Mississippi is an attractive place for corporate investment. Find out why

• A number of companies headquartered overseas call Mississippi home and continue to invest heavily in their operations in the Magnolia State. More could be on the way.

Mississippi’s business climate is helping the state shatter expectations, especially in the international arena. The small state with less than three million residents can count some of the largest multinational companies among its growing list of corporate investors.

While state leaders have touted new investments in recent years, such as the $10 billion investment in AWS data centers, foreign-based companies have long employed thousands of Mississippians and poured millions of dollars into the state’s economy.

A number of companies headquartered overseas call Mississippi home and continue to invest heavily in their operations in the Magnolia State.

Upwards of 15,000 Mississippians are employed in the automotive sector. Notable names in the industry with plants in Mississippi are Nissan, Toyota and Yokohama. All have made hefty investments in their Mississippi operations and created thousands of jobs in the communities where they are located, said Bill Cork, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, the state’s economic development agency.

The state aerospace industry is also a magnet for foreign direct investment. The United Kingdom’s Rolls-Royce tests aircraft engines at Stennis while France’s Airbus Helicopters produces light utility helicopters in Columbus. Israel’s Stark Aerospace is a leading defense manufacturer located in Columbus and electrification tech company ABB and heavy equipment manufacturer Liebherr, headquartered in Switzerland, have announced major investments in their Senatobia and Tupelo facilities, respectively.

In the food and beverage sector, Ajinomoto Foods and Calbee, both headquartered in Japan, are finding great success in Mississippi.

On the Gulf Coast, Calgon Carbon of Japan recently celebrated a $185 million expansion, and Germany’s PCC GulfChem recently announced it was investing $540 million to do business with The Chemours Company in Harrison County.

High-level Mississippi officials and business leaders traveled this summer to the Paris Air Show and Morocco to attract even more new foreign investments.

As for what is driving multinational companies to a small southern state, Cork said there is not one incentive that attracted foreign-based companies but rather a multitude of perks that companies find attractive.

“We offer a powerful mix of competitive advantages that global companies find compelling,” he said.

Often what attracts domestic companies, international companies also find hard to resist.

That “powerful mix,” Cork said, starts with a governor who is pro-business and works to implement pro-business policies designed to help companies succeed, a nod to Governor Tate Reeves’ focus on economic development.

Other ingredients in the mix for prospective corporate investors are low tax rates, affordable land and some of the lowest energy costs in the U.S. Mississippi’s 5 percent corporate tax rate ranks it the seventh best in the nation.

Perhaps one of the biggest draws to foreign companies is Mississippi’s speed to market.

“We also are proud of our speed to market, which is a top—if not the top—priority of companies looking to locate or expand here,” Cork said.

He explained that through the Site Development Grant Program, shovel-ready sites are prepared in industrial parks across the state and offer a virtually seamless permitting process.

“We take care of a lot of the behind-the-scenes work on the front end to help ensure companies meet critical timelines so they can go from investing money to making money fast,” Cork said.

Mississippi has also built a world-class workforce development ecosystem with AccelerateMS and state community colleges at the helm. Working with these companies, the network can deliver precisely the training these companies need for their employees. The workers are custom trained to meet unique needs, Cork said.

The state’s location is also an attention getter for companies looking to make Mississippi their home.

“We are in a prime location for growth, and more and more foreign leaders are realizing in droves that a Mississippi location will allow them to get goods to U.S. and international markets in record time. Our highway system, rail, airports, waterways, and ports are all assets that are instrumental in successfully recruiting new businesses to the state,” Cork said.

He continued by saying that since Governor Reeves has been in office, his administration has reduced red tape and barriers that hinder economic growth, and lawmakers have played a key role with their support.

“The Mississippi Flexible Tax Incentive, or MFLEX, is now the state’s marquis incentive, and it’s what companies are leaning more heavily toward as opposed to more traditional incentives. It gives unmatched flexibility to structure deals that make the most sense for each project that comes our way,” Cork said.

With all the ingredients mixed together, Cork believes Mississippi has created the perfect business environment for potential corporate investors.

“We might be a small state, but we can certainly compete right alongside our larger competitors,” he said.