Business Roundtable with Kenyan Ambassador

We were honored to be partnering with Senator Brubaker to host H.E. Ambassador Elkanah Odembo, Kenyan Ambassador to the United States for a business roundtable on December 17th.  The Linden School for Girls in Lititz generously donated space for the event and the US-Kenya Chamber of Commerce was instrumental in arranging this opportunity.   Ambassador Odembo provided an overview of Kenya's growing economy, stressing opportunities in the energy sector.  Here are some highlights:

 Kenya is a Key Trading Partner of the United States

• Over $1 billion in annual trade (imports and exports)
• U.S. Exports to Kenya total around $600 million annually
• U.S. Exports include Aircraft, Industrial Machinery, Electrical Machinery, Vehicles, Cereals, Vegetable Oils, and Coarse Grains with opportunities for more product and service introductions.
  

Kenya is East Africa’s largest regional economy with a sophisticated and highly deregulated free market that is experiencing aggressive growth in the following sectors:

•  Infrastructure Development
• Renewable and Alternative Energy
•  Information Communications Technologies
• Finance and Banking
• Agri-Business and Agro-Processing
• Tourism and other industries 
• Manufacturing
• Healthcare









Senator Brubaker and Ambassador Odembo











Annual Holiday Luncheon Focus was Poland

Magda Kubiak and Ann Moffitt

Over 70 members and guests attended the WTC's annual holiday luncheon at the Out Door Country Club in York this year.  As always, we had one of our members present information about  holidays and gift giving practices in a specific country.  Our featured member was Keystone Human Services and attendees had a chance to learn more about the many services that Keystone provides - not just in the southcentral PA region, but worldwide.  Ann Moffitt, Vice President of Community Development for Keystone Human Services and CEO of Keystone Partnership shared more about the agencies activities in Russia and Moldova and explained how Keystone Human Services hosts foreign social workers and graduate students to introduce them to how social services are administered in the United States.  Ann then turned the program over to Magda Kubiak, a graduate student from Poland currently doing her internship with Keystone Human Services.  Magda gave a wonderful presentation about Polish holiday customs, including the foods associated with various festivities.

Here is a brief listing of the major holidays in Poland:



u January, 1^st – New Year's Day

u January, 6^th – Epiphany

u Spring – Easter

u May, 1^st – Labor Day

u May, 3^rd – Constitution Day

u 9^th Thursday after Easter – Corpus Christi

u August, 15^th – Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Polish Army Day

u November, 1^st – All Saints' Day

u November, 11^th – Independence Day

u December 25^th, 26^th - Christmas

We would like to thank our sponsors, whose generous support helped make this event possibe:  MANTEC, Inc. and Cumberland County Economic Development.



Worldwide Use of Social Media

We researched the global utilization of social media - specifically looking at Facebook, Linked-In and Twitter, since the WTC is active on those sites and has international connections on all three. Here are some findings as of August 2010:

• LinkedIn has 70 million members in over 200 countries
• 50% of LinkedIn users are outside the US
• Over 500 million Facebook users
• 70% of Facebook users are outside the US
• Over 60% of registered Twitter accounts are outside the US

A Pictorial Review of the 2010 PA Trade Reps Visit to Central PA:

Around 7:00 am - the WTC team is ready for the day!



One-on-one meetings with PA companies and PA Trade Reps from Japan

PA Senator Mike Brubaker stopped by the event in the morning to say hello to the PA Trade Reps, here he is with Steven Zou, the trade representative from Beijing, China


 

Senator Brubaker with Vladimir Gololobov, trade representative for Saudi Arabia 



Meetings with PA trade reps continue throughout the day!

We did have a break for a luncheon buffet and program

Randy Campbell, Chairman of the WTC Board of Directors, is the MC for our luncheon program

Everyone is enjoying lunch, waiting for the presentations to start

Linda Gardener from the PA Center for Trade Development, provides an overview of the State's export program

Terri Morrison, Author of "Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands" is our keynote luncheon speaker

Audience "volunteers" help Terri demonstrate the concept of personal space in different cultures

 







Luncheon participants listening to presentations

One of our Sponsors:  UPS, with Diana Morales and Craig Feister at their booth, talking with Linda Gardener, from the State's international office

Another Sponsor booth:  MANTEC Inc. and Gary Egolf, Professional Business Advisor, at the booth



Our event sponsor Fulton Bank's Booth:  Chuck McGough, CEO of CAM Innovation talks with Amy Sahm, VP and Manager of Fulton's International Services


And more appointments in the afternoon: 







WTC Offers One-on-one Consulting on Social Media Use to Members

More and more of our members are becoming active on social media sites with an increasing interest in engaging a global audience. For WTC members who are completely new to this concept, we have been offering a customized overview and one-on-one consulting - all as part of the WTC member benefits.  To check out the basic powerpoint presentation that Melissa uses, click here.

WTC Members Tour the Port of Philadelphia

On August 25, WTC members had the opportunity to tour the Philadelphia seaport as well as the UPS cargo facilities at the Philadelphia International Airport.  After an early morning pick-up in York and then Lancaster, we traveled by bus to Philadelphia, arriving at the seaport a little after 10:00 am.   

The Ports of the Delaware River shipped over 80 million tons of freight in 2009, making them one of America's Top 10 Port Complexes. We saw the marine terminals that move containers, steel, forest products, fruit and cocoa. We also saw the giant cranes and container moving equipment, the portable x-ray machines used for scanning full containers and the facilities for keeping refrigerated and freezer containers. August was a busy month  at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, as it marked the arrival of 7 HYUNDAI/KIA vessels, who together delivered more than 17,000 Hyundai and Kia vehicles to the Port of Philadelphia.

After a lunch at the Airport Hilton, we got an inside look at the East Coast Regional UPS air hub, which averages 43 flights every day. The 681,000 square foot technology‐packed facility has the capacity to sort 80,000 packages/ documents per hour.  We were very fortunate to have two UPS pilots join us for an inside tour and presentation, which included climbing into cargo airplanes and checking out the cockpit.

Thanks again to Dominic O'Brien and the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority and Adam Say and UPS for hosting our group and providing a first hand look at cargo movement.  Thank you also to Stephanie Gehman from HIA for taking photos and sharing them with us.  We learned and saw a lot, and everyone enjoyed this opportunity immensely.