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The hits just keep on coming for Atlanta-based airplane parts supplier Aventure Aviation, whose latest award shows a continued focus on exporting as a core aspect of its business.
The newest addition to Aventure’s trophy case is the Export-Import Bank of the United States’s Exporter of the Year label, which came at the bank’s annual conference in Washington Dec. 13.
“We are honored by the recognition,” said Zaheer Faruqi, CEO and co-founder of the Peachtree City-based firm, in a news release emailed to its contacts. “This is truly a team effort, and we look forward to continued growth and success.”
Of the eight firms spotlighted, only Aventure was from Georgia.
About 80 percent of the company’s sales go to overseas customers, and Aventure has worked with EXIM for more than 15 years to mitigate risk while serving these buyers in at least 56 countries from its parts warehouse in Peachtree City and network of international offices and affiliates.
Mr. Faruqi, a frequent speaker on export panel discussions around Atlanta and the country, is also a member of the Georgia District Export Council, a private-sector group of export advisers in the state convened by the U.S. Commerce Department.
A month prior, Mr. Faruqi joined other DEC members in a discussion with EXIM Chair and President Reta Jo Lewis after the latter’s speech to the Atlanta Council on International Relations in Atlanta, just before Thanksgiving.
Ms. Lewis leads an export credit agency newly reinvigorated after years of controversy over its role within Congress and bolstered by recent international deals. She aims to reintroduce the bank’s export credit insurance, loan guarantees and other products into the consciousness of small businesses in need of assistance selling abroad.
For his part, Mr. Faruqi says that EXIM is a key backstop, recommending that all small companies venturing into global markets make use of its offerings, especially receivables insurance that has given Aventure sales confidence around the globe.
“If EXIM does not guarantee insurance coverage, we are not going to sell to that customer. This is a major business strategy for growth that all SMEs should use as most of them do not have international sales coverage or latest credit ratings on foreign customers that EXIM can provide,” Mr. Faruqi said in an EXIM release from Dec. 13.
No stranger to the global trade spotlight, Mr. Faruqi and Aventure took home a presidential E Award in 2021, won the GLOBE Award from the Georgia Department of Economic Development and were selected in the Atlanta Metro Export Challenge for a $5,000 reimbursable grant in 2016, later winning a pitch competition that netted the company $20,000 more for export promotion. Aventure was also named minority exporter of the year by the U.S. Small Business Administration in 2020.