Economic development staff travels the globe to boost business in Iowa

DES MOINES — Have mission, will travel.

That mantra — dating back to Marco Polo's heyday — has guided members of Iowa's Economic Development Authority to far-flung reaches of the world in search of trade and foreign investments that will strengthen and diversify Iowa's key economic sectors.

The travel log of the EDA's international trade team is expansive, with more than two dozen trade missions or trade shows logged since Gov. Terry Branstad returned to Terrace Hill in 2011 and made growth in international exports a major focus of his economic recovery plan.

The Iowa trade banner has shown up in exotic places such as Guadalajara, Mexico; Kofu, Japan; Santiago, Chile; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Bothaville, South Africa; Tel Aviv, Israel; Istanbul, Turkey; and Shijiazhuang, China. And the effort appears to be paying off given than Iowa posted more than $15 billion worth of export activity in fiscal 2015, with companies sending machinery, vehicles, meat and cereals to trading partners primarily in the Americas, Asia and Europe.

'The world really is flat,' Iowa EDA Director Debi Durham said. 'When you see how successful these trips have been and what opportunities and doors it opens for Iowa, it's an important part of the work that we do here.'

The state agency's International Office assists Iowa companies in developing or expanding international markets and helps them to market their products and services worldwide by offering individual consultation, educational seminars, technical assistance, marketing assistance, targeted financial help and by leading missions to countries holding the most potential for trade.

For example, the recent pledge by Chinese leaders to buy 13.18 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans in deals that represent about $5.3 billion was deeply rooted in trade relationships between China and Iowa that date back decades — most notably a 1985 visit to Iowa by now-President Xi Jinping as a provincial party official has blossomed into a strong bond with Branstad, who has made two trips to China since 2011 and met with Xi in Seattle last month.

Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds also led a 2011 trade mission to China — that nation ranks as Iowa's fastest-growing trade partner.

'There have been so many moments when I have had to pinch myself and say, wow, I'm really here witnessing this,' Durham said of her trade-mission experiences.

What amazes Durham is that so many times when Iowa trade scouts begin to work a region of the world, they find the state's reputation as a major food-producing region precedes them.

'Iowa just has such a strong reputation around the world,' said Durham, who in September went on a Branstad-led, 20-member delegation trade mission to South Korea. 'Sometimes I think it's almost stronger than it is in the U.S.'

That South Korea-and-Japan trip cost $117,000, paid for by private sources, according to the Iowa DEA.

But few things sell themselves, so it is the job of the EDA international trade office to conduct research and determine what countries hold the most market potential for economic interaction by Iowa exporters — usually in areas of farm commodities and value-added agriculture, manufacturing, bioenergy and financial services — while keeping an eye out for new business prospects or even the unexpected in a world made smaller by evolving technology.

'Usually it's really focused,' Durham said in discussing the mission of a trade mission. 'We try to align where it makes sense,' she said. But 'if something comes up, we're open to explore.'

A typical economic expedition abroad done in conjunction with the U.S. State Department and interested Iowa businesses will be at least a year in the making. That's with advance teams working with partners and consultants familiar with the targeted foreign country, assessing the export potential, considering security risks and logistical challenges, making contacts with site selectors and identifying potential investors who may have an interest in establishing Iowa ties or expanding to an Iowa location.

Once a region is established as a strong prospect for trade with Iowa companies as well as an opportunity for direct foreign investment in Iowa and a major on-the-ground effort could be beneficial, a delegation of businesses willing to fund the mission is assembled and either the governor, lieutenant governor or both are enlisted in lead roles that will open doors reserved only for top dignitaries, Durham said.

'When we bring a governor or a lieutenant governor is really where we see great opportunities because they're door openers for Iowa' the economic development chief said. 'They're the ones that get you into the ambassadors. They're the ones that get you into the CEOs and the chairmen of the board. You get meetings at the highest level of government there.'

Trade missions generally are long days with crammed agendas and grueling schedules that sometimes require making clothes changes in airport bathrooms, battling through jet lag and hotel moves, and avoiding cultural faux pas by doing the needed research to know what colors to use or avoid, what gifts are appropriate and various protocols that go with varying international customs, Durham noted.

'It isn't always the most glamorous. You see the glamour part, but the behind the scenes are anything but,' Durham noted.

Branstad recalled presenting an Iowa geode glued to a piece of wood to the Israeli prime minister that went over like a rock when the stone became unglued.

'I think it put a dent in his desk,' the governor recalled. 'Plus the last thing they need in Israel is more rocks. They've got more rocks than you can imagine.'

Durham said international trade missions require an attention to detail and meticulous briefings to move a contingent of visitors through a complex and demanding process.

'Any time we do a trip like this, I have to always prepare the participants to say anything can happen. One has to be flexible with these things because with the best laid places something is going to go wrong on the logistics side or something. We've been really fortunate on our trips that we haven't seen a lot of that,' she said.

Heather Hull, a business recruitment specialist from the not-for-profit Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, was part of the 20-member Iowa delegation in Seoul last month where she was able to meet face to face with leaders of the South Korean company that owns PMX Industries in Cedar Rapids.

'I thought it was absolutely phenomenal,' Hull said of her first Iowa trade mission. The opportunity to discuss the Iowa-South Korean partnership and foster growth was 'absolutely invaluable,' she said.

'They're very fond of Iowa and our work ethic and the people and the Cedar Rapids community, so it was very, very important,' Hull said.

Missions or trade shows 2011-2015

2011

February — Mexico City and Guadalajara, Mexico

July — Lima, Peru and Bogota, Colombia

July — Seoul South Korea, Beijing, Shenyang, Liaoning China (Lt. governor)

September — Seoul Korea, Shenyang, Harbin, Beijing China, Tokyo, Japan (Governor, no companies)

November — Tokyo, Kofu, and Osaka, Japan

2012

February — Guatemala City, Guatemala and Panama City, Panama

July — Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre, Brazil and Santiago, Chile (Governor)

September — Beijing, China

December — Seoul, Korea and Tokyo, Japan

2013

February — Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Manila, Philippines (Lt. governor)

April — Mexico City, Mexico; San Salvador, El Salvador; and San Pedro Sula, Honduras

April — Beijing, Tianjin, Boading and Shijiazhuang, China (Governor) *

July — Italy, Switzerland and Kosovo (Governor) *

October — Guadalajara, Mexico

November — Tokyo, Japan, and Seoul and Pusan, South Korea

* Governor took a delegation; Trade Team helped organize but did not participate

2014

February — Bogota, Colombia, and Panama City, Panama

April — Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou and Nanjing, China

May — Lusaka, Zambia, and Johannesburg and Bothaville, South Africa

June — Tel Aviv, Israel, and Istanbul, Turkey (Agriculture secretary)

September — Shenyang, Changchun, Harbin, Shijiazhuang and Beijing, China

November — Shanghai, China, and Taipei, Taiwan

2015

February — Tokyo and Osaka, Japan

March — Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico

April — Sao Paulo, Brazil (Lt. governor)

August — Santiago, Chile, and Lima, Peru

August — Taipei, Taiwan, Qingdao and Beijing, China

September — Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo, Japan