Arkansas Inc. Podcast: 2024 Asia Trip

In this episode of the Arkansas Inc. Podcast, Hugh McDonald, Clint O'Neal, and Olivia Womack discuss the highlights of the recent Arkansas trade mission to Japan and South Korea.

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TRANSCRIPT

Olivia Womack:

This is Olivia Womack, Director of Business Development for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.

Hugh McDonald:

And this is Hugh McDonald, Arkansas Secretary of Commerce, and you are listening to the Arkansas Inc. Podcast.

Clint O'Neal:

Welcome to the Arkansas Inc. Podcast. This is Clint O'Neal. I serve as executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. Recently an Arkansas delegation from AEDC, the Department of Commerce and the Governor's Office return from an economic development trip to Japan and South Korea.

My guests today on the Arkansas Inc. Podcast joined me on that 11-day trip. Overall, it was a fantastic trip, it was intense. It took a tremendous amount of planning and coordination, but was well worth it. We covered a lot of ground, met a lot of interesting business and government leaders, and we learned a lot along the way. So, today we're going to recap that trip for you on the Arkansas Inc. Podcast.

My guests today and travel companions are Olivia Womack, Director of Business Development for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, and Hugh McDonald, Arkansas Secretary of Commerce. Olivia and Hugh, welcome to the Arkansas Inc. Podcast.

Hugh McDonald:

Welcome.

Olivia Womack:

Thanks, Clint. Happy to be here.

Clint O'Neal:

So, we spent 11 days together. If that's not enough, we're going to spend a little bit more time here in the studio talking about it with a recap on the podcast. Let's start with talking about how the trip came together. Anybody want to talk about that for the audience?

Hugh McDonald:

Olivia, you want to take that one?

Olivia Womack:

Sure. I think the trip came together just seeing the great opportunity available in Japan and Korea for businesses that are growing and expanding, and the great coordination that we see between Japan and South Korea and Arkansas, and we want to continue to increase that and grow that.

So just seeing that growth, I think there was a natural reaction of wanting to go and meet with company executives, government officials in-person. I think those in-person interactions always are very fruitful, and so kind of out of that desire wanted to plan a trip and get over there, and make sure that the people in Korea and Japan see the great things and the resources and assets that we have here within the state.

Clint O'Neal:

Sure. Well, it certainly took a big effort. The business development team, the full AEDC team, and commerce was a big part of that. When we announced that Governor Sanders was coming to South Korea and coming to Japan, it opened a lot of doors. Our colleague, Neal Jansen, did a great job, as well as so many people. Mr. Secretary, anybody you'd like to give a shout-out to on the team and just talking about how that came together?

Hugh McDonald:

Yeah, Clint, Olivia, the entire AEDC team, I mean, we realized that there was this InterBattery conference in early March in Korea that's put on every year. It's a huge conference and sort of in the wheelhouse of something that we wanted to look at given the lithium opportunities here in the state, and noticed that that was happening in early March, but that was probably two months before that we really started planning, and the team just pulled together and knocked it out of the park in terms of getting really, really important and critical meetings set up with the right people all across South Korea and Japan.

Clint O'Neal:

So Olivia, you and your team, what's the latest you stayed at the office in the weeks leading up to the trip?

Olivia Womack:

Ooh, I don't know if y'all want to know. There were some late nights, early mornings, lots of phone calls, texts. I have to give a huge shout-out to Neal Jansen on our team, our Asia office director based in Japan, and with the time difference, he was on calls at midnight and then 7:00 AM the next morning preparing for this. I think it speaks to the depth of relationships that he's been able to build in his position that we were able to get so many meetings with so many high-level officials.

The work that Bethany Duncan and Brittany Lutz did on the briefing materials, the quality of information and preparation that we were able to have was huge. So definitely a lot of time and effort put into the trip, but I think everyone knew how important this was going to be and wanting to make sure that we were all as prepared as we could be to make this the most fruitful trip.

Clint O'Neal:

We talk a lot in economic development about where jobs come from and the emphasis we have on entrepreneurship on supporting existing businesses and recruiting new ones. We had elements of all three in this trip. We were able to spend some time with the Startup Junkie office in South Korea and learn about the work that they're doing to support entrepreneurs in Arkansas through the partnerships in South Korea.

We certainly had some opportunities to visit with existing investors and companies that have a presence in Arkansas, and then we met with some companies to form new relationships to start the process of business attraction. But let's divide these and start with South Korea. Hugh, what were some of your major takeaways from our South Korea leg of the trip?

Hugh McDonald:

Amazing country, amazing people, super friendly to the United States, great trading partner. For us in Arkansas, we have one existing customer that is Korean-based, which we visited, Kiswire, and obviously there's lots of opportunity. Just a little bit of research we were doing ahead of time, the geographical footprint of South Korea is smaller than the state of Arkansas, yet they have 50 million people, their GDP is $1.6 trillion and they're 13th largest economy in the world, and their economy has just been on a tear for the last 20, 30 years. All of that has been built since post-Korea war early 1950s, so there's a tremendous opportunity.

What we have learned in South Korea, Japan as well, is they have very low birth rates and some of the lowest birth rates in the world. These major global corporations, their growth opportunities are looking overseas and they're all making planning investments in the United States. So it's good news for obviously the United States, and it's clearly an opportunity for the state of Arkansas to cement and continuing to build strong relationships there for the future.

Clint O'Neal:

Olivia, what about you? Observations from South Korea.

Olivia Womack:

I think for me, some of the things that stuck out to me was the enthusiasm and the optimism of the Korean people and also the companies that we met with. I think they see so much opportunity in America, and like you said, want to invest in the United States. They're kind of landlocked where they're at and see that their next growth path is going to be in America, and so it was really good that we were able to meet with them and share about Arkansas and the great work that we're doing so that they can consider locating in our state. But just the excitement and enthusiasm, I think it felt very much like Southern hospitality, just southern Korean hospitality.

Clint O'Neal:

Yeah, in Korea, although we don't have as many business partnerships as we will have in the coming months and years, there are a lot of ties between Arkansas and South Korea, and so it was really neat to explore those and have a lot of conversations with Koreans about the Korean gate that we have in downtown Little Rock. It would surprise a lot of people to know that we have this beautiful Korean gate in our downtown here in Little Rock because of the partnership with the American Taekwondo Association and the world headquarters here.

Then Koreans are so thankful for the United States of America and our partnership, and the fact that General Douglas MacArthur was born in Little Rock certainly made for a good talking piece. So always enjoy the time in Korea, such a great country, Japan as well. Let's turn our attention there to just what surprised us most about that country. Hugh?

Hugh McDonald:

Similar to Korea, more advanced, however, the economy there is of course larger, but again, a huge friend to the United States, huge trading partner. I think it's, what, our number three third-largest export to Japan. We have 30, 40 Japanese companies already here in the state of Arkansas, so great opportunity.

They too have birth rate challenges. They actually have 800,000 fewer people every year in Japan just based on their demographics, so they too are looking to the United States for future investments. So again, we've got great relationships there currently, and we did a lot of existing business, but also some new businesses to work on those relationships going forward for future opportunities here for foreign direct investment in Arkansas.

Olivia Womack:

Clint, I'd love to turn the question on you. What were your impressions of Korea? Actually, this isn't your first time to visit Korea, so anything that you've noticed that has changed since you'd been there? And maybe tell the story of how you found yourself in Korea before.

Clint O'Neal:

Sure. Well, you know I love Korea, because I talked about my anticipation of going to the country and eating the food in the weeks leading up to our trip. From the summer of 2005 to the summer of 2006, my wife Heather and I taught English in Korea. This was before kids, this was before my career in economic development, and we had such a good time in the country.

We lived just south of Seoul in a city called Bucheon, and so I had not been to Korea in 18 years. I did see a lot of places in Seoul that looked familiar. The country continues to flourish, and they continue to have some wonderful bibimbap and other food selections that I really enjoyed. Olivia, what surprised you most about our time in Japan?

Olivia Womack:

I think what surprised me the most about our time in Japan was just the long legacy of the culture there in Japan and the respect and honor that people show everyone else. I think in our entire time in Japan I did not see one singular piece of trash on any of the streets, and there weren't even trash cans, which in America that would just be chaos in the streets if there were no trash cans.

So, I think that speaks to just the culture of respecting one another and seeing it as I'm not going to make my things, my trash other people's problem. I think that shows in their personal lives and their business lives, and so I think that's one thing that really stuck with me.

Clint O'Neal:

Hugh, for both countries and all the meetings that we had, tell the audience how they perceived Arkansas, and what your impression was about what they walked away with after meeting with Governor Sanders and our team.

Hugh McDonald:

First of all, Governor Sanders just does a tremendous job in all those meetings, she's the best salesperson for Arkansas for sure. I'd say in Korea, didn't know a whole lot about Arkansas. The last time we were there as a state economic development mission was when her dad was governor in 2004.

So reacquainted with some of the major business associations there, had some sister city agreements that we updated, memorandas of understanding. But the people are amazingly friendly, they look for opportunities to do business, and I just think that that was a very positive trip, and they want to learn more about Arkansas and certainly will be back in the future.

We're already working on follow-up activities coming out of that trip, that some of those companies are coming here to explore the opportunities in Arkansas, so it's a great opportunity for the state.

Clint O'Neal:

We had a lot of good dialogue with these companies. A lot of talk about next steps and the potential exploration of a partnership, but there's also an element to these meetings of gift-giving. Olivia, tell the audience about some of the gifts that we gave and some that we received.

Olivia Womack:

Sure. Yeah, gift-giving is a huge cultural thing in both Korea and Japan. Something that I think us Americans are not necessarily accustomed to outside of birthdays and Christmas, and so at each meeting there's kind of a formal gift exchange on both sides, so we would present our gift usually.

So for example, some of the gifts that we gave were James Hayes, who's a glassblower here in the state, James Hayes' Arkansas-shaped paperweights that are really special and a very nice talking point. Also, some framed prints of beautiful locations in Arkansas, especially around the Buffalo River in fall time. Those had been signed by the governor. So something thoughtful, help them remember Arkansas and some of the great things that we have within our state.

Then some of the gifts that we received were some nice tea from Korea, some kind of cultural elements like a chopstick and spoon set, some nice little cookies, so something thoughtful, something usable that everybody would enjoy. I would say we had a whole suitcase coming back that was filled with all the gifts, so many people around our office were very happy when we got back, it was like Christmas.

Clint O'Neal:

So, this was our second international economic development trip with Governor Sanders. Last year we did a trip to Europe, the Paris Air Show, and on to some company meetings in Germany. Since that time, we've announced three projects that tie back to meetings for that Europe trip. One with Dassault Falcon jet here in Little Rock, one with Raytheon Raphael JV in Camden, and one in Fort Smith with Walther Manufacturing, a time back to a meeting that we had in Germany.

So, we get back from Asia and people start asking, "When are the results coming in?" My response, "Just like Europe was be patient, they'll be here." With Europe, that was remarkable to announce close to 1,000 jobs that tie back to meetings there. I think with this trip, it's more about long-term relationship building, but a very worthy undertaking for our economic development efforts. But let's talk about follow-up and what happens next. Hugh, what do you see as some of the next steps?

Hugh McDonald:

Well, certainly continuing to build the relationships that we've made over there with not only existing, but really just as importantly and more importantly, with brand new relationships with new companies. We're going to meet some of them here back in Little Rock and meet some of the folks in Washington DC in their offices just to continue the dialogue, share more information about what available products and opportunities there are in the state of Arkansas, economic statistics, tax figures, things like that that is important to new business. So workforce, of course, is also critically important for them, as it is our employers here in the United States. So just constant follow-up, constant communication, keeping the dialogue going.

Clint O'Neal:

Olivia, walk us through some of the themes, the topics that kept coming up in these meetings.

Olivia Womack:

I think there were a few things that kept coming up in a lot of the meetings that we had. First being the trend towards electric vehicles, electric battery storage, but also kind of a slow uptake in that market, but a lot of the companies that we spoke with said that they do see that ramping up, just maybe slower than originally thought.

I think second, a lot of companies mentioned wanting to diversify and expand their supply chain around the globe, specifically to act as a counterbalance to China and other countries that are not as friendly to the United States, and so just wanting to grow and expand their presence sort of as, like I said, counterbalance to that.

I think third, just wanting to increase their presence and technology and show the world what they have to offer as far as the technological advancements that their companies have come up with, specifically in the sustainable industries.

Clint O'Neal:

As well as the theme of doing business in Arkansas in the coming years, right?

Olivia Womack:

Exactly. Yes, every one of them.

Clint O'Neal:

Right. Well, Hugh, we met with a lot of companies, but we also had some additional meetings. Tell us about those.

Hugh McDonald:

Yeah, in South Korea we met with South Korean American Chamber of Commerce, or the AmCham as they call it. A great, great place to connect. We're becoming a member of that organization, upgrading our membership I guess, because we'll be back. Great place to, again, connect with Korean companies, also it's a great place for Arkansas companies who want to invest and grow their companies into South Korea as well. So, more to come on that.

Also, an organization called KITA, Korea International Trade Association. The governor signed a memorandum of understanding with them that her father had signed in 2004, so it's kind of neat to see father-daughter signing the same MOU 20 years later. But this is equivalent to Korea's largest industry organization, and so making the relationships there and having all those people know that we're interested in South Korea and investing there, as well as them investing in Arkansas. So, really fruitful discussions.

Also in Japan, organization called Japan External Trade Organization, JETRO. Met with them, signed an MOU with them, as well as we spent a time, actually the governor and myself and Neal Jansen gave short presentations about Arkansas to the organization called Keidanren, which is really sort of the equivalent, I guess, of the US Chamber of Commerce in Japan. So again, great contacts, good exposure of governor and the state of Arkansas and the opportunities here and the pro-business focus that we have. So again, very fruitful and productive discussions.

Clint O'Neal:

Well, as Olivia mentioned, we had a lot of southern hospitality, both the hospitality that we felt in both South Korea and Japan. We were joined by friends for a lot of great meals, we had a meeting with President Yoon in South Korea, we had a meeting with one of the governors, Governor Lee in the capital city of Andong a few hours ride from Seoul. We had a lot of interesting experiences.

A serious trip, a full itinerary, but we're going to move into a segment of talking a little bit about meals and about our favorite experiences. So, let's start with favorite meal. It could be either because of the food, because of the setting, because of the company. Olivia, what was your favorite meal?

Olivia Womack:

I would say for the experience, my favorite meal was in Japan. One of the companies that we met with invited us to their guest house for a very traditional Japanese dinner, and so it was just a very cool experience with the table kind of sunken into the ground, people serving us this nine course meal of very small little plates. Very well plated, beautiful meal. As far as the food goes, I don't know that that was my favorite, because I don't eat seafood, and it was a lot of seafood, but for the experience and the cultural significance, that was a really special meal.

Hugh McDonald:

You did a great job that night though.

Olivia Womack:

Thank you, thank you. I learned how to keep my poker face.

Clint O'Neal:

Hugh, what about you?

Hugh McDonald:

Well, that was probably the favorite meal that Olivia just mentioned in Japan. Another great meal was one lunch we had, this was in South Korea in one of the provinces in the southern part of South Korea. They like their three martini lunch, but it's in the form of rice, wine and sake. So we had a good time, and again, very friendly folks, and they've talked about coming to Arkansas to spend some time. So, we'll certainly go back to visit our friends in South Korea.

Clint O'Neal:

Very good. Well, a lot of you know that I have dietary restrictions, but not on this trip. I couldn't pick two countries that I was more excited about going to for the food aspect than Japan and South Korea, so that'd be a tough question. As Hugh and Olivia both know, I spent a lot of time raving about this roadside convenience store stop where I had some dolsot bibimbap, and I could go for that again right now for sure.

Hugh McDonald:

I'd tell you that some of the meals, I wasn't sure what we were eating, but most of it was good.

Clint O'Neal:

It was.

Hugh McDonald:

Yeah.

Olivia Womack:

Surprising, it was good.

Clint O'Neal:

Okay, last question for both of you. Of all the places that we traveled, where would you most like to go back and spend more time with friends or family? Hugh, you want to start?

Hugh McDonald:

Well, both places, frankly, they're fascinating. Seoul is a fascinating city. Busan in the southern part of South Korea was an amazing city, beautiful city next to the ocean, but Japan, Olivia mentioned it earlier, we were there three days, three nights, and not a single piece of litter. Amazingly clean, well-planned, well-organized city. We'd certainly go back, both of them are on our lists.

Clint O'Neal:

Olivia?

Olivia Womack:

I'd have to say Tokyo. I think I would love to go back to any of the places that we visited, but we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time in Tokyo, so didn't get to do a lot of sightseeing. I think that's such a history-rich city, and a lot of cultural elements that I would love to spend some more time getting to know and understand, so probably Tokyo. Clint, what about you?

Clint O'Neal:

Tough decision. Yeah, I love both of the countries, had such a great experience. My wife was a little jealous that I got to go back to South Korea and she didn't, so if we ever get a chance to take a trip there, love to spend more time. I would go all the places we went. Time in Seoul, time in Busan, time in Andong. It's such a beautiful country, and then while you're so close, spend time in Japan as well. Great trip all around.

I've been talking today with Olivia Womack, AEDC Director of Business Development, and Hugh McDonald, Arkansas Secretary of Commerce. Olivia and Hugh, thanks for joining the podcast today.

Hugh McDonald:

Thank you.

Olivia Womack:

Thank you.

Clint O'Neal:

You've been listening to the Arkansas Inc. Podcast. This is Clint O'Neal, Executive Director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. You can subscribe to the Arkansas Inc. Podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and other podcast apps. For more information about AEDC and to sign up for our monthly newsletters, visit arkansasedc.com, and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, X, and YouTube. Thanks for listening.

Olivia Womack: