World Trade Week
The West Michigan community’s strong sense of cooperation not only creates a great quality of life, but also fosters a flourishing regional business center. One facet of this collective effort is World Trade Week, hosted annually by the Van Andel Global Trade Center at Grand Valley State University.
“World Trade Week is an important opportunity to bring the West Michigan business community together to talk about timely and pertinent issues that we face in the global business arena,” says JSJ’s CEO Nelson Jacobson, who co-chaired the 2007 event. “Our community is unique and fortunate to offer local companies this tremendous range of resources. In just a few hours, you have exposure to best practices, can share knowledge and benefit from professional guidance on how to keep our business community vital in a global economy.”
The collaborative event provides an agenda of speakers on two tracks: small business and life science. Keynote presenters set the tone with key global business trends, while prominent business panelists spark discussion on how West Michigan firms can work together to capitalize on emerging opportunities.
“The key benefit of World Trade Week is helping small businesses position themselves to grow in a global environment,” says Nelson. “Our goal is to provide a structured way to get together and learn from each other. West Michigan is an open and cohesive business community. That‘s why it’s worth the investment of our time and dollars. We’re all richer and stronger because of it.”
JSJ’s CEO Nelson Jacobson welcomes 2007 World Trade Week participants. Nelson served as co-host for the “Global Trends” conference, which offered two tracks: small business and life science (below). Chuck Saylor, president and founder of izzydesign, JSJ’s cool, affordable office furniture and seating business, presents “Leveraging Global Partnerships” at the 2007 World Trade Week event (below).
