Helping businesses in Mexico find markets in the United States and helping El Paso area businesses find markets in Mexico is one of the aims of an agreement signed Tuesday.

The collaborative agreement between El Paso Community College’s Small Business Development Center and its counterpart at Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua (University of Chihuahua) in Chihuahua City, Mexico, was signed by the leaders of the two schools at a ceremony.

«They have needs we can help them with, and they can help us understand business practices in Mexico and Chihuahua,» said Roque Segura, director of the Small Business Development Center. «We’ve done things informally (with the university), but this allows us to leverage more programming.»

The agreement calls for sharing business education, program development, research, and international trade assistance, Segura said. The university has a branch in Juárez, which will be involved in the agreement, he said.

Jesús Robles Villa, director of the Center of Research and Economic Development at the University of Chihuahua, said one of the things the agreement will do is help the university and businesses do market research.

«We Mexicans have a lot of products (to sell), but no knowledge of the markets» Robles said.

The agreement also will help companies on this side of the border find opportunities to sell equipment and other things to Mexican companies trying to expand, he said.

The university recently opened a business incubator to help Mexican small businesses improve a dismal survival rate, university officials said.

Richard Rhodes, president of El Paso Community College, said these type of collaborative agreements provide opportunities to share «best practices and training.»

«What’s good for business in Mexico will impact us (in El Paso) and vice versa. It’s the reality of being a border community,» Rhodes said.

The college is now trying to form a similar agreement with the University of Juárez.

Fuente: El Paso Times [Link]

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