It’s intentionally misleading; the title, that is. I did find love in Kansas, but specifically with its economy. You did see this coming, didn’t you? Well, colour me surprised when I first touched down in Wichita, the capital city where I’d be spending the next week and a half. I was met by a sign in the baggage collection area that claims Kansas State University generates a statewide economic impact of USD 2.3 billion through its main hub in Manhattan, Kansas. Think of the big city closest to the township or village where you would be more likely to find Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz or Superman’s parents residing.
My thoughts spread to UWI Cave Hill and what theirs might be. Apples for oranges considered, Kansas State’s student body is approximately 2.5 times the size of the Cave Hill campus’s. UWI’s economic impact in Barbados was last quoted by them to hover in the region of USD 162 million, or 14 times smaller than that of Kansas State. Interestingly, a significant portion of Kansas State’s wider economic impact comes from non-resident undergraduate students. As of 2024, those made up approximately 27 percent (or 3,969 students) of the student body, while, in 2023, UWI Cave Hill’s Statistics 2022/2023 publication reveals that the campus’s foreign student enrolment accounted for just 14 percent of the student body (or 774 students).\
There are many different reasons for these gaps. I do not have to mention any, but what is clear to me is that a focus on meaningful industry supporting innovation and a constant intake of foreign students can begin to grow Cave Hill in a way that allows it to positively state its impact on Barbados and the OECS (sans Antigua and Barbuda at this point in time). The reason I lament this point may become very clear before the close of the article. I invite you to carefully read on.
Let’s look at some more apples for oranges (noting that neither are grown significantly in the state). The Kansan (Jayhawker) economy is 26 times that of Barbados on an annual basis. Our population is also 10 times smaller. Apples for oranges! Every time I seek to learn lessons from anywhere new that I visit, I tend to focus on how it could impact my life and that of Barbados positively. So it made sense that given the majority of my time would be spent in Wichita, the capital, I should prioritise its own direct contribution to itself over that at the wider state level. I am sure glad that I did.
I came to learn that Wichita is a USD 46 billion economy or about 9 times the size of Barbados’. The resident population is just about 40,000 more persons than those in Barbados but living in an area that is approximately 3 square miles smaller. Of course, apples for oranges, all surrounding areas are connected by land, unlike what we have to accept in Barbados. This simply means that there is less friction in the movement of people and goods to nearby towns, cities, and Midwestern and Southern states in the USA.
One can never understate the impact of a common sovereignty. Wichita benefits regardless by not being exposed to the general economic inefficiencies brought about by borders, tariffs, and other means of protectionism. It is essentially for this reason that this city, accounting for just 0.12 percent of the USA’s total population, punches above its weight. The city produces 0.16 percent of the country’s total output. It may not look like much, but this city is quite productive.
I was very pleasantly surprised when I found this out during my visit. The reputation that the state carries revolves around being set with a number of relatively prominent university towns along with being a major agricultural hub. Being located in the Midwest and its climate are valuable. Wichita, in particular, is also a major transshipment and dispatch hub, and not for the reasons known to drive this activity in, say, Memphis, Tennessee. Most people don’t know that FedEx is a major contributor to that city’s economy, or that many of the rush deliveries in the world pass through a city that was once the centre of music in the USA.
Logistics is not reputed to be a major industry on its own, but those which do indeed drive the economy in Wichita certainly depend heavily on it. The city is the second-largest Aerospace and Aviation Manufacturing centre in the USA. Furthermore, it has a strong presence in the areas of Advanced Manufacturing, Healthcare Services, and Agricultural Support and Associated Value Added Services. It also has a rapidly growing software development industry—something you might not expect in an agricultural heartland.
A few things are clear. For one, the city sought to differentiate itself within the agricultural industry by not competing with cheaper districts in the more arable regions of the state, the Midwest, and the country. They specialise in services and value added. My mind went to Keeley Holder and her calls for Barbados to truly be a specialist in value-added agricultural production within CARICOM when I learned this.
Koch Industries, one of the leading conglomerates in America, is headquartered in Wichita. The company holds the distinction of being the country’s largest private company, and Charles Koch, the Chairman and CEO, is worth approximately USD 58 billion. From this relatively sleepy city (and trust me when I say that it’s significantly quieter than Barbados), the company commanded global revenue in 2023 of USD 123 billion in industries ranging from chemicals, finance, petroleum, and plastics. It is by no means among the top five in terms of the number of employees in the city, but it has a global headcount of more than 120,000 and is a significant local and state taxpayer.
There are quite a few Barbadian businessmen who are on the path to creating the next Koch Industries. It is my opinion that once they follow how the company was able to overcome its challenges, while factoring in the aforementioned sovereignty issue, perhaps another Barbadian company can dare to be the next Goddards Enterprises.
The US Military is also a major contributor to Wichita's economic activity, underscoring the importance of national government support to smaller cities. But what is even of more interest to me is the prominence of Spirit Aerosystems and Textron Aviation in Wichita. Both businesses are amongst the largest players in global aerospace manufacturing. Spirit Aerosystems commands 21 percent of the global market for non-Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) aircraft parts. Textron, on the other hand, is one of the largest general aviation aircraft and OEM parts manufacturers in the world. Both companies employ a total of 18,000 people, most of whom are city residents.
The common connection between all the aforementioned Wichita-based companies is that while they hire mostly locally or within city limits, they surely have a global focus. They do not cater solely to the local environment. Ironically, those that do are larger out-of-state companies, with the exception of the much-loved Dillons, which is very much like an upscaled version of Popular Supermarkets.