Local companies take global perspective

The Greater Ozarks International Trade Association, or GOITA, dates back to 1990, when exporting products from Springfield to another nation was perceived as a complex and mysterious business. Transportation and freight were not as fully developed as they are now, the North American Free Trade Agreement was not yet the law of the land, and contacts among other local exporters were hard to come by.

That’s when Jane Cargill, director of Missouri State University’s Small Business Development Center, joined with several local business owners and export experts to plan the Greater Ozarks International Trade Association. They were: Joe Jenkins, owner of Missouri Export Trading Co.; Kathy Allen, owner of Allen Filters; Ruth Arneson, a foreign freight forwarder and customs broker; and Julie Jones, who represented the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce at the time.

The group enlisted the aid of attorney Jim Arneson and certified public accountant Charles Rogers to draft the bylaws and help establish the 501(c)3. All told, they spent a year organizing and planning GOITA’s debut.

“People had to go to St. Louis or Kansas City or Tulsa to network with people, find appropriate educational seminars, find consultants that were knowledgeable in the area and find government resources to help them find new markets for their products,” Cargill said.

Finding answers

As an organization, GOITA has worked to provide answers to the questions that plague manufacturers, according to GOITA Board Vice President Loretta Wallis of Brewer Science Inc.

“During the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, small American companies were just beginning to look at exporting as a way of marketing excess manufacturing capacity,” Wallis said. “Finding foreign markets was challenging for a company that was unfamiliar with exporting and foreign travel. Investigating the potential for international sales was intimidating to someone new to exporting or foreign travel.”

According to Cargill, more than 100 people showed up for the first meeting, and she and the other founders have encouraged manufacturers and members to take over the organization they founded. GOITA, which has a Web site at www.goita.org, now has 93 members.

Individual membership is $50 and corporate membership is $100.

Cargill said GOITA’s rolls swelled after NAFTA, and waned in the late 1990s, which she believes is partly because GOITA became too focused on existing exporters.

But membership has been on the rise for the last few years, according to Wallis, who said that overseas trade has never been easier for GOITA members.

International connections

Four times a year, GOITA hosts a guest speaker at a special event at The Tower Club, 901 St. Louis St.

The next meeting is April 25, featuring Georges Rioux, consul general of Canada, who is based in Chicago.

According to Canadian Consul James Lynch, spokesman for the Canadian consulate, Canada exports as much to Missouri as it does to Mexico. Conversely, Missouri sends $4.8 billion in goods to Canada, the most of any country.

“It’s one of those hidden jewels, the Canada-Missouri trade,” Lynch said. “Groups like the Greater Ozarks International Trade Association allow us to get Canadian messages out to influential people in various parts of the United States.”

Rioux will discuss the important transportation and energy relationships that exist between Canada and the United States.

Reaching the region

Bill Owen, executive vice president of UMB Bank, joined the organization five years ago and now serves as president of GOITA’s board of directors.

Owen, who joined GOITA to spread the word about UMB’s resources for businesses in importing and exporting, said the group’s work reaching out to local businesses that are not exporting is not yet done.

“We’ve identified the opportunity … and now we are looking to fill the gap,” Owen said.

The group is working to expand toward Joplin. Beyond that, a two-track approach also is designed to help GOITA branch out.

“One track is providing information on the day-to-day issues for people in import/export,” Owen said. “The other track is to bring in opportunities and make connections for local businesses and to help them identify opportunities for import/export. We’ve got to blend those two. It’s not enough to introduce people to opportunities and then not provide them the knowledge. It’s not enough to do the knowledge and not help them create opportunity. We’ve got to have a mixture.”

GOITA Annual Meeting

Special Speaker: Georges Rioux, consul general of Canada

When: April 25; networking at 5:30 p.m. and presentation at 6:30 p.m.

Where: The Tower Club

Tickets: $25; reservations required; call (417) 836-5685

On Board With GOITA

President: Bill Owen of UMB Bank

Past President: Eugene Robinett, Hutchens Industries Inc.

Vice President: Loretta Wallis, Brewer Science Inc.

Secretary: Jeannette Fitzpatrick, Marisol International

Treasurer: Elmer Selim, Whitlock, Selim & Keehn

Board members: Howard DeCelis, Tuthill Vacuum & Blower Systems; Tom Dorsey, Foster Manufacturing; Paul Lipscomb, Indiv; Rita Needham, SAMA; Bob Nothum, Nothum Manufacturing; John Patrick, Leggett & Platt Inc.; Kristi Wiggins, U.S. Department of Commerce; Greg Williams, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce; and Mark Wine, Missouri Department of Economic Development[[In-content Ad]]