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Washington, D.C.-Founded by Stacey Egide in 2010, Andalou Naturals, a small business-exporter based in Novato, Calif., relies upon Ex-Im Bank to sell natural and organic products for skin, hair, and body care abroad. The company currently employs 21 employees in California, Ohio, New York, Texas, Illinois, and Colorado.

Ex-Im's export credit insurance is designed to support small businesses like Andalou Natural expand their exporting portfolio by neutralizing the risk of nonpayment, said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. In California alone, Ex-Im Bank has authorized $11 billion to support $23 billion in California small business exports since fiscal year 2007.

Andalou Natural has become a repeat policyholder of Ex-Im Bank's export credit insurance and expanded their export reach to Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the U.A.E. Total company revenue currently amounts to $18 million, approximately 15 percent of which is export-related. By providing affordable accounts receivable export insurance, Ex-Im Bank has given us the opportunity to expand at a much faster rate and has broadened our pool of possible importers, said Mark Egide, President of Andalou Naturals.

Ex-Im Bank support has allowed us to hire an export manager and a sales-support assistant as we have expanded. Without this insurance coverage, we would require prospective importers to pre-pay for their orders, and this typically limits the number of companies who show interest.

Export credit insurance enables companies to increase export sales by limiting their risk of non-payment by purchasing an insurance policy, just as someone limits their risk of fire by purchasing homeowners insurance. If you are a business looking to increase your exports, call 1-800-565-EXIM or visit www.exim.gov.

ABOUT EX-IM BANK:

Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that creates and maintains U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working-capital guarantees, export-credit insurance and financing to help foreign buyers purchase U.S. goods and services. In the past fiscal year alone, Ex-Im Bank earned for U.S. taxpayers more than $1 billion above the cost of operations.

In FY 2013, Ex-Im Bank approved more than $27 billion in total authorizations to support an estimated $37.4 billion in U.S. export sales and approximately 205,000 American jobs in communities across the country. For the year, the Bank approved a record 3,413 transactions— or 89 percent—for small-businesses. Small business exporters can learn about how Ex-Im Bank products can help them increase foreign sales at http://go.usa.gov/ZVTd. For other information about Ex-Im, visit www.exim.gov.

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