Manatee County company expands to Europe with location in Belgium
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Bradenton, FL – Steelgate Inc., a Manatee County company that provides storage and inventory management of biomedical specimens for medical research, has opened an office in Belgium and relocated two employees to expand business in Europe, according to Nancy Engel, executive director of the Economic Development Council, Manatee Chamber of Commerce.
Steelgate will replace the two employees in Manatee County and plans to add two more positions by mid-year, said Kate Grayson, Steelgate’s president and CEO. Since late 2008, the company hired a global director of sales and marketing and promoted the company’s facility manager to director of operations and the facility supervisor to facility manager.
“Our expansion, hiring and internal promotions are results of the growing demand for our services in storing and managing inventories of biomedical specimens,” Grayson said. “Europe is a significant research market with Belgium being at the crossroads and in a growth mode. Steelgate has provided services in the United States to its European clients, but being in Europe will help reduce the cost of international shipping and open up business development opportunities in Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.”
“Steelgate’s growth since relocating from New York to Manatee County in 2004 is an encouraging sign for the potential of the biomedical industry in our region,” Engel said. “The company’s European expansion invites new possibilities for focusing the spotlight on Manatee County as a viable home for biomedical businesses.”
The EDC recently facilitated an international trade grant of $1,750 to help Steelgate attend a leading life sciences conference in Europe that unites more than 500 companies from 20 nations, Engel said.