Cary NC Firm Named National SBA Exporter of the Year

SBA Press Release

SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman announced that Sciencix, headquartered in Cary, NC, has been named the 2023 Small Business Exporter of the Year. The company will be recognized during SBA’s National Small Business Week, an annual event honoring the accomplishments and contributions of small businesses from across the Nation.

“With a growing list of clients around the globe, Sciencix has put SBA’s trade tools to work to grow and diversify their revenue and reap the many other benefits of international trade,” said Administrator Guzman. “As we mark National Small Business Week this year, I am delighted to congratulate Sciencix owner Raj, and team leaders Ranjan and Lisa, for using the tools and resources available to them to grow their innovative business worldwide. Their powerful example shows how helping America’s small businesses start or grow their exports can create opportunity while driving competition and innovation.”
“We are pleased to recognize Sciencix as the 2023 Small Business Exporter of the Year. The company’s hard work and passion have led them to find success both domestically and abroad, and we are pleased to see that funding from the SBA’s STEP grant program played a role in growing their international sales,” said Associate Administrator for International Trade Gabriel J. Esparza. “We also recognize the immigrant journey characterized by Raj and Ranjan’s story, which simultaneously underscores the need for ongoing outreach to diaspora communities.”

“Sciencix encapsulates the success of immgrants’ journeys to this country and the company’s ability to provide gainful employment while expanding into overseas markets with help from the SBA and the SBTDC,” commented SBA North Carolina District Director Mike Arriola.  “Hearty congratulations to Raj, Ranjan, and Lisa on their excellent work in America’s Top State for Business.”

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.

With the support of North Carolina’s Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC), a resource partner of the SBA, 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.

As a result, exports now account for one-third of Sciencix’s total sales, representing a 10 percent increase from 2020, the year before securing STEP funding. Today, its products support research laboratories in over one hundred countries, spanning all continents.

“On behalf of Sciencix and our amazing customers in over one hundred countries, I am honored and humbled to receive this incredible award from the U.S. Small Business Administration,” said Sciencix President Raj Bhandari. “As a young boy in Nepal that viewed America as a far-off place where dreams are realized, I never imagined my journey would lead me to the people and places that culminate into this very moment. I am proud to be an American and to raise my two children in North Carolina – a state that flourishes with diversity, opportunity, and a dynamic business community where a small company like Sciencix can thrive because of wonderful local and state-wide support.”

“We are honored at Sciencix to receive this incredible award and recognition from the U.S. Small Business Administration,” said Ranjan Kari, Sciencix Vice President of Operations. “Growing up in Nepal, opportunities were limited, and as a kid I would watch the American TV shows and imagine what that life must be like. Coming to America gave me the gift to realize my educational and career pursuits and the opportunities that have led to this award. I am proud to raise my daughter in a country where diversity is celebrated and a small company like Sciencix can flourish.” 

“I was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina and am so proud of the dynamically diverse and innovative business community here and the incredible support we have gotten as a small minority owned business” said Lisa Bamford, Sciencix Director of Business Development and Global Marketing.  “I am so grateful to work for a company that encourages and promotes opportunities for minorities and women in leadership,” she continued. “I am humbled to serve alongside such a talented and diverse group of people at Sciencix and to have the local support of a thriving small business community that is collectively offering our skillsets to impact the greater world around us.”  

“On behalf of the SBTDC, I would like to congratulate Raj Bhandari, Ranjan Karki, Lisa Bamford, and the entire employee group at Sciencix on receiving the prestigious award from the U.S. SBA as the national 2023 Exporter of the Year,” said Ginny Vaca, International Business Counselor of the SBTDC of North Carolina. “Sciencix is a great example of our local small businesses, with a vision to be globally recognized for developing long-term relationships and providing excellent service to their customers worldwide. They truly deserve such an award.” 

Sciencix and other National Small Business Week (NSBW) award winners will be honored April 30-May 2 in Washington, D.C.

For more information about the State Trade Expansion Program grant, visit www.sba.gov/STEP. For more information about National Small Business Week, visit www.sba.gov/NSBW.