Sciencix

SBTDC Client Named SBA’s 2023 National Exporter of the Year

Since its founding in 1985, Sciencix has manufactured high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry parts, whose uses include drug testing, contamination analysis, pesticide detection, and more. With headquarters in North Carolina and a manufacturing plant in Minnesota, Sciencix’s Owner Raj Bhandari, Operations Manager Ranjan Karki, and Director of Global Marketing Lisa Bamford oversee the company’s 25-employee team.

Lisa Bamford began taking a serious look into government contracting as a potential for business development in 2021 and contacted the SBTDC’s Government Contracting Assistance Program (GCAP). The SBTDC provided Sciencix assistance with updating and completing their SAM registration and Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) profile, as well as updating their capability statement, making it more useful for marketing to both government agencies and prime contractors. Bamford and her GCAP counselor worked together to develop a focused government contracting marketing strategy to reach these potential customers. Most recently, GCAP provided Bamford assistance with preparing for an in-person capability briefing with a small business liaison representing a branch of the military.

“Making that first call to the SBTDC has made a dynamic impact on our company and our growth projections in a short amount of time, and we are tremendously grateful!”

The GCAP counselor connected Sciencix with the SBTDC’s International Business Development (IBD) program. The IBD counselor has been assisting Sciencix in export compliance, market research, market development, export training, costing & pricing analysis, and developing a proactive and comprehensive international sales and marketing plan. The SBTDC connected Sciencix with the different federal and state resources available to support their exporting activities. IBD also provided Sciencix with the opportunity to work with an NC State University MBA team to research and provide extensive market analysis on exporting opportunities to the Near East.

With the support of the SBTDC, Sciencix secured $24,000 in SBA State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) grant funding in 2021. These funds offset the costs of attending international trade shows, meeting overseas distributors, and website internationalization. Exports now account for one-third of Sciencix’s total sales and its products support research laboratories in over 100 countries, spanning all continents.

In March 2023, Sciencix was named the SBA’s National Exporter of the Year.