WorldWinds, Inc. is pleased to announce it recently entered into an export relationship with Swellnet, Pty of Australia to provide wave forecasting services for surfers worldwide.  In order to pursue this opportunity, WorldWinds relied on counseland direct assistance from the Magnolia Minority Enterprise (MBA ME), a program run by the Magnolia Business Alliance, to identify potential license requirements.   

WorldWinds’ core area of expertise is advanced weather modeling and automated weather data delivery. WorldWinds is a leader in extensive storm surge modeling of hurricanes impacting the Atlantic seaboard and Gulf Coast regions. WorldWinds also provides automatically generated weather data feeds used for fishing, ocean navigation, and other maritime applications.

This is WorldWinds' first attempt to export.

“For a Small Disadvantaged, Minority-, Woman-Owned, 8(a) company like WorldWinds, entering the world of exporting can be both confusing and time-consuming,” explained Elizabeth Valenti, President of WorldWinds.  “Without the expertise provided through organizations like the Magnolia Business Alliance, we may not have had the resources to tackle such an endeavor.”

The Magnolia Minority Enterprise (MBA ME) is a program run by the Magnolia Business Alliance (MBA) supporting Minority owned and operated businesses.  MBA ME consists entirely of business leaders providing mentoring, training, logistics, and other support as needed to facilitate the development of new companies, a favorable business environment for existing companies, and foster community and national awareness of issues affecting Minority businesses.  The Minority Enterprise is a resource for Mississippi and the Southeastern United States minority- and woman-owned businesses.

Craig Harvey, MBA President and Chair of the US Commerce Department’s Mississippi District Export Council, feels that this agreement is a great example of the how the process is supposed to work.  “The coordination between supporting groups – Magnolia Business Alliance Minority Enterprise (MBA ME), Enterprise of Innovative Geospatial Solutions (EIGS), MS District Export Council, Mississippi office of the US Export Assistance Center (US EAC), and the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industrial Security (BIS) – was extraordinarily well coordinated and responsive,” explained Harvey. “From the time the very first contact was initiated by WorldWinds to the delivery of the no license required (NLR) document from BIS was 25 days.” 

###

WorldWinds, Inc. is a privately held, women-owned, small business located at the Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi that develops cutting edge technology from NASA, the U.S. Navy, NOAA, and other government partners into state-of-the-art products and services that benefit the public. WorldWinds is an active member of the EIGS geospatial technology cluster of the Magnolia Business Alliance (MBA). MBA’s goal is to impact economic development by serving as an advocate for small and medium sized businesses. For more information about WorldWinds, Inc., visit www.worldwindsinc.com.