AmiSight 11/10: Tariffs, Turmoil, and a Missing Customer: Inside a Global Lumber Business

On this episode of AmiSights, we sit down with John Yohanan, owner of Gulf South Forest Products, a Fort Lauderdale lumber export company. John started his first business building dorm lofts in college. He later joined his dad’s company after Hurricane Andrew and bought him out in 2013. Today he sells into 40 to 50 countries with a lean team. He talks about doing business in Cuba and China, losing major revenue to tariffs, and pivoting into steel transmission poles for the US grid. He also shares how he finances growth through EXIM, how he is preparing his sons to take over, and the projects he is most proud of.

“A company that made coffins turned his business into a shelter making business. We shipped the wood. We got people out of tents and into shelters. Those shelters are still around today, and some have turned into houses.”

Today’s Episode Covers

• How John built a global lumber export business and bought out his dad

• Navigating tariffs, geopolitical risk and lost markets with a recession proof mindset

• Using EXIM credit insurance and smart financing to fund international growth