FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30, 2002

(Printer-friendly version)

For further information, contact:
Lawrence Spinelli (202) 336-8690
Timothy Harwood (202) 336-8744

U.S. SMALL BUSINESS USES OPIC SUPPORT TO EXPAND IN ANGOLA

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A U.S. small business will utilize political risk insurance and financing from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to develop a pump and motor repair operation in Angola that will help the country’s oil industry end reliance on time-consuming overseas repairs and equipment replacement, OPIC President and CEO Dr. Peter Watson announced today.

S&N International, LLC, of Houston will receive $750,000 in OPIC insurance and $495,000 in OPIC financing for the establishment of a pump and motor repair, testing, sales, and distribution business – S&N Pump Africa Lda. – to be operated from a warehouse facility in Cabassango, in Angola’s Cabinda province. The project will service the drilling, production and engineering market segments of the offshore oil industry.

Because there are no local pump repair facilities in the region, S&N Pump Africa will provide immediate local maintenance and repair of pumping equipment, helping to end the costly practice of replacing old equipment with new equipment from overseas or within stocked inventory.  S&N Pump Africa intends to expand into the fresh and sewage water supply industry as infrastructure is developed within Angola and the region.

“This project is beneficial on several fronts: it will generate local employment and facilitate the transfer to Angola of technology essential to the development of its infrastructure – an important step for a nation which has suffered from a long civil war,” said Dr. Watson. “It also enables a U.S. small business to expand its operations in a region, sub-Saharan Africa, which is an OPIC priority and holds much promise for U.S. investors.”

S&N, owned by Karen and David Draper, began in the early 1950's as a small family-owned distribution and service business that supplied equipment to individual homeowners and small community water systems.  It expanded in 1957 to the offshore drilling market by engineering the first electric submersible pump to supply seawater for various needs on a drilling rig. 

OPIC was established as an agency of the U.S. government in 1971. It helps U.S. businesses invest overseas, fosters economic development in new and emerging markets, complements the private sector in managing risks associated with foreign direct investment, and supports U.S. foreign policy. Because OPIC charges market-based fees for its products, it operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to taxpayers.

OPIC’s political risk insurance and financing help U.S. businesses of all sizes invest in more than 150 emerging markets and developing nations worldwide. Over the agency’s 30-year history, OPIC has supported $142 billion worth of investments that have helped developing countries to generate over $11 billion in host-government revenues and create over 673,000 host-country jobs. OPIC projects have also generated $64 billion in U.S. exports and create more than 253,000 American jobs.