GWC brings Wabash County to the world at SelectUSA 2024

Tenille Zartman, president and CEO of Grow Wabash County, recently returned from attending the 2024 SelectUSA Investment Summit in National Harbor, MD, where she was joined by Wabash Mayor Scott Long and Sarah Delgadillo, director of international affairs.

During this four-day trade show, Zartman, Long, and Delgadillo met with dozens of international companies eager to relocate or expand their operations into the United States. The group also met with foreign dignitaries, consuls general, site selectors, contractors, business organizations, representatives from the state of Indiana, and many partners that play an integral part in business development relations.  

Members of the regional economic development organization, Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, were also in attendance in the adjacent booth to promote northeast Indiana as a region to prospective business leads.

This is the third year that Grow Wabash County has had a presence at this annual trade show, and it proved to be a record year for both Grow Wabash County and the event itself. There were over 5,000 people in attendance, representing 96 international markets, with Grow Wabash County being one of over 1,000 economic development organizations in attendance.

"This year’s SelectUSA Investment Summit was an incredible opportunity for Grow Wabash County to showcase what makes our community an ideal location for international businesses. The connections we made and the interest we garnered reaffirm our commitment to fostering economic growth and attracting new investments to Wabash County," Zartman said.

The SelectUSA Investment Summit trade show is one of the many practices that Grow Wabash County employs as part of its larger Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) strategy to attract companies that best fit the values, goals, and resources already in Wabash County. This strategy includes carefully identified SMART Goals and target industries to give Wabash County the best competitive edge in the arena of business development and attraction.

In recent years, this FDI strategy has resulted in exciting opportunities for investment in Wabash County, including the establishment of the Bionutrients Ag LLC, set to begin production in their Wabash plant later this year.

In an effort to capitalize on the relationships built between these international companies and Wabash County, Grow Wabash County will be continuing these conversations for several months with the intention of hosting some of these prospects for site visits to take the next exciting steps toward breaking ground and welcoming even more companies, jobs, and investment into Wabash County.