All About the Mission - August 30

Competifriends.  I’m not sure that is a word or not but it certainly describes the relationships between the economic development authorities in the CSRA Region in a refreshingly good way.  The phrase was mentioned by Will Williams, President of the Western South Carolina Economic Development Partnership at the Chamber’s recent Manufacturers Exchange meeting held at the Appling facility of Club Car.  This edition of the Manufacturers Exchange featured updates from the 4 development authorities in the region for Augusta-Richmond, Columbia and Burke counties along with Will representing Aiken, Edgefield, Saluda and McCormick counties in South Carolina.  He used the word to describe the working relationships and collaboration in the region when it comes to the attraction and retention of business.

When you consider the combined assets (land, labor market, etc) and all that the region has to offer, it makes sense that there shouldn’t be too many projects that slip through our fingers if working collaboratively instead of competitively.  That is the combined philosophy coming from Cal Wray, Robbie Bennett, Jonathan Lupo and Will Williams when they talk about project development.  They feel that if one county wins, the entire region wins and with the diversity of assets throughout the region, there shouldn’t be too many projects we lose at all.

The Augusta Region has seen astounding growth across many sectors including manufacturing over the last 18 months as their combined presentation revealed.  Presenting this information to our regional manufacturers ensures we understand the complexities of their operations and how as a region, we continue to grow this sector.  Helping us deliver a regional message on the strategies to continue to produce job growth were mission advocates Cal Wray, President of the Augusta Economic Development Authority; Robbie Bennett, Executive Director of the Development Authority of Columbia County; Jonathan Lupo, Executive Director of the Development Authority of Burke County and Will Williams, President of Western SC EDP. Thank you gentlemen for an informative program!