VOLUME 24 NUMBER 21 ■ GSABUSINESS.COM
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NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2021 ■ $2.25
Chamber fosters Belgian tech cluster in Upstate By Molly Hulsey
A loss for manufacturing
Industry advocate Chuck Spangler dies. Page 6
Cross continental relationships Clemson and Washington students paired up to improve aerospace workforce. Page 10
Return to the sea
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mhulsey@scbiznews.com
hile almost all of South Carolina’s trading partners saw a dip in S.C. exports in 2020, those containers headed to Belgium — the fifth largest export partner based on value — were still going strong. The European nation received about $1.4 billion in goods from the Palmetto State in 2020, according to data from the U.S. International Trade Database. A few years ago, Belgium surpassed the United Kingdom as
an S.C. import partner and trails only Germany, Canada, China and Mexico. And now, Yves Ghys, the newly appointed Belgian Chamber ambassador to the Southeast and head of Greenville’s Pozyx, says the pandemic has brought even more active interest from Belgian companies looking Ghys to do business in the state. Ghys said he and the chamber team have already launched negotiations with several
LIVE AGAIN S.C. Manufacturing Conference and Expo returns – in person – to Greenville Convention Center See story on Page 9
Carnival Cruise Line says it will again call on Port of Charleston. Page 3
Westward expansion
Partners make growth plans starting with Clemson restaurant. Page 11
INSIDE
Leading Off........................... 2 SC Biz News Briefs................. 3 C-Suite................................. 4 At Work................................11 Viewpoint............................ 15
Conference Preview
After a year in Charleston and a year online, the S.C. Manufacturing Conference and Expo returns to Greenville. Inside
Belgian companies planning to announce a new presence this year. These new arrivals will join some of the largest employers in the Upstate that happen to be Belgian-owned: AGFA Healthcare Corp., Solvay Carbon Fibers and Composite Materials and TVH Parts Co., according to Commerce Department data. “We are trying to build a solid base for a Greenville technology hub,” Ghys said. “And even more, a Belgian technology hub. We are currently talking at all levels, including the Pozyx board members and investors, since See CHAMBER, Page 6
Call center reverses work-from-home trend, eyes Greenville By Molly Hulsey
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mhulsey@scbiznews.com
ranscom, a 30,000-employee call center company, was at the vanguard of the work-from-home trend long before COVID-19. And like so many call centers over the past few decades, the Stockholm-based firm withdrew its brick-and-mortar presence in the United States. But all that started changing. Fast. Faster than the traditional outsourced customer service troubleshooting session, the company might argue. After the company severed it link to public investors in 2017 and began to grow in 2018, Transcom began to realize the competitive advantage of having American customer service professionals to take care of American customers. As e-commerce and high-tech queries continue to mushroom, so has the demand for more complex customer service relations. “There are companies within our industry that have grown as much as 30% year over year,” said Donald Berryman, See CENTER, Page 8