​Ex-Im Bank Helps Virginia Company Get Its Foot In The Door

Reza Hashampour, the chairman & CEO of Polaris Asset Corp., said the Export-Import https://exportersforexim.org/files/2014/08/bank of the united states has allowed his company to “sit at the big boy’s table.”

Mr. Hashampour’s company, based in Virginia Beach, Va., has acquired technology that turns brown coal into liquid fuel. They have worked with the Ex-Im Bank for several years to help win projects in places like Mongolia.

His company has fewer than 20 employees.

Without the Ex-Im Bank, his company wouldn’t have been able to get a foot in the door. Private banks, he said, often won’t help small businesses trying to work in far-flung countries like Mongolia.

Polaris is like the thousands of other businesses across the country that rely on the Ex-Im Bank to grow and keep jobs local. They will be harmed if the Ex-Im Bank isn’t reauthorized by Congress by the end of September.

He said that although the company’s technology is of high quality, they won’t be able to compete on an international stage without the Ex-Im Bank.

“I would never be able to do this if it weren’t for Ex-Im,” he said. “No matter how great a technology you’ve got, nothing gets done without proper financing.”

“We have talked to several private sector institutions- do you know what they said? If Ex-Im goes away they can’t do the deal,” he said.

“I don’t need a handout. To me Ex-Im isn’t a handout” because they charge interest and fees, he said.

Companies from all over the world are competing for similar business and many of them, including some from China, have deep backing from their governments.