Colorado State Trade Expansion Program

The State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) Grant helps small businesses expand internationally by funding international business development activities. The purpose of this grant is to offset the cost of conducting international business development for small businesses.

The max amount a company can receive in a year is $10,000. Examples of global business development activities include:

• Attending trade shows
• Holding international business meetings
• Researching new markets
• Updating marketing materials for new markets
• Compliance testing

The U.S. Small Business Administration funds part of this program, and the Global Business Development (GBD) department administers the grant to businesses.

 

Eligibility

To apply for this grant, your company must:

• Be registered with the Colorado Secretary of State and in Good Standing
• Have headquarters in Colorado or have at least 50% of your employees based in Colorado
• Be a U.S. company seeking to export goods or services of U.S. origin or with at least 51% U.S. content
• Be at least one year old as of the date you would begin using STEP grant funds
• Be new to export or expanding to a new export market
• Have a commercialized product or service to export
• Be export-ready (see below)
• Meet the applicable industry-based small business size standard established under section 3 of the Small Business Act; or the alternate size standard applicable to the program under section 7(a) of the Small Business Act and the loan programs under title V of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 695 et seq.)

 

Companies wishing to participate in the Colorado STEP grant can email Katie Woslager at katie.woslager@state.co.us or call (303) 892-8760.