1 / 2

Officials celebrate the ribbon cutting of the new World Trade Center Utah extension office at the Utah Valley University Business Resource Center on Thursday, April 29, 2021.

Courtesy of Utah Valley University

2 / 2

Miles Hansen, the president and CEO of World Trade Center Utah, speaks to the crowd at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the World Trade Center Utah's new extension office at the UVU Business Resource Center in Orem, Utah on April 29, 2021.

Courtesy of Utah Valley university

❮ ❯

Officials with the World Trade Center Utah and Utah Valley University cut the ribbon on Thursday to mark the grand opening of an extension office on campus.

The office is expected to provide Utah County companies with access to global business knowledge and help, with the goal of having Utah Valley companies expanding business domestically and abroad.

The World Trade Center Utah has existed for 15 years, but this extension office will be the first of its kind in the state.

“The reason why we are partnering with UVU today is because of the phenomenal leadership here at UVU,” said Miles Hansen, CEO & president of World Trade Center Utah. “UVU is focused on getting things done and that’s what we like to do. We don’t like to have conversations, we don’t like to have meetings for the sake of meetings, we focus in like a laser on helping Utah companies grow. At UVU, we have a great partner in doing that. We are excited to formalize this relationship, to open this extension office, and to use that to help us grow companies here in Utah County.”

According to Hansen, international trade is responsible for nearly one in four jobs in Utah, with 85% of the exporters for the state being small businesses. He continued, saying that international sales add $5 billion in revenue to small businesses in the state as well.

The state’s economy is built on small businesses, and Hansen said the extension office will benefit those small businesses.

He said Utah County is the economic engine for growth in the state, making it important to build relationships with Utah Valley University and the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The overall goal for the new office is to lower the barriers to growing globally, in turn helping local businesses.

“Companies that engage globally, they grow quicker, they create jobs quicker, those jobs are higher-paying jobs, and those jobs are far more resilient in economic downturns,” Hansen said. “Because of how internationalized our economy is, we are seeing the benefits of that resiliency as we look at how strong the state has come through the pandemic over the past 12 months.”

Curtis Blair, the president and CEO of the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce, spoke to the resiliency of businesses with a global foothold. He once was a business owner in Utah County and used the World Trade Center Utah to help expand.

This expansion for his company proved to be critical, with the business continuing to move as a result during the 2008-2009 recession.

During the ceremony, he said that the partnership with UVU and the World Trade Center Utah assembles all of the best talents in Utah Valley.

There will be a research component to the office that will involve the student base, with a tremendous benefit to the business community. This involves students gaining real-world experience that will help them gain experience to get hired following graduation.

UVU President Astrid Tuminez added that student internships, apprenticeships, projects and jobs will come out of the new office on campus.

“What excites me is helping students at some scale, not 10 students but thousands and when you help thousands you are helping tens of thousands of family members and neighbors,” Tuminez said during the ceremony. “When you help them, you’re helping the next generation as well.”

With regards to local businesses taking the next step into the global market, Blair said that it might be scary to some. With that risk, comes some great potential though.

Through the World Trade Center Utah, there will be trade missions, introductions and resources available to help those businesses get the hand of taking their business international.

“I think diversity is critical and whether it is a local recession, a national crisis, an international pandemic, having networks and relationships beyond the local community can help stabilize and nourish businesses,” Blair said. “We talked about it today, Utah Valley is on the world stage. We are definitely in the nation’s eye as the fastest-growing state, the friendliest state to do business, and the best county to be an entrepreneur. We are really at the crossroads of a lot of great things and the next natural step is to bring our businesses to a global perspective and contribute there.”

The office is planned to be staffed by a full-time employee as well as UVU faculty and students under the direction of the World Trade Center Utah.