One of the great myths about the growing trade deficit between China and the U.S. is that Chinese buyers rarely buy from the United States.
     In fact, says Shawn He, chairman of MeetChinaBiz, there is a significant opportunity for U.S. companies to export to China. MeetChinaBiz's annual conference will focus on helping U.S. companies find Chinese buyers. The conference will be held March 17 at Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I. and is co-sponsored by Burns & Levinson, Cathay Bank, and New America Partners Private Equity. The co-organizers include Bryant College, Rhode Island Export Assistance Center/World Trade Center, the State of Rhode Island, and the U.S. Small Business Administration.
     Some 50 to 80 buyers from China are expected to attend. The event is designed for small and medium-sized businesses, and features one-on-one company meetings facilitated by experienced bilingual China business consultants. The scheduled keynote speaker is Manuel A. Rosales, associate administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of International Trade. A panel discussion during luncheon is also scheduled. MeetChinaBiz, based in Harvard, Mass., is a nonprofit initiative created under iNetwork128, an entrepreneur network representing more than 1,000 small- and medium-sized business owners and executives. Now a joint venture between iNetwork 128 and Bryant University's U.S.-China Institute, its mission is to help turn the "China Challenge" into an opportunity for entrepreneurs and others by providing them with a fast, practical and economical channel into China.
     The group holds one major event each year along with smaller programs and monthly roundtables. "Our annual conference is the region's definitive China business forum and match-making event that brings business leaders directly from China for one-on-one partnership building opportunities with U.S. businesses," He says. "The conferences are facilitated by experienced bilingual business consultants and also bring in experts active in both markets to share their knowledge and experience."
     He calls the conferences a learning experience. "The best way to explore the China market is to learn directly from those who have been there and done that and to sit across the table from the decision-makers of Chinese companies looking to do business with you."
     In addition to its conference, the monthly roundtable discussions sponsored by MeetChinaBiz provide a venue for business executives to get together and share concerns, compare notes, and learn from each other's experiences so they can become better informed and prepared in their new and ongoing Chinese business pursuits.
     MeetChinaBiz sponsors trade missions each year that provide one-on-one networking opportunities for making overseas connections. In January, 31 people, including three Massachusetts mayors, participated in an eight-day trade mission.
     "Nowadays you can do a search on the Internet and you can find everything, but you have found nothing, because everybody is just as good as everybody else," said J.R. Gillis, president of W.M. Gulliksen Manufacturing Co. Inc., a plastic injection molding company based in Boston.
     "How would you know who to talk to out of the hundreds or thousands of results returned by the search?" added Gillis, who recently participated in his third matchmaking trade mission to China. "There is never going to be a substitute for the kind of 'face-to-face' it takes to do business with someone."
     During his most recent trip, Gillis met a number of pre-qualified Chinese prospects, and has identified two or three prospective business partners.
     Tom Kelly, principal of APG Management Inc., an international sourcing management and financial/turnaround planning consulting firm in Worcester agrees that meeting prospects face to face is still an important part of doing business overseas. "The Internet is miles wide, but inches deep," he said during a recent presentation at one of MeetChinaBiz's seminars.
     What better overseas market than China, with an unmatched market potential fueled by a 1.3-billion population and rock-bottom labor and material costs, to satisfy both needs at the same time? Two other factors led iNetwork128 to create MeetChinaBiz: China's then new WTO membership and winning bid to host the 2008 Olympics gave China immediate credibility in the international marketplace and made it an attractive outlet for U. S. companies.

More information about MeetChinabiz is available online at MeetChinaBiz.org.