Guest commentary: Economic gardening: growing jobs at existing businesses

By Timothy Cartwright / Board member, Economic Development Council of Collier County

Saturday, September 19, 2009

The Economic Development Council of Collier County (EDC) announced at its annual meeting this month a new approach to helping existing businesses.

Economic gardening is an innovative, entrepreneur-centered economic development strategy focusing on a long-term approach designed to generate new jobs from the community’s existing base of businesses of second-stage companies. According to the Edward Lowe Foundation, “Second-stage companies are those that have grown past the startup stage but have not grown to maturity. They have enough employees to exceed the comfortable control span of one owner/CEO and benefit from adding professional managers, but they do not yet have a full-scale professional management team.

“A business typically begins to enter its second stage when it approaches $1 million in total receipts. The transition process can continue until it hits $100 million in receipts, although for most companies $50 million represents the upper limit of second stage. By $100 million, a firm will have to be professionally managed in order to continue to thrive and grow and be in its third stage of development. Employee numbers and revenue ranges vary by industry, but the population of firms with 10 to 100 employees and/or $750,000 to $50 million in receipts includes the vast majority of second-stage companies.”

Economic gardening was first developed by the city of Littleton, Colo., as a demonstration program and has since emerged as the latest trend in business retention and expansion. Economic gardening programs can have the most direct impact for long-term, sustainable strategies to grow and to diversify our economy.

Presenting this approach at the meeting was Steve Quello, president of CEO Nexus, a market research consultant serving CEOs of second-stage businesses and economic development organizations. His expertise includes the design and implementation of economic gardening programs. “With limited resources, communities have to allocate resources strategically, and in times like this industrial recruitment efforts may not be as effective as supporting expansion programs targeting resident businesses,” he said. “Most jobs are created and sustained over time by the creation and expansion of local companies.”

The EDC will promote the economic gardening framework through expansion of program offerings for resident companies. These programs will focus on stage-specific needs of these growth companies, filling gaps along the continuum of entrepreneurship and, most importantly, building and creating an entrepreneurship culture in the community.

The first program the EDC will be offer is the CEO connectivity and mentoring program. These programs allow current CEOs to discuss with one another the issues that are important and specific to their current stage of growth. Over the next three months, the EDC will be seeking interested second-stage businesses who wish to participate in this program. This program is specifically for the CEO-level executive. To participate in the CEO Economic Gardening program, please contact Brooke Gabrielsen at the EDC, (239) 263-8989, ext. 109.

Cartwright is president of the Gulf Coast Venture Forum, a nonprofit organization of investors. He also is the managing director of Compass Advisory Group LLC, a firm he founded in 2003. Compass is an investment bank that completes mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructurings for middle-market companies. For more information about the EDC or to become involved, visit www.eNaplesFlorida.com or call (239) 263-8989.