In a recorded interview at Medica in Düsseldorf, host Zach Selch talks with Alain Lavi, the U.S. Commercial Service commercial attaché for medical equipment in Paris. They explain how the U.S. Department of Commerce supports exporters through a network of about 105 U.S. Export Assistance Centers (USEACs) located in every state, which serve as the first point of contact for U.S. companies seeking market entry. The conversation details the fee‑based services the Commercial Service offers, focusing on the Gold Key program (typically under $1,000) that arranges on‑the‑ground meetings with potential distributors or partners, and the International Partner Search (IPS) service (around $500‑$700) that identifies suitable local partners. They discuss how the Service can advise exporters on market suitability—e.g., why France might be a poor fit due to competition, pricing, or regulatory hurdles—and can provide additional due‑diligence services such as credit checks. The interview also reveals Alain’s personal side: he is a Congolese dancer performing under the stage name Yaya Loketo, highlighting his long‑standing connection to both export work and cultural pursuits. The overall message encourages U.S. companies to engage the Commercial Service as a cost‑effective, experienced partner for international sales growth.
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I'm here at Medica in Düsseldorf with my old friend Alain Lavi. Alain is from the U.S. Commercial Office. He's been the commercial attaché in charge of medical equipment in the French office in Paris for 30 years?
Yeah, almost 30 years.
For almost 30 years, and we've been doing business together for probably 25 of those. He's a great asset. He's also probably the funniest employee of the federal government in the world. Okay, so Alain, can you tell Tell us a little bit about the different— about what the Commerce Department can do for a beginning or even an experienced exporter.
Yes. So nice to meet everyone. So first of all, what people should know is that— let me switch off my phone. It's going to ring when I'm here. So we have about 105 offices in the United States. So that's for U.S. companies to know that you have your local office, again, about 100 of them in every major city. of the U.S., one per state to start with. So some smaller states, let's say, have only one office. Some bigger states like California would have, of course, several offices. So those offices are called U.S. Export Assistance Centers. So very easy to find them. You do on internet export.gov, and then you say locate us, and then domestic offices, and you just put your company zip code, and then you will pop up— the USEAC will pop up. And that's your first step to reach us. Meaning that through this local office that may be, let's say, in Atlanta, you can reach out to me in Paris at the U.S. Commercial Service at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. But of course, to my colleague in Spain, my colleague in Brazil, wherever your company wants to explore a potential market, we are basically here to be, let's say, your eyes and your ears in a given country without having you in a plane to start with.
Yep. So one of the services they offer is called a Gold Key. That might be the keystone or the primary service they offer. And it's typically— a Gold Key is typically less than $1,000 depending on the size of your company. Alain, I've done a bunch of Gold Keys with you. Can you tell us a little bit about what a Gold Key offers?
Yes. So first of all, English language is surprisingly simple. So they call that offer, but in fact there is a fee. So we don't offer anything, we charge. That's mandated by the U.S. Congress that our agency, the U.S. Commercial Service, does have to charge for our services. So indeed, this Gold Key Service that Zach mentions is basically you say, I will be in, let's say, in London on April 12th. Fine. Then Embassy London will line up appointments For your company to meet individually, of course, potentially interested, most of the cases distributors, but it can depend. It can be partners, it can be whatever you have described us as being the people you would like to meet. Now we have, just to expand on what Zach just said, we have a similar service called IPS where basically it's called, IPS stands for International Partner Search. Well, and again, all this is for fees of like $500, $700, making consultants find it funny to hear this kind of figure, but that's basically our kind of charges. We are the export assistance people. We are here to promote U.S. exports. And again, we are mandated to charge our services, but not to make money. It's more, let's say, to deal with only very seriously and serious companies who have a real goal to export and not like anyone that would show up, let's say.
To expand on what Alain said, so for instance, if you come and you say, I want to sell into France, and Alain comes back and says, I don't think you should, it probably means that he's taken a good look around and he's going to give you a good reason why France might not be the right market for you. Could be tough competition, could be your pricing structure, could be regulatory issues, that kind of thing.
Exactly.
So they offer Other services, like for instance, so let's take this on a path. Let's say you come and you say, can you do a partner search for us? And they come back and say, okay, we have 5 potential good partners and you like them. Then you could say, okay, do a gold key, set me up meetings with those partners. And then you choose 1 or 2, you could say, could you do due diligence? Can you check out the credit rating for them? That kind of thing. And they could do all of that. And believe me, Anybody who does that will be more expensive than the Commerce Department and probably won't have 30 years experience in the French medical business, right? One more thing before we go, because I can't put Alain on video without asking him a question. So Alain, tell me, do you have any interesting hobbies?
I am— I've been for 30 years, let's say, with all surprisingly for anyone. I'm a Congolese dancer, so I am expert in dance from the Congo. Congo being one of the— located in Central Africa. Historically, it has been a French Congo, small size, and a former Belgium Congo that is now called today DRC, Democratic Republic of the Congo. And DRC, just to give you an idea, is a country that is 82 times larger than Belgium itself. So that's the history of Africa, and basically when it comes to Congolese dance, I'm just waiting for anyone to show up and try to beat me, which again just simply cannot happen. So all this is documented on the website, and my name on stage is Yaya Loketo. So you just Google that and then you'll be all set, in addition to export.gov. So whatever you start with, I may be better at Congolese dance, than at finding distributors. But let's say it's one year, one year I'm better and one year not.
But Alain is world-class at both finding distributors and at Congolese dancing. All right, thank you very much, Alain.
Bye-bye. Thank you all.
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