Lt. Governor Brad Owen
10^th Annual Africa Day Business Forum and Celebration
Red Lion Hotel
October 18, 2008
Seattle
 

I would like to first of all express a warm Washington welcome to all of you who are here, and especially to those of you who have come so far to be with us today. We are honored by your presence here with us at the 10^th Annual Africa Day Business Forum and Celebration.

And a special note of congratulations to the African Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific Northwest on its 10^th year of being in business.  This is an important anniversary and you should be proud for all that you have accomplished.

I cannot emphasize enough how much the work you have done and are continuing to do, under the dedicated leadership of Peter Gishuru, helps the economies of both Africa and state of Washington.

The African Chamber of Commerce is truly becoming Washington state’s gateway to business with Africa. And today, despite the recent slowdown in our economy, exciting opportunities exist. I would like to mention some of the positive developments between our regions, and also take a moment to note the great contributions of Africans to Washington state.

Washington State is the most trade dependent in the country.  We produce a myriad of exports from software to airplanes to engineering expertise and consulting services, and many jobs, directly and indirectly, are tied to these exports.  Therefore we must be aggressive about creating conditions that allow trade to be created with all potential trading partners.

We want to keep looking for opportunities and reduce obstacles to selling our products and services to the relatively untapped African markets, and importing some of the amazing products they offer.  Personally, I have become a huge fan of Kenyan tea and coffee from Malawi, as my staff can attest to!

I believe that those of you in the audience who are involved with international trade would agree when I say that securing a business contract is a success whether it’s with an established English-speaking trading partner or to a new partner on the opposite side of the globe. 

A sale is a sale is a sale! China has been an obvious growing opportunity that our companies have been very successful in taking advantage of. However, there is a good deal of uncertainty in every rapidly growing economy.  In any good business plan, whether for a company or the state of Washington, diversification is essential!  Over the last month or so, we’ve also heard daily about the increasing need for the important role that government plays in helping bolster and protect our economic portfolios.  During tough economic times, it’s even more important to learn about a variety of options, including the many exciting prospects to consider for our trading portfolio from the African continent.

It is competitive, though. Markets are emerging all over the globe, many with demands for Washington products.  Unfortunately we do not have the resources to visit and thoroughly explore all the countries we would like to. Our ongoing challenge to maintain our place in the nation as a leader in international trade, not to mention to keep our companies in business and our people employed, continues to be identifying emerging markets and determining what goods and services are needed to fulfill the needs of those markets.  Then we must convince our state’s businesses to look beyond their present business environment to foreign markets and find the most effective ways to assist them in reaching and taking advantage of the changing world economy.

In order to do that successfully, we need to educate ourselves about the countries we are interested in developing business with.  At this trade forum, there is incredible expertise to help us do that. We can learn from today’s speakers how to be successful in entering African markets while understanding their culture and differences. 

The bottom line is, we want investment in Africa to be a part of our companies’ portfolio of success. I know many of you here today are already a part of that story.

Certainly Washington state has a role to play in continuing to facilitate trade and investment in Africa.  Washington has many outstanding agricultural products that we export to Africa, including some very fine wine, apples, potatoes, wheat and much more.  We are also known for being a leader in technology, biotechnology (including medical breakthroughs for improvement of global health), green industries such as alternative energy, wood and paper production and of course aerospace. Perhaps we can help Africa with some of our expertise there.

We are a great state that is filled border to border with success stories for innovation and technology. Companies like Microsoft and Boeing of course get their share of attention for great airplanes and software, but it’s the smaller companies that really make up the backbone of our economy.

A few years ago the Washington Policy Center published a paper stating that the more than 200,000 small firms in Washington make up over 95 percent of all businesses in the state, and provide nearly 60 percent of the jobs in the private sector.

According to our state’s Small Business Development Center, Washington leads the nation in both the rates of new business creation and in business failures. Something likes 22 percent of all new businesses that start in our state fail. That means we’re obviously a state full of entrepreneurs and risk takers.

We’re also a state that is highly dependent on the success of our small business, especially as it relates to our global economy. We in elected government must continue to be vigilant about finding ways to promote and partner in a way that builds business and jobs and makes sense for both the economy and the quality of life that we enjoy here so much.

I want to be clear that our vibrant economy and quality of life is enhanced greatly by the African communities in our state, and the ties that already exist between Africa and Washington are due to the hard work and dedication of Africans in our state, throughout our history.

Many, many African Americans have made their mark in Washington state since statehood. In fact King County is named for one of our country’s most famous African Americans, The Rev. Martin Luther King, and its executive Ron Sims is of African American descent and is now in his third term as executive. Senator Rosa Franklin, who is here today, takes over for me as President of the Senate when I am unable to preside.

We are newly reminded of the countless contributions of African Americans by the recent opening of the new Northwest African American Museum in Seattle, which houses displays that chronicle story after story of those contributions.

In fact one of the Puget Sound’s founding pioneers, an African American named George W. Bush (no relation to our two presidents with the surname of Bush) was noted for his generosity to new arrivals and to the Nisqually Indians.  Mr. Bush came to this area by wagon train in 1884.

These are just a few notable African-Americans and many others have helped their native countries and introduced us to the wonderful world of Africa, a continent rich with diversity and promise. 

For our visitors from Africa, you will find a friendly, welcoming environment to discuss business opportunities here. You who are engaging in business with the continent of Africa are pioneers in your own right. As a continent Africa faces many difficulties.  But you who step forward to work on issues of trade and economy are having the net effect of stimulating business opportunities both here and over there that will ultimately be for the betterment of both.  In other words you are making a positive difference.

My office has been a part of the African-Washington partnership too.  In fact we are presently working with the state of New Delta, Kenya on a visit of the Governor of Delta State and the Science and Technology Commissioner. The proposed visit dates are April 2009 in order to coincide with the Technology Conference organized by Washington Technology Center.

We continue to work with a gifting project in Tacoma on the development of children’s health clinics in Kenya and Uganda.

Those are just a couple examples. Our hope is that by offering our office as a resource and helping to facilitate business and government connections, we are doing our small part to further Washington investment in Africa and African investment in Washington.

Again, kudos to the forward-thinking organizers of this event, for holding it annually and helping us to learn more and strengthen our ties between Washington state and the African countries.  It is a wonderful opportunity to explore possibilities, with high-level representatives from Africa and the expertise of the partners like CTED and Export Finance Assistance Center.  The African Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific Northwest is serving a great need for making these connections and developing new partnerships.

Thank you to all the event’s partners and participants for all that you do to keep Washington’s economy moving, in Africa and around the world.  It means a lot for our jobs and for our future. Enjoy the forum and the celebration dinner.