STATE FOCUS | MINNESOTA
Originally from Chicago, Illinois, president at
OZ Lifting Steve Napieralski has been a Minnesota resident for many years and has built a successful crane and hoist business there, and although much of his business is outside the state, he has also seen many opportunities locally. “Minnesota is basically an agricultural state,”
he explains. “We are in the Mississippi River valley and beyond the valley it is all agriculture, but there is some industry in the southeast corner of the state. We are 40 minutes from the Mayo Clinic, which is in a billion-dollar expansion phase, and in the north there are mining operations that rely on lifting equipment.” “We mainly serve customers outside the state,
and they account for around more than 95% of our business, but Minnesota is well located as a distribution hub,” he adds.
Fastenal, a leading distributor of industrial and construction products, including fasteners, tools and supplies, is headquartered in Winona, one the state’s key cities. To the west lies Rochester, the state’s third most populous city after the twin cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. This dynamic city, just 90 minutes south of the Twin Cities and around five hours from Chicago, is home to the Mayo Clinic, which was recently declared the world’s leading hospital for the seventh year in a row in rankings put together by Newsweek. “In terms of the size of impactful sectors, healthcare is a major driver of the economy, and many insurance companies are also based here,” says Sean O'Neil, the senior director of economic development and research at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. “Medical technology, medical devices and key parts of the medical
supply chain are here, and innovative companies like Medtronic and Boston Scientific have a major presence here, too.” The healthcare and medical innovation
ecosystem took root in the state in the second half of the 20th century, and companies such as Medtronic started building a presence there from the 1950s through 1990s. Now, as the state seeks to attract investment in a diverse range of industries, there is growth in data centres and data infrastructure, as the world tries to meet the huge demand created by the ever-growing use of artificial intelligence. “We have some advantages in attracting that infrastructure, which is why it is a growing area,” says O’Neil. “As the US has focused on increasing the production of semi-conductors, we have been a leader in the manufacture of
ochmagazine.com | Winter 2025 41
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87
