San Antonio—A Czech Republic company called Okin Business Process Services is planning to establish its U.S. headquarters in San Antonio, TX, if it gets some unspecified incentives from the city and county governments that may be voted on next month.
Okin has already been offered a $6.6 million grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund, an incentive program run by the governor’s office, according to an announcement made today by business development group the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation. The incentives from the city of San Antonio and Bexar County would be on top of that. Okin is based in Prague.
If everything is approved, Okin has told economic development officials it plans to invest $23 million into the U.S. headquarters in San Antonio, which it intends to locate at Brooks City Base, a former military installation that is now a 1,300-acre mixed use development in the southeast part of town. Okin says it’ll bring more than 1,400 jobs to the city, though it didn’t specify the type of work.
Okin was founded in 2004 as a service center operator for telecommunications companies, according to its website. The company started offering support for more services, including anything from data entry and customer support for engineers to consulting on engineering projects. Okin says it is also expanding its services into using emerging technologies, such as automation and artificial intelligence.
Like many local governments around the country, officials in San Antonio use incentives such as cash and tax breaks to draw employers to town. Prior recipients have included startups like Easy Expunctions and tech giants like Hulu. Typically, taking the money requires a company to invest a certain amount of money or make a certain number of hires, which has caused some businesses to skip a deal. For example, Houston drug developer Kiromic turned down $200,000 in a deal that would have required it to move to San Antonio and create at least 20 jobs.
Okin spent two years picking a U.S. headquarters, according to the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation.
