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Economic development effort launched
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Nov 12, 2009 - 9:35:15 PM

 By MELODY JAMESON
mj@observernews.net

Changed economic conditions demand newer and bolder approaches to business.
On this premise, two South County promoters have launched what for the area is a “first,” an “everyone profits” economic development council aiming to harness the power of the internet to benefit the South Hillsborough region in a multi-faceted manner. Not yet a week old, it already is showing promise.

Jim Hosler and Fred Jacobsen, no strangers to SouthShore economic redevelopment, have launched the South Hillsborough Economic Development (SHED) Council with the stated purpose of “Connecting Investment with Opportunity in South Hillsborough.” The council went live with its website — www.SHEDCouncil.com — last week.

Hosler, a demographics expert with a long professional history in community and business planning inside and outside government, and Jacobsen, a marketing specialist whose background includes years in credit management for a large communications organization, last teamed up to involve U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) executives in underwriting re-development endeavors for downtown Ruskin. That project, in the form of a proposed business incubator headquartered in the business district, currently is being reviewed by USDA authorities for funding in the upcoming department budget.

Now the pair is aiming to attract new light and green industry – with the accompanying jobs - to South Hillsborough as well as encourage expansion in the same area of small and medium-sized business entities whose owners “already appreciate the many virtues of the region,” Jacobsen said this week. These expansions, he added, could come from “enterprising operators already here,” from Pinellas “where there’s little room for expansion left” or from Tampa driven by those in search of the advantages South Hillsborough offers.

These advantages relate to transportation arteries, a ready labor force, educational institutions and, an agreeable lifestyle, according to the website. For example, it points out that within 45 minutes of any South County location the business operator has access to three international airports, two deep-water ports, a multi-line interstate highway system, plus a rail line, as well as to a surrounding population of three million residents, a quarter million other commercial enterprises in a wide range of types and, not insignificantly, a wealth of relocation sites.
A company in Ohio already has expressed interest in learning more about South Hillsborough as a potential expansion location, Jacobsen said. “Of course, we’re now in the process of a useful information exchange,” he added.

The website, however, is only the first step for the SHED Council, Hosler noted. There’s a communications campaign in the works focused on government officials and a similar effort aimed at area businesses likely to grow as the credit markets loosen up, he said. The two entrepreneurs also are working on an electronic newsletter.

“The days when commerce relocated to Florida because it was Florida are gone,” Hosler asserted. “Waiting for the phone to ring is only a waste of time; we have to go out to look for those relocations now. The times have changed and we have to change with them in order to succeed,” the demographer added.

What’s more, “South Hillsborough is different,” Hosler emphasized. “You can’t market the South County and Tampa in the same manner. They’re two different locations on several levels.”

In fact, Jacobsen, referring to the new but not yet occupied SouthShore Industry Park east of Ruskin, pointed out, “we have 4.5 million square feet of permit-ready space and it’s undiscovered despite the Chamber of Commerce and the Committee of 100 looking out for the Greater Tampa Bay area.”

In addition to tooting South Hillsborough’s horn, the SHED Council website gives area businesses and individuals the chance to join and take advantage of several options. For different amounts, ranging from $1 per week or $52 annually to a yearly “minimum wage” of $15,080, council members can make use of a variety of offerings from subscription to the research e-newsletter and listing in the online directory to evaluation of a company’s marketing plan and a feature article in the newsletter.

Such services might be supplied either by Hosler, as the council managing director, or by Jacobsen, its marketing director, or by any of the professional planners, designers, graphic artists and communications specialists the two have compiled in networks during the years they have been engaged in area promotion, Hosler said.
“Our job,” Jacobsen summed up, “is business matchmaking producing economic development beneficial to all of us — matching commercial enterprises with the information, sites, services, grant opportunities and similar aspects they need to make South Hillsborough their business address.”
© 2009 Melody Jameson

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