Sauk's foreign trade seminar opens up global opportunities
BY ANDREW WALTERS
SVN REPORTER
awalters@svnmail.com
Sauk Valley businesses looking to expand their customer bases are being encouraged to think globally, or more specifically, to think Africa.
The state Department of Commerce and Economic Oppor-tunity held a trade seminar for area businesses and development leaders Wednesday at Sauk Valley Community College that featured representatives from East African countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
The seminar was a precursor to an East African trade mission that area business leaders will embark upon in February.
John Thompson, president of the Dixon Area Chamber of Commerce, said such outreach is necessary in today's business climate.
"I think we all realize the world has changed. This is a bit of a beginning for us all," Thompson said.
Change is exactly the message African embassies have for American businesses. Audifax Choma, minister of economic trade and investment for the United Republic of Tanzania, said his country is a fertile ground for American businesses that are willing to think globally.
First, though, they must abandon their preconceived notions about Africa and its varied economies, he said.
"This is the biggest challenge. Most investors tend to make Africa one country. Each country is unique, and we have different aspirations," Choma said.
Unlike headline-grabbing nations such as Sudan and Congo, many East African nations have enjoyed peace and growing prosperity for decades.
With strong export businesses such as mining and agriculture, countries such as Tanzania and Kenya enjoy rapidly growing economies and an expanding middle class. These are opportunities of which the Illinois Office of Trade and Investment has been trying to encourage businesses to take advantage.
In 2006, $42 billion in Illinois products were exported, making it the fifth leading exporter in the country and number one in the Midwest in foreign investment, according to Nancy Ryan, marketing manager and international trade specialist for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity's office of trade and investment.
"In Illinois, 800,000 jobs have been created through foreign trade," Ryan said.
A handful of area businesses, such as Wahl Clipper and Raynor Garage Door, already operate on an international level and sent representatives to the seminar.
Carolyn Martin, Raynor's strategic supply chain director, said she was especially impressed by what she learned about Kenya's need for new housing, which would be of interest to her company's international sales group.
"In the last five years, we have seen tremendous improvements in Kenya's economy," said James Kiiru, commercial attaché from the Kenyan embassy in Washington, D.C.
With a gross domestic product that went from 0.2 percent growth in 2002 to 7.2 percent in 2007, the country's burgeoning middle class has created a need for 200,000 new homes a year - but only 40,000 were built last year, Kiiru said.
Dixon Mayor Jim Burke, who helped organize the seminar, called it a first step in educating area businesses about global business opportunities.
"Companies do need to focus on expanding to reach other countries abroad," Burke said. "I am looking forward to (organizing) more of these trade mission conferences at Sauk Valley Community College."
Reach Andrew Walters at (815) 284-2222 or (800) 798-4085, ext. 522.
