Commission chair Mike Jones speaks on Midwest China Hub at SLU
The St. Louis American
February 25, 2010
Rebecca S. Rivas
Saint Louis University student Samuel Cummings happened to be walking through John Cook Hall on campus on Feb. 17 when the Midwest China Airport Hub seminar was about to start.
It came as a surprise, Cummings said, because he had not heard about the seminar in his business classes. But as a student of the John Cook School of Business Center for Entrepreneurship, he knew it would be important to hear representatives of the Midwest China Hub Commission explain their "Big Idea."
The commission chairman is Michael Jones, senior policy advisor to St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley.
The "Big Idea" is to increase trade between China and the Midwest by creating a St. Louis commercial air cargo hub. Last April, the commission established an office in Beijing. Jason Van Eaton, the commission's executive director, said the commission plans to begin flights in fourth quarter 2010.
"It's an ambitious goal, but we can't do it without engaging with businesses throughout the state and region," Van Eaton said.
Relations between China and Missouri have been growing for the past 30 years, said Tim Nowak, executive director of the World Trade Center St. Louis. China is Missouri's third largest international export market, Nowak said. Two years ago, Missouri's exports to China topped $1 billion for the first time ever.
For products to export by air, Nowak said, companies will pay the premium - a premium that can be up to 10 times the shipping cost - for high-value, time-sensitive material. That includes electrical machinery, aircraft, pharmaceutical products, and optical and surgical materials.
All this sparked the young entrepreneur Samuel Cumming's interest, but it was Nowak's talk about the world trade imbalance that made Cummings consider the plan.
"Is the United States going to better level the trade imbalance by China exporting less, or the United States exporting more?" Nowak said.
"It's not going to come from China exporting less - I assure you, it's going to come from the United States finding new markets. That's what the Midwest China Hub Commission is all about."
Cummings, one of the only SLU students in the audience, asked the four-member panel, "I'm about to graduate. What's going to be done to make sure that young entrepreneurs benefit from this type of program? And how can we ensure, on the Chinese side, that they have that same demand for U.S. products?"
As far as the commission is concerned, guaranteeing opportunity is not part of its job, said Michael Jones, commission chairman.
"At this point in my career, I no longer have any patience for folks that want me to guarantee that they are going to be okay," Jones told The American.
"What I will do is to give you a chance to be okay. The young brother, I don't know if he is going to make it or not, but my job is to just give you a chance. It's up to you at that point."
Cummings said that a lack of communication about opportunity contributes to St. Louis' inability to grow.
Cummings was raised in St. Louis and has experienced the gap with "what goes between the north side of St. Louis and the south side," he said.
"We're outdated in how segregated people are. Now that has allowed me to see how businesses from both sides have had different growth paths," Cummings said.
"With something as monumental as this project and with them saying the 'Big Idea,' my perspective is: What's going to happen for those that aren't in the circle?"
Cummings said that more focus on informing businesses from North and South St. Louis should be part of the plan. Jones said the commission will talk to anybody about this project; no group is too small.
"I do get the question: What does this mean for the African-American community?" Jones said.
"My answer grows out of my experience of 30 years' worth of politics and development. The challenges of economic development or development of the African-American community are made greater because of a lack of a dynamic St. Louis economy. It is very difficult for folks from any community that is economically disadvantaged to get traction in the community that's in decline."
Jones added, "I'm never going to be so naive to say that a rising tide lifts all boats, because there's no guarantee to that. But if the tide is not rising, no boats will lift. So the opportunity to do better is a function in the environment in which you find yourself."
Cummings said that if St. Louis wasn't so segregated, there would be more opportunity for growth within the city's own markets. "But everybody's having their own potluck," he said. In the end, the investors and the people at the top will be the sole beneficiaries of the China Hub plan, he said.
Jones said that African-American leaders have to develop a 21st century world view.
"Fifty years ago, you could open a store and your customers all came from around your area. That economy doesn't exist anymore," Jones said.
"If you don't understand the forces that are driving the 21st century, you can't be a success in anything you do. You won't be a successful politician or a small business."
Jones recognizes that 84 percent of all businesses in the United States are small or medium-sized businesses, and the business world is a jungle.
"That notion of how you get protected from competition, it's not going to happen," Jones said.
"In nature, there is a whole range of predators. They all find their niche, that's how they survive. It's a hostile environment. Small wild dogs don't hunt the same thing as lions. Lions will survive because they are bigger and hunt in groups. The folks that emerge are the ones who have figured it out."
