The guest speaker at the Morehouse Economic Development Corporation's annual meeting told attendees area businesses aren't competing only against others in the region.

The winner of the MEDC's most prestigious award is a perfect illustration of that point.

"You aren't competing against Monroe and West Monroe. You're competing against India," said Brent Henley with the Pyramid Group of Lafayette.

For over 200 years, Henley said the American workforce was driven to go to locations where jobs were available. He cited the growth of the American automobile industry in the early 20th century with tens of thousands of people migrating to Michigan to find work. That changed in 1995, now jobs go where the workforce they need is located. As an example, Henley cited a statistic from 2006 which revealed more tax returns for Americans were completed in India than in the United States. Accountants and tax preparation firms in the U.S. make digital copies of the records and send them to India, which has a high concentration of accountants.

MEDC board member Leo Nelson presented the organization's Johnny Parrino Award, given annually to a business owner in the parish who's entrepreneurial spirit echoes that of Parrino. Nelson introduced Tim Daniels of Jireh Plastics and Assemblies, LLC as the 2007 winner of the award.

Daniels -- who drew the name for his company from the Book of Genesis' reference to Jehovah-Jireh, meaning God will provide -- said his plastic injection molding company manufactures and ships parts to Nissan plants across the country and into Mexico. Coming to Bastrop after working as an industrial engineer, Daniels said the first two years "I almost went broke."

But perseverance paid off. Daniel is working three shifts and building a new facility to handle manufacturing for additional partners, including Toyota.

"We might not have made it if it hadn't been for the strong local support team we had," said Daniels. "But we were able to weather the storm, and now ship our parts all over the world."

In his closing remarks, Bastrop Mayor Clarence Hawkins reminded attendees that "we're all economic development officers. I look around this room at the variety of skills that people have and realize how rich we really are."