Video | Chamber State of the Region & Business Expo focuses on Small Business

The Statesboro Bulloch Chamber of Commerce held their second annual State of the Region and Business Expo on Monday, October 23, 2022. The event was held on East Main Street in Downtown Statesboro, and the focus was the power and importance of small business. The evening began with an hour of music by The Ripleys, a popular local band. The program began with:

Pastor Donald Chavers of Agape Worship performing the National Anthem
Jennifer Davis, President/CEO of the Statesboro Bulloch Chamber giving opening remarks
Youth Leadership Bulloch Alumni, class of 2022, Mr. James Saunders leading the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance & Invocation.

"Thanks everyone for coming out. We have an exciting evening planned around 'Building this City Brick by Brick.' You will see at the tables we have brick centerpieces from the Chamber’s new location in downtown Statesboro, built by BAK Builders. The Chamber is thrilled to be part of the revitalization efforts of downtown, and you are about to hear more about all of that this evening," said Chamber Board Chair, Chad Wiggins.

"Thank you Downtown Statesboro Development Authority for partnering with us on this event. A big thanks to the staff of the City of Statesboro for the work you have put in to get streets closed and the space ready for tonight and to everyone else who has had a hand it pulling off this event. We couldn’t do it without all of your support and investment."

102323-chamber-dt-1 — Statesboro Bulloch Chamber of Commerce State of the Region and Business Expo. DeWayne Grice

Richard Bishop, former Director of Uptown Columbus, delivered the keynote address. Bishop said there are many keys to success, but the most important is you have to have champions of the vision: people who believe in your downtown, and understand that it is the heart and soul of a community. It is where it all began. They have to be engaged and believe in change, and they can't live in the past.

There is no better example of that than in Columbus, GA. Columbus's downtown revitalization began in 1983 as a subcommittee of the Chamber. Local banker Jim Blanchard chaired the committee. He pulled a group together and changed the name from Downtown to Uptown to reflect their broader vision. They were willing to do the work and make the commitment to make it happen. A tremendous partnership between the local government and the business sector ensued. They worked together on 'out of the box' projects. After 40 years, the Uptown committee is still going strong. They remain focused on advocating for downtown to be the place to live, work, and play.

Bishop explained that much of their success was understanding that you have to have the best of the best to make downtown a destination. There was a whole movement to look for the 'it' project to get people downtown. They created a road map and incentives to bring people downtown and keep them downtown. He stressed that you cannot lose density. You must continue to increase density with apartments, restaurants, and retail and make sure you get visitors accommodated. Columbus started with one downtown hotel, and now they have four.

Activation is also important. You must have people on the streets programming activities. Columbus wanted downtown to be the place for events. They did whatever it took to bring people downtown, including the alignment of arts and entertainment, which is very important.

Citizens know they will host concerts every Friday night, and every Saturday there will be markets downtown. They built a zipline and white water river rafting to bring people downtown. People on the streets create vibrancy, making downtown a cool spot to be.

They also put benchmarks in place so they can they measure gross receipts annually in the downtown area. They know how many new businesses, restaurants, and new jobs were created. This allowed them to measure their success and showcase opportunities. This also allows stakeholders to know how their investment is making a difference.

Bishop works to inspire and promote social interaction for the community understands this is the key to a vibrant downtown. He encouraged leaders to be flexible, patient, and give back.

Allen Muldrew, Executive Director of Downtown Statesboro Development Authority and Keely Fennell of the Blue Mile Foundation, gave an update on the Blue Mile streetscape project and showed a video updating the progress on the transformative Creek on the Blue Mile project.

Muldrew explained the importance of downtown and small business owners. He said 98 percent of businesses in America are small business. Combined, they employ 61 million Americans.

"Amazon does not sponsor an event or volunteer downtown. They are not concerned with building our community," said Muldrew. "Small businesses owners are here tonight volunteering and investing in our community. Thanks to each of them, our downtown can thrive."

Benjy Thompson, CEO of the Development Authority of Bulloch County, praised small businesses on building a community that has created an environment that people want to come live, work, and play.

"Last year we shared good news of Aspen Aerogels and their over $300 million commitment of investment in our community. Now we have announced Joon Georgia, Ecoplastic, Hannon, and revalu in the past 20 months, creating 1,600 jobs and investing over $1 billion in Bulloch County," said Thompson. "They will create opportunity that will allow more citizens to enjoy additional income, giving them an opportunity to support small businesses even more."

Trip Tollison, CEO of the Savannah Economic Development Authority, gave a regional update since the announcement of Hyundai Meta Plant a year ago.

"When we talk about the Hyundai effect, it was a big lift, but we didn't fully comprehend how big the lift was going to be. They initially announced 8,100 jobs and a $5.4 billion investment," said Tollison. "Now we have landed 14 separate Tier 1 suppliers, bringing $10 billion direct investment and creating 5,000 more jobs. Combined with Hyundai's jobs, that is almost 14,000 new jobs."

"Workforce development is something we are spending a good bit of time and attention on. We know these are challenges that impact all of us, especially small businesses, but we have great things to come, and you will be excited to see what is coming," said Tollison.

He was in Japan last week, and there was a reception held in downtown Tokyo to celebrate the 50 years of Georgia having an economic development office in Tokyo. Leaders from major U.S. companies were in attendance, and they were all talking about Hyundai and the growth in Savannah and Statesboro.

Champion Sponsor, Madison Darsey, Market Manager of Hire Dynamics, made a charitable presentation as part of their sponsorship.

"Hire Dynamics is a full-service staffing agency. We are committed to building your best team. We believe community is much more than belonging to something; it’s about doing something together that makes belonging matter," said Darsey. "As a Statesboro native, I am proud to work for a company that allows me to give back. This years fund's will go toward workforce readiness and development to empower workforce readiness in our community. Tonight we present the funds from our Championship to Esther’s Place."

Statesboro Mayor Jonathan McCollar closed out the evening.

"My family has called Statesboro and Bulloch home since 1820. It is an honor to serve my hometown and the people of this city and to work with the great men and women I get to work with every day. The City's staff are talented and dedicated to making Statesboro the best city in America," said Mayor McCollar. "We cannot help to be excited about the opportunities that lay ahead. I can't think of a single place I had rather be than right here in Statesboro, GA. The secret is out: the City of Statesboro is a great place to live, work, and play. The economy supports 35,500 jobs. It is stronger than it has ever been."

Since 2020 the city's population has grown 7%
Over 3,000 new homes are coming to the City, representing nearly 400 million in investment.
Roughly 38 commercial developments are under construction, representing a 100 million investment
160 new businesses opening their doors
Plan for traffic by commissioning a long range transportation plan in a cooperative effort between the city and Bulloch
Creating a roadmap for responsible growth over the next 12 years.

Government can have the perception to be far removed from the people and from what citizens feel are the most important issues. Statesboro has created 11 public boards to allow citizens to have their voices heard. Through this grassroots activation and purposeful engagement, we are building a future that is strong and vibrant.

"Forever Forward: we must continue to push our city forward. We can't wait on superheros to help us out. We are the generation that holds the destiny of our children and grandchildren," said Mayor McCollar. "We are standing on the shoulders of giants that chose to move forward. I, like you, love Statesboro and recognize that forever and always this is truly the city that soars."

Chad Wiggins, Chair of the Chamber Board, recognized and thanked the sponsors for the event including: