A Virtual Event: AI-Powered Exports & eCommerce: Creating Global Value
THE BIG IDEA.
Global buyers are online, but most businesses still treat cross‑border e‑commerce as an experiment instead of a scalable growth engine. This forum introduces a practical export playbook that uses AI and leading platforms to turn international demand into a repeatable, data‑driven business.
You will move from guessing about new markets to using AI‑powered insights, tested workflows, and peer experience to guide your next phase of global expansion.
Two world‑class experts share research, tools, and decisions behind creating value with AI and using it in ecommerce.
You will leave the forum with an understanding of:
How small and large businesses are using AI around the world.
What use cases are emerging that you could learn from.
How SMEs are integrating AI into their ecommerce.
How using AI helps businesses create entirely new monetization models.
How AI is used for online ads.
What policy frameworks are emerging around AI that e-commerce sellers and globalizing businesses need to be aware of.
Power up your global ecommerce strategy by leveraging AI to enhance your product offerings, find customers, enter new markets, and grow exports with confidence.
LET’S GO!
We're not here to inspire you and send you on your way. We're here to roll up our sleeves with you — to spark ideas, drive deals, and help you make a real mark on the world. Your global success is the whole point. Let's get to work.
THE PRESENTERS
Kati Suominen, Founder and CEO of Nextrade Group
Kati Suominen is the Founder and CEO of Nextrade Group that helps governments, leading technology companies, and multilateral development banks enable trade and private sector development through technology. Author of 140 articles and 10 peer-reviewed books, she works on trade in goods and services, digital trade, digital payments, digital competition, and AI policy, among others. She has ideated and built dozens of data and analytical products and pilot initiatives as well as eight global initiatives and public-private-partnerships to enable digital trade. Dr. Suominen serves as Adjunct Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute, and Adjunct Professor at UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Fabian Stachelin, Founder, e-traid
Fabian has dedicated his career to developing e-commerce in emerging markets, notably as the driving force behind the partnership between eBay and the International Trade Centre (ITC). After eight years at eBay, he founded e-traid, where he leads e-commerce projects funded by the EU, World Bank, and USAID, primarily partnering with Nextrade Group and the ITC. His work across Africa, Latin America, and Central Asia includes training over 800 SMEs and helping 250—many women-led—achieve their first international sales.
A seasoned presenter and facilitator, Fabian has hands-on expertise across global marketplaces (eBay, Amazon, Etsy), store platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce), and service sites (Upwork, Fiverr). He holds an M.A. in International Relations from the Graduate Institute (Geneva) and is fluent in German, English, and French.
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OUR STORY
If you are new to the forum, you’re probably wondering who we are and why we are putting on this forum. Great questions. And we’ve got solid answers.
We’re Global TradeSource Ltd. (our online arm is GlobeTrade.com) and we’ve been in the business of helping entrepreneurs and small businesses go global since 1985. Yes, you read that right. Laurel Delaney, successful entrepreneur, a business owner herself and a native of Chicago, started Global TradeSource, Ltd. with the notion to help all entrepreneurs and small business owners market, sell and fulfill orders internationally. GSBB Media LLC that you see throughout our site is a wholly owned subsidiary of Global TradeSource, Ltd., which was established in 2013 to keep our No. 1 ranked blog in the world, The Global Small Business Blog, independent of all other properties due to its stand-alone popularity – reaching more than 700,000 readers a month. With the global reach across all of our online platforms, we’ve had the opportunity to connect with more than 5 million viewers.
What Laurel discovered early on in her career—spanning the pre- and post-Internet era and now the entry of AI —is that relationships matter, especially those when we take the time to get to know one another whether in person or online. For Laurel that meant meeting with a customer in Japan who did a small amount of business with her firm. But after that face-to-face visit, he tripled his business with her. Now, slowly making our way into the era of AI, a well-run virtual meeting (like this one) can not only be more efficient and reach more people, but can also make or break an international trade deal.
All of that led to developing a newsletter called Borderbuster, teaching MBA International Marketing at Loyola University Chicago, writing books on exporting, serving as the President of Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®, hosting the podcast How She Went Global®, creating ExportingGuide.com and the accompanied Exporting Guide Group, and now leveraging all those initiatives to host the world’s best little Global Small Business Forum in the world.
One of the key aspects to exporting success are the connections we forge—building relationships locally, through a supply value chain network and overseas to expand a business. That’s why the Global Small Business Forum was conceived in 2015: to be a place where participants, who largely up until now have communicated via email, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram, now have a chance to e-meet, interact, network and make new connections.
After hosting ten consecutive successful forums, we have discovered that we have created an amazing ecosystem that fosters international expansion and we will continue to work hard to keep it growing, especially now with AI.
Something big is happening here. A new look, yes — but more importantly, a new lens. AI isn't just another tool; it's redefining how entrepreneurs and small businesses engage with the world. This forum exists to make sure you're leading that change, not chasing it.
“Just three years after ChatGPT was launched, 50% of Americans say they use generative AI, and the value creation is off the charts,” says venture capitalist, John Doerr
We're not here to inspire you and send you on your way. We're here to roll up our sleeves with you — to spark ideas, drive deals, and help you make a real mark on the world. Your global success is the whole point. Let's get to work.
