Keidanren Visit Reinforces Ohio’s Value to International Companies

Companies Across the Globe are Investing in Ohio

On October 30, a delegation of Japanese business leaders from Keidanren, an economic development organization based in Japan, gathered in Ohio to strengthen their relationship with Ohio’s business leaders before visiting Washington, D.C. Although the cohort had previously visited 14 other states where Japan holds significant investments, Ohio is the only state the group chose to visit twice.

"The state of Ohio has one of the larger investments with a large number of Japanese companies in a number of years," said Sadayuki Sakakibara, chairman of the Keidanren and senior advisor, of Toray Industries, Inc. "It's a most important state relationship. We want to be better corporate citizens and encourage more investment.”

According to Sakakibara, Japanese companies are fond of Ohio for its favorable business climate and workforce. Ohio has almost 6 million people in its workforce, and more than 200 academic institutions contribute over 170,000 skilled graduates to the talent pipeline every year. Moreover, Ohio is among the top states for business climate, economic outlook, regulatory environment and small business tax climate.

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