Maine Small Business Makes Historic Sale to Sudan With Ex-Im Support

Students at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology in Rwanda use computers supplied by Planson. Photo courtesy of Planson International Corp.

Planson International Corp., a small, woman-owned business, sells IT products to the United Nations, the U.S. government, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) projects, nongovernmental organizations, and emerging market private-sector clients. For more than 20 years, Planson has been providing IT hardware and software, communications, test and measurement, global positioning system (GPS), global information system (GIS), surveying, security and office equipment to the aid and development community in over 109 countries.

With Bank of America as its lender, Planson used a $1.5 million revolving working capital loan guaranteed by Ex-Im Bank to export computers and software to Sudan for use during the historic referendum for Southern Sudan Independence. The technology was used for voter registration, demographic data analysis, vote tallying and post-referendum policy development.

In April 2011, the company began using Ex-Im’s express insurance policy, which is helping the company expand sales in sub-Saharan Africa and the Carribean.

Planson’s sales grew 30 percent to $18 million in 2011, and its fulltime employees grew by 50 percent. The company was named Ex-Im Bank’s sub-Saharan Africa Exporter of the Year in FY 2011.

"Ex-Im Bank's working capital guarantees and insurance give us the ability to continue growing. We simply could not have reached this level of success without Ex-Im's backing," said Planson's President Connie Justice.