Now, another dozen Utah companies whose products range from specialty watch bands to management consulting services hope to capture their share of the bounty south of the border. So they have signed with the Governor's Office of Economic Development to send representatives on the state's next trade mission to Mexico in early April.

"This will be a short trip - only three days - so we've purposely limited the number of companies that will be going," said Miguel Rovira, regional director for Latin America and Canada at the Governor's Office of Economic Development. "We want to make sure each one gets the individual attention necessary for this to be a success."

Rovira said state trade representatives will consider the mission successful if, by the end of the year, the majority of those Utah companies will have signed letters of intent to do business with Mexican partners.

"For a small business, the idea of trying to enter a foreign market is pretty overwhelming," said Michael Beverly, director of sales at Chisco, a 17-year-old Utah company that makes specialty watch bands, lanyards, key chains, I-Pod cases and other merchandize that can be branded with client logos. "It would be practically impossible for us to make the contacts necessary to begin doing business on our own."

The state has been working with some of the companies for months, lining up face-to-face meetings with potential business partners, Rovira said. "We've sent out about 500 invitations to companies in Mexico asking that they send representative to meet with us, and we expect about 100 to 150 to accept."

One Utah businessman who is familiar with the intricacies of doing business outside the United States said he will be part of the trade mission because of the benefits that can be gained.

"One of the most difficult things to do in business is to make contact with the decision-makers in other companies," said Benjamin Martinez, the president and owner of Panamerican Associates, an international management consulting business that for the past 18 years worked almost exclusively with clients in Latin America. "After you've done business in an area for awhile, you have your own network of contacts that you work to keep going in a dynamic way."

But Panamerican lost its business contacts in Mexico six or seven years ago, Martinez said. "So now we're eager to make new connections and forge new bonds. And Utah's trade representatives [in Mexico] can help us open the right doors."