Attention! Attention! Wanted: Board Certified US Physician

Do you get tired of the cold winter? Want to be somewhere warm and have travel expenses paid (for you and a spouse!)? Does this scenery look appealing to you? 

My China client is located in Guangzhou, China. If you haven't had the luxury of visiting China, It's beautiful and warm this time of the year! My client has a medical tourism business, so the working environment is better than most hospitals a US physician is typically working in.

We are seeking a board certified US physician who seeks an exciting opportunity and wants to work at a warm place for a change. The assignment is 6-12 weeks depending on the physician's availability. We will pay round trip airline ticket, food and hotel stay. The amount of expenses covered will be depending on the length of time that is committed.

If you are interested, please contact Quinn Place at qplace@overseasbridges.com or ZG Worldwide at zukunftgroup@gmail.com. Only US licensed physicians will be considered. 

Hello From the Mine (a Coal Mine….!)

Greetings!

I’m on the move again, spreading the word about ZG Worldwide and learning more about the latest  needs among local businesses. Last week, I took part in a Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce tour of the Viper coal mine north of Springfield, near Williamsville.  Twelve of us from the chamber went into this working mine.  Wow, what an experience! See below for a picture taken in the coal mine (I’m on the left!). 

The mine is owned by Arch Coal Company, one of the nation’s largest coal mining companies.   Illinois has still has huge coal deposits that will last for many years.  The Viper Mine, with about 300 well-paid workers, is one of the area’s major employers and economic generators.   Much of the mine’s coal production is purchased by the municipally-owned City Water Light & Power utility of Springfield, IL.  There are some other local markets.

What first impressed me when we got to the mine’s administration building was its cleanliness.  We had to undergo a safety training program before we were allowed to enter the mine.  There is a great focus on training at this facility, and they are very proud of their excellent safety record.  Outside the mine there is a 5.5 mile long conveyor belt that transports the coal from the mine portal at Williamsville to the coal processing plant to the north.

We put on our safety gear and descended 300 feet into the ground on vehicles that entered the mine by means of a long ramp.   Once in the mining area we got to see the machinery at work.   There was less dust in the air than I expected where the coal was being mined because of the water sprayed on the mine walls to keep the particulate matter down.  Coal is mined there 24 hours a day.

Arch Coal of St. Louis has asked the Logan County Zoning Board of Appeals to reclassify 322 acres of agricultural land to allow for the expansion of an existing coal-waste storage facility, called a coal-slurry pond.  Local citizens are concerned about the long-term effects on air and water quality.  If the expansion is not allowed, the mine would have to close, resulting in the loss of 300 jobs. 

Special thanks to Arch Coal Company for this great learning opportunity!

ZG Worldwide is on the Move!

As ZG Worldwide continues to grow and expand, great headway has been made to ensure ZG Worldwide is on the front lines of emerging business trends. In October this year, President and founder, Lothar Soliwon, traveled throughout the Midwest region to various International Business Summits. These meetings & seminars in Chicago, Champaign and St. Louis enabled ZG Worldwide leadership to establish key connections, obtain competitive data on emerging issues and needs of businesses & allow other business leaders to learn about ZG and our respective business model.

In Chicago, there was an exciting speaker series event sponsored by the British-American Business Council of Chicago. The speaker, James Guyette, CEO of Rolls-Royce Aerospace, focused his lecture on the luxury car business and dictated their respective blueprint as one of the world’s largest producers of aircraft engines (It’s interesting to note that they divested themselves of the luxury car business to BMW). James Guyette highlighted that Rolls-Royce Aerospace has several manufacturing plants in the United States and although they have a large factory in Indianapolis, there are no manufacturing plants in Illinois. Guyette further highlighted that Rolls-Royce Aerospace has many employment opportunities for highly skilled manufacturing workers & a competitive apprentice programs to obtain and train qualified personnel.

Also in October, in Champaign, IL, a seminar highlighting Foreign-Trade Zones at the Small Business Development Center was a lucrative event. Key speakers included Sally Hanley, Director of Business Development for Foreign-Trade Zone #114 in Peoria, IL, and Robert Rosario, Foreign Trade Zone Administrator for Rockwell manufacturing in Champaign.

For those readers who don’t know, a Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZs) is an area geographically inside the United States but legally considered outside its customs territory; it is specially designated and secure, operating under U.S. customs supervision. FTZs are established to encourage and expedite U.S. participation in international trade, to expedite exportation of domestic goods with foreign and domestic content, and to defer payment of duties until goods enter into the commerce of the U.S.  There are eight Foreign-FTZ Trade Zones in Illinois and some subzones. 

The top industries using FTZs are automotive, petroleum, computers/electronic equipment, machinery/equipment and supplies, and pharmaceutical.  The typical FTZ does a significant volume of imports as well as re-export of foreign merchandise.   There are a number of administrative complexities involved that have to be looked at closely to determine whether or not a company is a good candidate to operate in a FTZ.

And finally, to end October, the 2014 International Business Summit in St. Louis was an exciting summit.   Rubin Brown, an accounting and management consulting company and an independent member of Baker Tilley International sponsored the event. Baker Tiley representatives from Brazil, China, Germany, Ireland, and Mexico gave presentations on doing business in their countries.  Steve Burrow, former CEO of the International Division and Asia Business Unit of Anheuser-Busch International, gave a presentation on the cultural considerations in doing business in China.  While St. Louis is nowhere near the size of Chicago, many local companies are doing vibrant global business.  Key contacts were made with many leaders who are involved with various levels of international trade.

Contact ZG Worldwide for additional information.