Release date: 6/16/2016
Regional economic development organization’s recent cross-border engagement strategy leads to series of business attraction wins, marquee event attendance, and hosted panel discussion to promote bi-national connectivity.
BUFFALO, NY/ OAKVILLE, ON – Today Invest Buffalo Niagara—the nonprofit, privately funded economic development organization representing the eight counties of Western New York—announced several achievements related to its ongoing Canadian business engagement efforts. Such success includes a series of business attraction wins,participation in various cross-border symposiums, trade shows, and forums, as well as the hosting of a “Access U.S. Business Strategies” networking event on June 14, 2016, at Cameron’s Brewing Company in Oakville, Ontario.
The “Access U.S. Business Strategies” panel discussion showcased Canadian business leaders that have completed successful U.S. expansions into the Western New York market and provided business advice and best practices from service providers with expertise in making this transition. The event was attended by over 50 different Canadian companies and business executives, and was sponsored by CanadianManufacturing.com.
“Canadian companies considering international business expansion have good reason to rank Buffalo Niagara at the top of their prospect list,” said Thomas A. Kucharski, President & CEO of Invest Buffalo Niagara. “The similarities shared between the U.S.and Canada in terms of business practices, highly developed infrastructure, currency, and an English-speaking labor force make the decision to look directly south of the border extremely clear.”
Notable companies and speakers taking part in the panel were, Jim Wei, President, Avanti Advanced Manufacturing, Brian Paul, President & COO, Trophy Foods Inc. and Carolyn Powell, Business Development Manager and cross-border specialist at Invest Buffalo Niagara.
“Buffalo Niagara is bi-national, and the convenience of international commerce within our region makes it a unique and effective location for new business operations,” said Powell. “It’s a great story to tell and exactly why Invest Buffalo Niagara concentrates so strategically on making our presence felt across the border at high-profile events and meetings, trade shows, and through various communications and marketing activities to ensure that we stay top of mind with expanding businesses.”
“Trophy Foods is excited to begin a new chapter in an almost 50-year history of bringing snacking, baking and confectionary food products to consumers with our new facility in Cheektowaga,” said Brian Paul. “Invest Buffalo Niagara played an important role in supporting our decision making process and connecting us to suppliers, services and customers in the Western NY area.”
The Western New York area benefits from $85 billion in annual trade between Canada and the United States—nearly 15 percent of the total trade conducted between the world’s two largest trading partners.
- Expansion of a Canadian business into the U.S. market provides multiple advantages including:
- Ease of travel proximity between Canadian and U.S. locations
- Reduced bridge shipment/transit delays and costs
- Improved competitive position with U.S. companies
- Sharing staff and resources between Canadian and U.S. facilities
- Easy access to 40% of the continental North American population
Since 2005, Invest Buffalo Niagara has helped more than 60 Canadian businesses expand in the U.S., with a combined anticipated investment totaling $521.7 million, as well as 1,729 pledged jobs.
In 2016 alone, Invest Buffalo Niagara has helped to expand seven Canadian companies in the advanced manufacturing, agribusiness, and life sciences industries. The expansion of the following companies will result in $60.9 million of anticipated investment and 329 new jobs:
- BMH Systems
- CarbonOne Technologies
- Chronicle LifeSci America Corp.
- Coqui 3D Inc.
- Niagara Food Specialties
- Pride Pak
- Sherwood Electromotion Inc.
A full list of Canadian businesses that Invest Buffalo Niagara has helped to expand to Western New York since 2005 is available here.
Learn more about Invest Buffalo Niagara’s many services for Canadian companies here.