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Williamston, NC   (July 16, 2003)  Martin County Economic Development Corporation officials have gone international to land their latest client. PAW, Ltd., a Polish manufacturer of artistic tissue table and beverage napkins. PAW, Ltd., has formed a U.S. subsidiary corporation named Carolina Design Napkins Corporation and will market the napkins from Martin County. 

PAW is one of the top three leading artistic napkin manufacturers in Europe. The company currently exports its products to Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States through distributors.  

“For almost five years PAW napkins have been sold in the United States through distributors, said Waldemar (Val) Albrecht, president of Carolina Design Napkins Corporation. “We are now marketing our napkins directly in the United States to give our customers better service.”

Carolina Design Napkins will offer three-layer napkin products in various patterns of up to eight colors. The company will introduce more than 500 product choices and will also be able to customize a special collection.

One such special collection will feature a napkin for the First Flight Centennial Celebration being designed for retailers along the Outer Banks. The company also will be able to manufacture napkins with company logos later this year. 

The company has reached a distribution agreement with Martin Enterprises to ship the napkins to stores in the U.S. Martin Enterprises, located in Williamston, is a community rehabilitation program for adults with developmental disabilities and other challenges.  Their focus is vocational training and community job placement.  The first shipment of napkins was delivered to Martin Enterprises last week via a cargo container shipped from Europe to the Norfolk Port. 

“It is exciting for Martin Enterprises to be able to support an international company with its distribution from the states,” said Becky Renn, executive director for Martin Enterprises. “We hope this venture will lead to our organization being able to support future economic development projects with other international companies.” 

PAW was introduced to Martin County through a European marketing consultant with North Carolina’s Northeast Partnership, a regional economic development organization serving 16 counties in Northeast North Carolina. 

"The Martin County EDC's aggressive recruitment efforts continue to bear fruit.  By paving the way for PAW to distribute its unique products in the U.S., the County is positioning itself for a manufacturing facility in the future," said Northeast Partnership Chairman Jack Runion. "We believe there are many more opportunities like this for Martin County and Northeast North Carolina," Runion added. 

Jim Ward, Martin County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director hopes this project will begin reversing the trend that has seen the loss of jobs to other countries. “If we are able to support foreign companies with establishing U.S. subsidiary companies, we will be the first in line to build their U.S. manufacturing plant,” said Ward. 

While he realizes that this is a unique marketing approach to replace the loss of traditional industries in the region, Ward believes it is worth the time and effort. 

“Martin County competes daily with counties in 49 other states that want the same thing -- jobs and investment,” Ward said. “To be successful in our regional efforts to locate companies here, we must approach economic development with creativity and the Carolina Design Napkins project is one of the projects our board is embracing to sustain Martin County’s future.” 

Will Martin County become the home of major international companies’ investments? Only time will tell if the project is successful but Martin County officials point to Carolina Design Napkins as being an effort that should be involved in the county’s mix of recruiting new industries to the region. In the meantime, Carolina Design Napkins available in stores in the U.S. will be stamped with a Williamston, USA address.