County Is Pursuing European Businesses

Officials Pitch Loudoun In Trip to Germany

By Bill Brubaker (Contact)

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Add one more item to the Loudoun Board of Supervisors’ agenda this spring: deciding whether to spend as much as $250,000 to woo European businesses to the county over the next year.

Chairman Scott K. York (I) says a strong case can be made for doing so.

“We’ve already made some good contacts and developed good leads to attract more European businesses that will be good for Loudoun County,” he said after stepping off a plane from Frankfurt last week.

Tax revenue from new overseas businesses could reduce the burden on Loudoun homeowners, who recently saw their property tax rates jump, York said.

The board chairman was one of six county officials who spent a week in Germany on a mission to attract businesses, market the county as a tourist and convention destination, renew a student exchange program and explore technologies that could make Loudoun schools and government buildings more energy-efficient.

x Though they fanned out to visit several German cities, their focus was Main-Taunus-Kreis, a Frankfurt suburb that in 2006 became Loudoun’s sister county. The trip was partly funded by the Committee for Dulles, a civic group that promotes the Washington region’s largest international airport.

“Our visit was all about building personal relationships,” said Keith Nusbaum, York’s assistant. “We dangled the worm in front of a lot of people, and they responded.”

The group did not return with any firm commitments from German companies to open operations in Loudoun.

“This is a long-term thing,” York said of the recruiting effort, which began three years ago.

About 50 foreign companies already conduct business in Loudoun. That number pales next to the 350 foreign-owned firms in larger, neighboring Fairfax County, which has been wooing overseas businesses for decades.

Fairfax has five economic development marketing offices outside the United States — in Germany, Britain, South Korea, India and Israel. Loudoun has no overseas presence, and that won’t change any time soon, according to York.

“No, I wouldn’t go that far,” he said of the prospect of Loudoun opening an office overseas. “But we could [retain] a person to represent us in another country. Being near the Frankfurt airport, for example, could really open us up to other European markets because there are lots of cheap, short-hop flights from there to other markets. But first, we’ll have to see what the board wants to do.”

And that’s where the $250,000 comes into play.

In March, the board agreed to make that money available for business development, domestic or international, Nusbaum said. But the board did not settle on how the money would be allocated. York said at least some of the money should be spent to recruit international businesses.

Dorri O’Brien Morin, communications and strategic initiatives manager of the county’s Department of Economic Development, called recruiting international firms “an incredibly important investment.” And with the strong euro and weak dollar, European firms have a strong incentive to set up operations in the United States, she said.

She cautioned, however, that European companies don’t decide to open outposts in the United States overnight.

“It’s not a quick return on investment,” she said. “It needs to be done. But we need to set the expectations that it takes a bit longer to get the investment.”

Members of the Loudoun delegation met with several German companies and business groups, including the Frankfurt and Nuremberg chambers of commerce.

According to an e-mail from Beth A. Hain, the county’s economic development business investment manager, the purpose of the trip was to “tell Loudoun’s story to executives, their partners and their membership.”

Loudoun generally sells itself as a community that offers rural and suburban amenities, an educated and entrepreneurial workforce, and easy access to the nation’s capital and a major international airport.

The group also finalized a third visit by German high school students to Loudoun — in September — as part of an exchange program.

“We also were approached by a private technical university and an adult education center to find exchange partners for them,” Nusbaum said. “And the largest hospital in [Main-Taunus-Kreis] is looking to partner with a hospital over here.”

Inova Loudoun Hospital will be approached, he said.

At another stop in Germany, York said he was shown how solar panels conserve energy at a high school. “Is this a possibility for Loudoun schools?” he said, repeating a question. “Anything is a possibility.”

In addition to York, Nusbaum and Hain, the delegation included Cheryl Kilday and Christine Geno of the Loudoun Convention and Visitors Association and Georgia Graves, president of Bridgman Communications in Dulles.

Tagged: Board of Supervisors, Loudoun

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