It’s sometimes hard to pick up on this because bad news sells newspapers and drives clicks, but every year the world is getting better. Don’t believe me? Visit www.gapminder.org and see how, over the past 200 years, peoples’ wealth and health has improved dramatically.
Annually, 50-100 million global citizens come out of poverty and average life expectancy continues to increase. With declining birth rates and longer lifespans, 50 percent of the world’s population will be over 50 years old in 30 years. More adult diapers are sold in Japan than diapers for children.
Brookings forecasts that 92 percent of the world’s economic development in the next 10 years will happen outside the United States. With so much business opportunity happening over there, what are you still doing here? Less than 1 percent of U.S. companies export, and of those, most export to only one country, and most of those are either Mexico or Canada.
Attracting foreign direct investment and export revenue is money that goes back into the local economy to improve education, build infrastructure and invest in the future. Growing globally is our region’s next great opportunity to grow wealth.
As an ex-New Yorker with German-Polish roots and a corporate guy who was an expat in Tokyo and Singapore, I’ve been in my global phase for many decades. I started Arizona International Growth Group (AZIGG) six years ago to be a collaborative, learning place to connect with others having global fever.
Now global business is more important than ever. I hope you’ll take the chance to read through this section and learn more about AZIGG, the new Global Chamber and these strategically important opportunities.
