November of 2008, where VEDP had arranged meetings with 15 potential clients for Sealeze.
Now ready to further expand their international business, Sealeze enters into a new program in 2010. Virginia Leaders in Export Trade (VALET) is a two year program which offers a powerful combination of capital resources provided by the state along with professional services from expert, private-sector partners. Using the skills they learned in the AIM program, Sealeze enters VALET with a more focused and specialized approach. In the next two years, they plan to make connections in several new international markets: Germany, India, and South Africa.
“I would not have been able to make this connection with Sealeze if it was not for Business First," said Myrick. “As a result, Sealeze is aggressively developing their international sales, which benefits their operations in Chesterfield County.”
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