SAN ANTONIO – State and local officials announced Monday OKIN Business Process Services will bring its U.S. headquarters location to San Antonio, creating more than 1,400 new jobs.
OKIN BPS, a Prague-based business processes supplier, will invest nearly $23 million in the city to locate its U.S. headquarters to Brooks, where the announcement occurred.
The company will refurbish two historic buildings to house its preliminary operations until a more permanent home is established on the Brooks campus, according to a news release.
“After a two-year site selection journey, we are delighted to announce that our U.S. headquarters will be located in San Antonio, Texas," said OKIN BPS President and CEO Dan Smith. "We attribute our success as a firm to the passion, ingenuity and courage of the people we hire. We have determined that Texas -- in particular, San Antonio -- shares OKIN’s values with which we will together usher
in continued growth."
OKIN BPS has received a $6.6 million Texas Enterprise Fund grant to bring its headquarters to San Antonio. A local incentive package will be presented to the San Antonio City Council for a vote in November, and the Bexar County Commissioners Court is also considering an incentive package.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott joined Mayor Ron Nirenberg, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff and other city officials to make the announcement.
Nirenberg said OKIN BPS' choosing of San Antonio is a testament to the city's competitive future.
“We are building the right infrastructure, business-friendly environment and workforce that is attracting investment from the world’s most sought-after companies,” Nirenberg said.
District 3 Councilwoman Rebecca J. Viagran said the project will contribute $1.4 billion to the community over 10 years.
"This is just another example of the South San Antonio thriving and growing to be better and bolder than ever before,” Viagran said.
Wolff called the announcement "pretty remarkable."
"This project represents a real bullseye for our economic development strategy," Wolff said. "OKIN BPS is foreign direct investment from a world-class company in a high tech industry for the North American headquarters creating 1,462 well-paying jobs on the Southside at Brooks, a former military installation."
San Antonio Economic Development Foundation President and CEO Jenna Saucedo-Herrera said bringing in OKIN BPS has been in the works for more than a year.
"We're so excited about what this means for San Antonians but also the signal that it sends for other corporations that might be interested in locating somewhere great. San Antonio is ready for them," Saucedo-Herrera said.
The 1,400 jobs coming to San Antonio will include human resources, tech and financial services jobs.
"This is a headquarters operation," Saucedo-Herrera said. "This is high paying, quality jobs for San Antonians. So this is a step in the right direction as we progress towards that strategy of knowledge jobs, knowledge economy jobs. This is a perfect example of that."
According to Abbott, the undertaking is OKIN BPS' largest ever expansion effort and first office to be built outside of Europe.
Abbott is in a contested race for governor. He is running against Democratic candidate Lupe Valdez, a former Dallas County sheriff.