kansas market place
Economic Gardening!
Phillips County has been actively encouraging individuals to start their own businesses. This is a big step for many individuals after being taught in most schools to become a full-time employee in a particular field. We have encouraged this business start-up by providing technical assistance and financial assistance through local and regional programs. We see this as entrepreneurism. There are other levels of being an entrepreneurial business, which is creating growth within the company to expand. This is an area of entrepreneurialism, which many times gets overlooked by development professionals and this process is figured out over time by the business. This atmosphere for our businesses has been changing in Phillips county over the last few years, and especially with the participation of several businesses within the Schallert Bootcamp. This training has inspired its businesses to look at marketing and their businesses in a different way.
In the same manner, a new idea (tool) has been forming over the last year for Kansas. It is new to Kansas, but you will be hearing a lot more about. It is called, “Economic Gardening”! Economic gardening embraces strategies that help grow existing “Second Stage” businesses. Second stage businesses are commonly defined as having these traits: 1) five (5) or more to 100 employees, and 2) gross reciepts of $750,000 dollars to 50 million dollars. Economic Gardening is an innovative entrepreneur-centered economic growth strategy that offers balance to the traditional economic practice of business recruitment, which often is referred to as “economic hunting”.
Phillips County has seen the loss of employees from corporate layoffs and a closing of a major corporate business in 2009 which employed 208 people. Most recently, an out-of-state business wanting to hire at-home employees asked Kansas Commerce to conduct a survey across 33 counties to investigate the availability of workforce. There were four counties (including Phillips) out of 33 counties, which stood out with having a large amount of viable workforce, but for what the corporation needed immediately, the total amount still fell short of the desired application to hire (4 to 1) ratio of which most corporations diligently follow before making a move. This shows a very important point toward development leaders in rural areas. The focus of our time, energy and resources should be spent on start-ups and expansions of existing businesses. This happens when the an entrepreneurial atmosphere is nurtured. Just like a garden needs prepped, tended, watered, and fertilized; so does our businesses need this type of nurturing. Historically, rural businesses feel it is the SMALL vs. LARGE businesses; but this growth method (tool) provides businesses the concept of SMALL into LARGE businesses. When this happens the entire economy is lifted higher and increases in size.
The economic gardening concept was pioneered by Chris Gibbons in 1989 in the city of Littleton, Colorado, a community that is the ensuing 15 years saw a 136 percent increase in new jobs. Whileit was introduced as a demostration program to deal with the sudden erosion of economic conditions following the relocation of the largest employer in the city at that time, it has emerged as a prototype for a rapidly expanding movement to generate truly sustainable economic growth for communities, regions and states.
Network Kansas has formed a statewide economic development task force to assist with the development of a Kansas pilot economic gardening program for businesses in rural communities. If you think you might be interested to be the first of forty (40) chosen to participate in this tool through Network Kansas, fill in the on-line application at the Network Kansas website. If you want more face-to-face information before applying or you want more of your questions answered, consider attending the Kansas Economic Gardening Entrepreneurship Forum on November 15, 2010 at Dodge City, Kansas. The forum agenda has Chris Gibbons and Mark Lange (Edward Lowe Foundation) discussing the particulars on this subject. Otherwise, you can call Steve Radley at Network Kansas or the PCED office directly.
Jeff Hofaker
10-6-2010