BRAMA, January 9, 2001, 6:00pm EST

Delegation of women apparel retailers from the former Soviet Union to train in the United States

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Special American Business Internship Training (SABIT) Program has established a new Business Management for Women initiative to train apparel store owners and managers from the following countries of the former Soviet Union: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. The 18 delegates will train in the United States February 3 - March 3, 2001.

The month-long training session is entitled Business Management for Women: Apparel Retail. The first week of the program serves as an orientation to U.S. business practices and will include training in Business Plan Writing, Customer Service, and Cross-Cultural Business Negotiation. The second week takes the program to the MAGIC Apparel Trade Show in Las Vegas. The second half of the program will consist of site visits to national chain stores, speciality shops, discount shops, malls, outlets, and apparel associations. The goal of the site visits is two-fold: to provide the program participants a broad, hands-on overview of the U.S. apparel industry in order to upgrade the industry in their respective countries and to foster future business alliances between the participants and their hosts. Some examples of possible topics for discussion during the company site visits would include: marketing, franchising, personnel training, customer service, distribution networks, consumer credit, operating a small business, managing a branch of a national chain store, risk reduction, mystery shopping, inventory management, and technology used in apparel retail. The site visits will take place in Las Vegas (in addition to the trade show) February 12 - 16; in Los Angles February 19 - 23; and in New York City February 26 - March 1.

This is a tremendous opportunity for you to meet with decision-makers in the potentially vast apparel market of the former Soviet Union. Additionally, SABIT pays almost all the costs associated with the training and site visits, including all travel expenses, lodging, medical insurance, and a per diem to cover meals and incidental expenses. Generally, companies host a delegation for a half-day or an entire day. By hosting a SABIT delegation, your company or organization can play a unique role in the transition of these countries’ economies into market-oriented, U.S.-friendly strongholds.

The SABIT Program has helped generate nearly $200 million in revenues for American companies and has successfully trained over 2,000 executives and scientists from the former Soviet Union. We encourage you to contact SABIT soon for the opportunity to meet with these professionals or for more information. Please contact David Bridges electronically at david_bridges@ita.doc.gov or by telephone at (202) 482-3644 or by fax at (202) 482-2443. Visit SABIT’s website at www.mac.doc.gov/sabit/sabit.html for information about other training programs for the former Soviet Union.

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