When executives at the giant U.S. discount chain Target went looking for a company to supply the store with bags, they contacted Industrias Mike Mike International, a family-run company in El Salvador which has been turning out accessories in leather and nylon for 40 years.
"It wasn't us that called them, they called us," explains Carlos A. Miguel, the son of Mike Mike founder Miguel Elias Miguel. "We're in negotiations right now."
The family, which owns 16 retail outlets in El Salvador along with its production facilities, has its eye on expanding throughout Central America and is looking forward to the proposed Free Trade Agreement between the United States and the region.
"There is a bit of nervousness among the Salvadoran business community that they'll have problems in an alliance with such a powerful economy," says Mr. Miguel Sr. "But others, like ourselves, are very enthusiastic about exporting our products tariff-free to such an enormous market."
