Businesses in China Buzzing about Greater Omaha

Omaha, Neb., June 11, 2010 – A Chinese company’s decision to put its first U.S. operation in La Vista has generated buzz about the Greater Omaha area among other Chinese companies interested in expanding in America.

Less than two months after Easyway International, LLC announced it would set up its U.S. headquarters in La Vista, Marisa Ring, the Greater Omaha Chamber’s manager, international business development, brought up Easyway in nearly every stop she made during a recruiting trip to China last month.

“Everyone I spoke to seemed very interested in hearing about what Omaha has to offer,” Ring said. “There was also a lot of interest in Easyway’s investment and the high level of assistance that the Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership gives projects.”

Easyway was the first company brought here as a result of cooperative recruiting efforts by the Partnership — which covers Cass, Douglas, Sarpy and Washington counties — in cooperation with the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.

Easyway provides a concrete example to other companies in China about doing business in Omaha, Ring said. Easyway announced in late March it would open a freight-forwarding office in La Vista and bring four Chinese executives here. It is now in its startup phase in La Vista.

In Xian, China, the headquarters city of Easyway, Ring met with an agricultural company that, based on Easyway's experiences, is very interested in Greater Omaha. Easyway’s own interest came from a Chinese trade mission’s visit to Nebraska in 2008 and a recruiting trip Ring made to China along with Jennifer Zhang of JZW International.

In Shanghai last month, Ring talked with two business associations about possibilities of partnering for bilateral investment opportunities and met with a construction company, a manufacturer, a logistics company, a high-tech firm and an alternative energy company about doing business in Greater Omaha. She also talked with a real estate developer who has expressed interest in hiring a U.S. architecture and design company to work on a new development in Shanghai.

Ring visited Yantai where she talked with government officials about increasing business between that city and Omaha and met with the head of an investment company that is interested in Omaha. Ring is on the board of the Omaha Sister Cities Association and was in Yantai as part of a delegation of that group.

She also stopped in Hangzhou to visit a company that is considering doing business with a company in Greater Omaha.

Ring was among a group of ten recently appointed to the Nebraska District Export Council by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. These international trade professionals use their knowledge and international business experience to act as consultants to small and medium sized businesses who want to export their products into markets outside of the United States.