LYNCHBURG (WSLS 10) - Governor Terry McAuliffe is shining the spotlight on a local Lynchburg business. AMTI Microwave Circuits now has more than a dozen trade connections in Canada. This means hundreds of thousands of dollars are being invested into the Hill City company.
It all starts with a chip. It's a chip that keeps communication frequencies from intertwining. It's been a successful sell among international military and medical markets, most recently in Canada.
A state program known as the Virginia Economic Development Partnership's International Trade Division helped ATMI sell its product to Canadian companies.
"They set up trade missions from Virginia that will go for maybe one weeks or two weeks at a time and visit companies that we'll set up interview with while we're there," said Keith Mascher, the co-owner of ATMI.
VEDP is a two-year trade program that provides tools like international business connections, guidance on how to form and continue international relationships and funding to create those priceless connections.
"Going to Vancouver for a company our size over here on the East Cost of the United States it's a bit of a trip," said Mascher.
It's a trip worth the expense. Now, ATMI has 15 business connections and 15 percent of its sales come from Canada, that's hundreds of thousands of dollars going into the Lynchburg economy.
"We want to retain the business that we have, we want to grow the business that we have and that could mean expansions, could mean additional jobs, and could mean higher paying jobs," said the City's Economic Development Director Marjette Upshur.
The company's founder told us plans to hire more workers and expand its operations is already being discussed.
"We have to start going south a little bit," said ATMI's CEO and Founder Larry Hatch. "We don't currently do a lot in South America. So, I think that's an area we're going to start looking at a little bit more."
It's a continuous effort to grow business.