Tim Ng knows pigskins, literally inside and out. Spending a couple of weeks observing the operations of one of the world’s largest pigskin processing plants in Taiwan last year was just part of the learning process for Ng. The financial analyst now scouts out new trade opportunities for some of Iowa’s biggest pork producers for C.K. International Ltd.

Founded 25 years ago by Tim Ng’s parents, Bill and May-May Ng, C.K. International is the anchor business of a growing international trade incubator the couple launched a year and a half ago in West Des Moines.

The incubator’s 11,000-square-foot building at 1201 Grand Ave. is now about 50 percent occupied, May-May Ng said. Among its other tenants is the U.S. office for a major Chinese leather manufacturer, Fareast Industrial Leather Co. Ltd.

C.K. International specializes in exporting specialized cuts of pork to Asian markets, as well as vegetables grown in the Western states. Over the past several years, the company has been working with pork producers to develop new pigskin markets in the leather and apparel industries. It has already successfully connected one of the largest U.S. pork producers, Hormel Foods Corp., with Kotai Tannery Co. Ltd. in Taiwan, one of the world’s largest leather manufacturers.

Hands-on

Having the opportunity to participate in a trade mission to China with his parents more than a year ago was “a big deciding factor” in returning to Iowa, said Tim Ng. With an M.B.A. in accounting from the University of Iowa, Ng began his career working for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, and until last summer, had worked as a financial analyst for SalesForce.com in San Francisco.

“One of the things I’ve always wanted to learn was just how to be more hands-on,” Ng said. “The whole career path was modeled after both May-May and Bill’s, where they started in accounting to get that underlying understanding of what’s going on in the business from the back side.”

Prior to launching C.K. International, Bill Ng had worked in corporate accounting roles for Principal Financial Group Inc. and Time Warner Inc. May-May Ng, a former vice president of international accounting for Prudential Insurance Company of America Inc., brought the family to Des Moines in 1991 when Central Life Assurance Co., now part of Aviva USA, recruited her as vice president of accounting.

In addition to expanding business for pork producers, Tim Ng is working to establish a Taiwan-based start-up company to work with Kotai Tannery to export finished leather made from Iowa pigskins back to the United States. On the U.S. side of the trade equation, C.K. International is one of just two companies that Hormel uses to sell its pigskins, the other being Wolverine World Wide Inc., which uses Hormel’s pigskins to make its Hush Puppies brand shoes.

“So we are strategically working on finding new business, to find the right partners who can use Hormel skins,” Ng said. One of C.K. International’s new U.S. customers is Tandy Leather Co., which now offers suede products at its retail stores made of Iowa pigskins that were processed in Asia.

Other deals are in the works, Ng said. “We’ve had a lot of interest from some high-end brands, but nothing is finalized yet,” he said.

In-house experts

Another tenant at the West Des Moines incubator, Active Link Logistics LLC, is an international freight forwarding business that exports more than 1,000 containers per year for its clients, primarily to Asia.

Mylinda Dunsmoor started Active Link Logistics four years ago, after having worked in partnership with C.K. International as a freight forwarder since 1994.

“What makes me successful is that I’m able to be the extension of the transportation or export department of a small business and let them concentrate on their core business,” Dunsmoor said. “May-May has taught me a lot about entrepreneurship, and that’s why I started my own business in 2006.”

Being located at the incubator provides easy access to a wealth of knowledge and experience, Dunsmoor said. “Sitting in this building here you have May-May and Bill, who have been on the export side of things for a very long time,” she said. “That helps out with my growth as well as their growth.”

Not all of her clients are Iowa-based companies, Dunsmoor said. One of her major exporters is located in Illinois, and another is in Minnesota.

“I believe that being a smaller freight forwarder lends itself very well to personalized service to these exporters,” she said. “They are looking for people to be very accurate and detail-oriented on their paperwork, which gets their products through customs.”

Eyes on Mexico

The incubator’s remaining empty spaces are more a reflection of carefully planned growth rather than a symptom of the recession, May-May Ng said.

“We are very selective of who we want to be in this office,” she said. “We have actually turned potential tenants away, because we really want to use this space for people who are educated, have a vision for international business and who are willing to work hard on a long-term basis – not just taking a place in-between jobs.”

Finding a tenant company that specializes in the Mexican market is among her top near-term goals for the incubator.

“I think Mexico is a great, great market for Iowa agriculture,” she said. “We would like to see some more people from not just China but also Southeast Asia, all the way to the Middle East, like Turkey. I think there will be a very big market in Turkey.”

In addition to attracting a mix of more importing and exporting businesses, Ng said she would like to bring in an accounting firm as well as an information technology company to provide in-house expertise.

“Bill and Tim and I are flexible about where our offices are,” she said. “We can go from the first floor to the second floor to the basement. We’re ready to pick up and move our office spaces anytime.”