Columbia chamber retains talent and businesses

The Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce has been canvasing recent college graduates and well– tracked business owners, asking both about what keeps people and businesses in Columbia. Two chamber programs have recently issued their results.

Columbia Talent Project

The first, a partnership called the Columbia Talent Project, is concerned with retaining talented young people. According to a study released by the Brookings Institute and

reported by the Columbia

Business Report, “the more graduates a region retains, the higher per capita income level a region achieves.” USC, Columbia College, Benedict College, Allen University, Columbia International University and several smaller schools graduate about 10,000 students annually.

A 2007 study by the S.C. Commission on Higher Education determined that 41 percent of college graduates from USC’s class of 2002 were no longer in the state after five years. The community development group Columbia Opportunity Resource, mostly 20–and–30–somethings, is partnered with the chamber to attract and retain young professionals to Columbia and its surrounding area.

The partnership is funded by the City of Columbia through the Navigating from Good to Great Foundation, founded in 2006 and chaired by Ted Speth, who says the chamber is planning to pay a yet–to–be–selected professional administrator to run the Columbia Opportunity Resource as a chamber vice president of leadership development and community involvement. The new vice president will also oversee the Leadership Columbia program and its alumni association. The COR, chaired by Greg Hilton, is moving into the chamber’s headquarters building on Richland Street near the Governor’s Mansion.

Business Retention and Expansion

The second chamber program, Business Retention and Expansion, is part of Business in Motion, a partnership between the city’s Office of Business Opportunity and the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce. The Business in Motion partnership was represented in a city council meeting recently by Ryan Coleman of the city’s Office of Business Opportunity and John Mikula, senior vice president at the chamber. They reported the results of the 2010 Business Retention and Expansion.

The report represents the collective feedback from over 200 business retention interviews between April 2008 and April 2010. The 200 businesses altogether can claim about 49,000 employees and $24 billion in revenues. More than three–fourths of the businesses interviewed are located inside the city limits.

About 140 of the surveyed businesses, 70 percent of the total 200, expect growth in the current year, while 13 percent expect flat sales and another 13 percent expect to report a decline in sales.

Roughly one–fourth say the local economy is better today when compared with five years ago, and another fourth see no change. Almost 40 percent think the economy is worse.

Asking for a positive response rating from the surveyed companies in ranking municipal services, the Business Retention and Expansion team heard the lowest ranking given to public transportation at 16 percent. The highest ranking, 82 percent, went to fire/emergency services.

The business climate rankings put colleges/universities and technical training together at the top ranking, 84 percent. The lowest business climate rankings went to local tax structure at 18 percent and state tax structure at 19 percent.

Columbia’s strengths as a place to do business include availability of parking, low racial tension, and the cost of doing business. The weaknesses include crime/safety issues, negative image, and lack of political leadership.

Ryan and Mikula listed six bullet points under the heading, “What We Have Learned”:

• Businesses are glad to see us.

• We can have a positive impact.

• Business community feels like it has a voice.

• The recession has been reflected through a decrease in local public opinion.

• It may be time to expand the program to include other government and business development organizations.

• Movement toward a stronger attitude of customer service for the business community may offer a bold opportunity.

As the report put it in closing: “This report shows us many opportunities and challenges facing us not only as a city, but a region as well. We must remain aware of these findings. While we are seeing positive movement that should dull some of the negative impact from the previous year, future positive development will depend on our ability to work together and continuously striving for perfection.”