NEWS - Economic Development

SEDA Unveils 5-year Plan

By Clark Byron, SBJ Staff

April 12 - The Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA) unveiled its comprehensive strategic plan for what it describes as “Fully Integrated Economic Development.”

The new five-year plan, which spans years 2011-2015, identifies as its Core Strategies: 1) Improve and Promote our Regional Competitive Advantages, 2) Investment in Targeted Industries, 3) Maximize the Economic Value of Regional Business Expansion, 4) Build the Capacity to Innovate and Commercialize

Technology, and 5) Create an Organizational Platform to Support Core Focus Areas.

According to SEDA’s Board Chair Thomas H. Hester, “The plan outlines executable tactics and metrics with a commitment to transparency and accountability. It also provides a roadmap to more fully engage SEDA’s Board and Advisory Council, as well as a number of strategic partners.”

The SEDA Board of Directors held their planning retreat early in the first quarter of this year and adopted the draft plain on March 8, according to SEDA president Steven Weathers. “We will be client-centric,” said Weathers, “with a constant focus on client success above all else. . .” Hester’s and Weather’s comments came in an introductory statement in the plan.

According to the plan, SEDA will look to position itself competitively by recrafting its message to be more clear and consistent. It also plans to identify the most important issues facing economic development, improve physical and workforce infrastructure, and explore the possibilities of establishing a Savannah World Trade Center.

The plan also calls for advocating for improved legislation and the seeking of more State and Federal funding and private venture capital for economic development. More research will be done on the regions’ assets and strengths and SEDA will develop a “competitive advantage” package for specific business sectors.

Increased recruitment and fostering of minority-owned businesses is also in the works. SEDA plans to work closely with Black Enterprise and other industry-specific organizations to identify prospective minority clients. It will also seek to identify existing businesses that follow a supplier diversity plan.

A new “connectory website” is planned to provide information on local suppliers and customers. One metric of this is to identify the successful “best in class” Minority & Women Business Enterprise (MWBE) programs.

New attention is being given to public/private partnerships in education and workforce development, and SEDA plans to continue to survey members at its monthly meetings regarding ongoing business development needs.

SEDA wants to foster innovation. It will create a comprehensive program to accelerate technology commercialization in an effort to create more technology-based companies. It also expects to hire a Director of Innovation and Fund Development and seek to bring new capital into the region.

In their own house, SEDA aims to lower operating costs and increase lease revenues.