Partnership targets high-growth sectors
Charlotte Business Journal - by Ken Elkins Staff writer
The Charlotte Regional Partnership is ramping up its economic-development efforts by pursuing a five-year plan designed to promote job growth through business expansions and the recruitment of new industry.
The newly developed Regional Vision Plan calls for the partnership to enlist the help of private industry, government agencies and area universities to boost the local economy.
"We were missing an opportunity to collaborate," says Ronnie Bryant, partnership president and chief executive.
In putting the plan into effect, the partnership is forming three action teams to study how to create jobs in particular high-growth industries. The teams will focus on the sectors that planners believe can provide the quickest job growth: manufacturing, technical services and tourism.
The teams will be formed by July, Bryant says.
The consultants who prepared the plan reviewed a range of economic-development surveys conducted in the Charlotte region in recent years.
They also conducted focus groups involving about 100 local leaders, executives, educators and government officials.
"We were able to develop a vision for the region and move toward identifying targets for future growth," Bryant says.
Speaking at a focus-group session, Tom Nelson, National Gypsum Co. president and chief executive, compared the 16-county region to a corporation with multiple business units.
"Each business or county taps their individual strengths but also must work together to maximize economic growth," he says.
The N.C. General Assembly allocated $250,000 for the study that led to the five-year plan. And another $250,000 is available from the state to implement the findings, Bryant says.
The partnership is a public-private organization that markets the Charlotte region for economic development.
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