“I’ll take an infusion of capital from anywhere,” Kay Brockwell says as a waiter refills her cup of hot tea. She’s sitting across the table in a quiet, narrow, dim sum restaurant in downtown Jonesboro, an appropriate choice of venue given the focus of this conversation.
Over lunch, Brockwell provides insight on how the state, and northeast Arkansas in particular, has become a magnet for foreign investment in recent years.
“In China, there are a lot of business people flush with cash right now that need to invest. They need access to raw materials like wood and cotton to supply products for their growing population,” she said.
As a veteran economic developer in northeast Arkansas, Brockwell understands the impact of foreign investment better than most. Her company, Future Focus Development Solutions, led efforts to secure Hino Motors in Marion in 2004 and Chinese textile giant Shandong Ruyi Technology Group in Forrest City earlier this year.
While communities statewide have benefited from foreign investment over the past few years, several high-profile projects and the majority of newly created jobs (about 1,000) landed in or are slated for northeast Arkansas.
The projects include French glass insulation maker Sediver opening a plant in West Memphis in 2015 and the Shandong Ruyi Technology Group textile plant, along with the recent announcement that machine part maker Hefei Risever Machinery Co. plans to open its first international plant in Jonesboro’s industrial park.
Foreign investment like this has been one of the state’s top development strategies since 2015.
Gov. Asa Hutchison recently returned from his third trade mission to Asia where he met with representatives from over 20 companies in both China and Japan to strengthen existing business relationships and recruit new foreign investment. The highlight of that trip, he said in his Nov. 10 radio column, was the official signing of a memorandum of understanding with Risever at its Chinese headquarters.
Risever is the fifth Chinese company to set up shop in Arkansas in the past few years, bringing the recent total foreign investment from that country to $1.5 billion and new jobs to 1,650.
Brockwell explained what this means for the region and how these companies will impact future development goals.
She sees foreign investment continuing for the next several years because the region offers affordable commercial property and cheaper, dependable access to utilities.
Brockwell noted that, while unemployment is at a historic low, a large portion of the region’s skilled industrial workforce has been forced to commute to larger, urban areas in the past.
“We recently had a job fair for Risever that brought 1,500 applicants. Many of these people were employed but driving to Memphis from Brinkley, Helena and Hughes. There’s no manufacturing competition in that crescent of the Delta, and these people want to work closer to home,” she said.
Brockwell also believes the region is positioned to be a major agricultural processing hub for the poultry, rice and cotton industries. She pointed to the opportunity for vegetable production and canning in northeast Arkansas thanks to a strong agricultural base, access to water and development in acquponic and hydroponic growing.
“I also think we have a huge future in logistics thanks to our proximity to class one railroads, interstate highways and the Mississippi River,” Brockwell said.
As she sees it, the challenge to continued growth in fields such as industrial maintenance is a lack of workforce. But employers are already helping out with that. As manufacturing equipment becomes more specialized, many are reverting to on-the-job training.
In rural areas, Brockwell cited another inhibitor to growth: the reluctance of families to sell large acreage of agricultural property for commercial use.
She also said leadership complacency is an issue for some communities, while areas with the most potential for economic growth have already started to see investment and changes.
“The spots that have potential already have critical mass, places like Helena, Forrest City, Jonesboro, Paragould, Pocahontas,” Brockwell said. “These corporations are okay with small towns, but they’re not okay with tiny. Quality-of-life factors like fire services, health care, police force, education are key in choosing development sites.”