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Of Note
SEL Honored by State Senate
Just three months after it was named
AWB’s Employer of the Year, Pullman-
based Schweitzer Engineering
Laboratories (SEL) was honored by
the state Senate with a resolution
citing the “numerous and admirable
achievements” of the employee-
owned company.
Ke l l y Fu k a i , r e g i o n a l a f f a i r s
representative for SEL, was joined by AWB President Kris Johnson and
Gary Chandler, AWB vice president, government affairs, in the Senate
gallery for the reading and unanimous passage of Senate Resolution 8705.
The Schweitzer family and the company they founded continually
demonstrates “both the resilience of America’s ingenuity and the strength
of its compassion,” said Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, who
sponsored the resolution.
Founded in a garage in 1982 by Edmund O. Schweitzer III, SEL has
grown from six employees to 5,200 worldwide. The company just expanded
its Pullman campus to add as many as 850 employees.
Amazon to Open New Facility in Spokane
After months of speculation, Amazon officially announced in July it
will build a major new fulfillment center near the Spokane Airport. The
600,000-square-foot facility is expected to bring 1,800-3,000 new jobs to
the region, making Amazon one of the largest employers in the region.
The jobs will add to the company’s current Washington state employee
count of 50,000.
“We are excited to open a new, state-of-the-art fulfillment center in
Spokane and to continue innovating in our home state,” said Mark Stewart,
Amazon’s vice president of North America Customer Fulfillment. “We
are grateful to the dedicated local and state officials and teams who came
together to support Amazon in bringing a new fulfillment center to Eastern
Washington.”
Spokane Mayor David Condon and Todd Mielke, CEO of Greater
Spokane Incorporated, were integral in the negotiations to bring the
company’s investment to their community.
“It’s significant for the Spokane community to be home to a company
that is in the top ten list of Fortune 500 companies,” said Mielke. “This
is good news for Spokane. We extend a warm welcome to them and
look forward to demonstrating why this region is a great place to locate
a business. Hopefully they will consider this region for other Amazon
business functions.”
Gov. Jay Inslee also took notice of the announcement, congratulating
Spokane leaders and Washington-born Amazon for their collaboration to
bring jobs and economic opportunity to the region.
The facility will open in late 2019. Job openings in the Spokane facility
will be posted at amazondelivers.jobs.
18 association of washington business
AWB Members Alaffia and Walmart Ink
Distribution Deal
The world’s largest retailer now carries Alaffia, a line
of fair-trade skin and body care products made from
ingredients sourced from one of the world’s poorest
countries.
Tumwater-based Alaffia was started in a garage in
2003 by Olowo-n’djo Tchala and his wife, Prairie Rose
Hyde, who had a big mission: To alleviate poverty and
promote gender equality in Togo, West Africa, Tchala’s
home country, and here at home.
In March, the company announced its largest
distribution deal to date with Walmart. The
partnership means Alaffia will line the shelves of 3,600
Walmart stores nationwide. It also means adding 60
employees in Washington and creating thousands
more jobs for women in West Africa, generating more
support for the company’s empowerment projects.
“Rose and I founded Alaffia to alleviate poverty
and empower women and families in Africa and the
U.S.,” said Tchala in a press release. “This partnership
with Walmart puts more of our fair-trade products in
the homes of U.S. consumers. That means even more
women and children will have access to education,
medical care and the ability to be self-sufficient by
working in Alaffia enterprises.”
AWB President Kris Johnson joined Acting
Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Donald Yamamoto,
Deborah Herron, director of public affairs and
government relations for Walmart, and a host of other
local officials at the announcement.
Alaffia was one of three companies featured in AWB’s
Grow Here campaign last year. The multi-media ad
campaign discussed the importance of free enterprise
to growing economic opportunity in Washington state
and around the world. Learn more about the company
at growherewashington.com/alaffia.