Our View

Our View

Local community would bene_t from mayor’s summit participation

It is common belief that economic development for cities such as West Memphis and Marion depends on months of searching for that one “big” company or industry looking to re-locate or expand, extensive negotiations and the lure of attractive incentives.

Both of Crittenden County’s two largest municipalities spend a fair amount of their community’s tax dollars on so-called economic development directors who go out and solicit new businesses and industries that will create a large number of new jobs.

But, believe it or not, there are other, let’s say, less glitzy methods for cities to grow and improve quality of life issues. One such way is what Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola is doing to partner with the private enterprises to hold the city’s first Mayor’s Summit on Entrepreneurship that is scheduled for this weekend.

We would certainly hope that West Memphis’ Economic Development director Ward Wimbish and Marion’s ED director Mike Demster participate in this summit that could prove to be very valuable to both cities.

As we’ve said, it is certainly always encouraging to hear about the far-and-few between “big announcements” regarding such developments as the expansion of the West Memphis port area and the commercial growth occurring in Marion, but being skilled in lesser grandiose methods, such as what Mayor Stodola is moving forward with is certainly worthwhile.

Little Rock is partnering with the private, nonpartisan Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, Missouri, and the Venture Center in Little Rock to not only encourage entrepreneurs but open up shop but also to help them stay and expand.

What Mayor Stodola is providing in putting together this partnership will not only benefit Little Rock but also any other municipality interested in participating.

That is why, in our estimation, that it is important that our local economic development leaders seriously consider participating.

Stodola said there will be a real array of people, from mayors and IT developers to entrepreneurs who have developed their own businesses and are able to share their experiences with others. It is Stodola’s belief that entrepreneurship is a key component of economic growth in Little Rock as well as areas such as West Memphis and Marion.

Here is exactly why summits such as this are so important. Ninety-five percent of the net new jobs in a city come from businesses that are less than five years old;’ one or two out of 10 startups become successful;’ and one out of 50 become major businesses which began with just three or four people. These are statistics complained by the president of Venture Center which began with a handful of people and now employs 6,000.

The knowledge and experience this company has will be extremely valuable to ED leaders so that they can incorporate this information into a worthwhile program that specifically targets entrepreneurs interested in locating in one of Arkansas’s forward thinking cities.

We particularly took notice that this special event will encourage participating city leaders to create what is called “smart cities. According to promoters, a smart city embraces entrepreneurship and includes it as part of its economic development strategy. These individuals are a viable and necessary component in a city’s economic development plan.

We would certainly be interested to know whether or not our local leaders are concerned enough to attend and what valuable information they bring back to make West Memphis and Marion ideal locations for start-up businesses.