The Foreign Service Journal, January 2003

way for our clients to explore international markets and find new customers. Our e-marketplace, BuyUSA.com , is one such tool. We collaborated with IBM to create this virtual market- place, which was launched in October 2001. The site allows U.S.-based companies to promote their products online and locate new foreign buyers and distributors. International businesses can view product catalogs and background information on U.S. companies that have been pre-qualified by Commercial Service trade experts. Small exporters are already reporting large contracts with international buyers and distributors as a result of their BuyUSA.com subscription. Finding the Right Guy New Jersey exporter Rocky Hadzovic found a new distributor for his line of “Hollywood USA” body sprays, creams, baby products, deodorants, and sham- poos using BuyUSA.com . And his success came in a market that many small companies find challenging — Nigeria. Hadzovic says the only way to succeed in dif- ficult markets is “to find the right guy.” “Having the American embassy check out a buyer is the best way,” he says. With support from our staff in Nigeria, Newark, and on BuyUSA.com , Hadzovic sold $28,600 worth of products with a $60,000 follow-on order. He’s signed a contract with the distributor and expects more sales to follow. One of our most popular products is our Gold Key Service, in which Commercial Service officers screen and investigate potential agents or distributors for a U.S. company, then schedule appointments for the vis- iting American businessperson with the best prospects. A videoconference version of this service is available for those who do not have the time to trav- el. While the Video Gold Key is not a substitute for a country visit, the service is a good solution for compa- nies unable to visit a promising market immediately. It’s also a good way for a new-to-market company to get its feet wet in an untried market without investing lots of time and money. Just as in the “live” Gold Key Service, U.S. compa- nies have access to the expertise of commercial offi- cers who hand-pick promising potential distributors, partners, and agents. However, meetings are conduct- ed via videoconference, with the Commercial Service offices in the U.S. and the foreign market handling all F O C U S 36 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3 ANCIENT FORMULAS’ SPECIAL BLEND Traditional Persian Remedies and 21st-Century Business T radition is important to Mark Aghakhani. He is the president and founder of Ancient Formulas, Inc. a Wichita, Kan. compa- ny that does good business doing things the old-fashioned way — in this case, manufacturing food supplements based on ancient Persian formulas. Explains Aghakhani, “Modern medicine can’t answer everything, and these remedies have been time-tested for 2,000 years.” But he’s used 21st-century e-commerce to take his traditional products to the world marketplace: BuyUSA.com , the Commerce Department’s online marketplace. He founded the company in 1984 with one product: a natural remedy for high blood pressure. Since then, the product line has grown to 98 remedies and the company now sells to doctors and health food stores across the U.S. and overseas. Ancient Formulas has always been a family affair, and is still a small business with only five employees. How did traditional Persian remedies travel to the American heartland? Actually, Aghakhani says, it was his mother’s idea. In the early 1980s, when Aghakhani purchased a home health care com- pany, his mother suggested that he try natural remedies from the family’s native Iran for the patients’ most common ailments. Aghakhani went to Wichita’s Center for Human Functioning, a clinic for alternative medicine. There he met Dr. Oscar Rasmussen, who agreed to do a clinical study of his blood pressure remedy. When it proved effective and doctors expressed interest, Ancient Formulas was born. Aghakhani occasionally got international inquiries, but a last year he decided to take a more proactive approach to ratchet up his international sales. “We have a market niche,” he says. In many parts of the world, consumers are more receptive to alternative medicines than in the U.S. International Trade Specialist George Lavid of the Wichita U.S. Export Assistance Center introduced him to BuyUSA.com . Aghakhani soon signed up. “BuyUSA is a good service,” he says. “If you stay at it and respond to requests quickly, you can achieve more, faster.” He has made sales to Japan, Malaysia and Australia, and thinks that the entire region may hold promise for his company. “I’ve gotten tons of requests,” he says. His advice to other U.S. entrepreneurs? “Definitely go interna- tional.” Especially with a niche product like his, Aghakhani notes, “there is more competition domestically.” Plus, he adds, “‘Made in the USA’ is an advantage overseas.” Ancient Formulas has long since outgrown the Aghakhani fami- ly kitchen, and Aghakhani says his next steps are to continue to build his company’s capacity. “I have so much back order you wouldn’t believe it,” he says. But the company will remain a family business. Ancient Formulas’ success proves that with e-com- merce, you don’t have to be big to be global — and that it pays to listen to your mother.