CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Imagine creating your own product and then selling it around the world. That’s reality for Dwight Pauley the co-owner of RockyBrook Sinkers out of Morgantown.
RockyBrook was one of 52 West Virginia companies honored by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Thursday at the state Culture Center at the Governor’s Commendation for International Market Entry awards.
The event honored companies that have successfully exported to a new country in the past year.
Pauley and his son run RockyBrook and produce a patented limestone sinker. They started out selling around the region and then last year, they took their product to ICAST, the international trade show for fishing products. It was a major success. Pauley said not only was there interest from all across the country but from all across the world.
“The first was Canada. The second was Russia, actually, and then Japan. Then we’ve had some other calls,” said Pauley.
Selling their sinkers in three foreign countries has expanded the company’s horizons.
“It’s a start for us. It’s nothing to brag about yet. We’re right at that beginning stage,” said Pauley.
In 2012, West Virginia exports totaled $11.3 billion. Tomblin said Thursday it’s significant revenue for the state.
“The thing about exports, that’s new money coming back into our economy in West Virginia to be turned over and over,” according to Tomblin.
He added It demonstrates the state’s ability to successfully compete in the global marketplace. Tomblin said you might be surprised at just what the state is exporting.
“Everything from medical equipment, aerospace equipment, china,” said Tomblin. “It’s a whole array of products that these 50-some companies are exporting around the world.”
From Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, Austria to Uruguay, West Virginia companies are expanding across the globe. In fact, Pauley hopes to add Australia to the list of places his sinkers are sold this year.