These government and political leaders were exceptionally notable during the past year.

by Florida Trend Staff

TOM O’NEAL
Executive director, GrowFL, Orlando

Job Farmer

Source: Florida Trend Article

By cbinette
Monday, December 5, 2011

To stimulate job creation and foster the development of emerging growth-oriented companies, Seminole County and the Florida Economic Gardening Institute at the University of Central Florida today announced a partnership to offer an economic gardening program for qualified businesses in Seminole County. The initiative will provide specialized services and support for CEOs of second-stage businesses. Second stage is generally defined by this initiative as for-profit businesses with headquarters in Seminole County with between 7 and 100 employees.

“We recognize the value these businesses bring to our community, and we are committed to offering proven tools to help them reach their potential,” said Bill McDermott, director of Economic Development for Seminole County.

Seminole County’s investment in economic gardening augments previous investments made by UCF, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council and Orange County.

Services provided by the Economic Gardening Institute at UCF are comparable to those of a Fortune 500 company’s market research department. Services include technical assistance in the areas of business strategy, market research, competitive analysis, web/social media strategy and search engine optimization. These services are designed to help a company increase sales rapidly. With increased sales, businesses will drive the creation of new jobs in the county.

Participants will also be eligible to participate in a CEO Roundtable to discuss business practices and management strategies with CEOs of second-stage businesses.

A participating business must provide product(s) and/or services within and beyond its current location to regional, national or international markets. Physicians’ offices, retail businesses and restaurants may not qualify. Businesses that are interested in receiving services can apply at www.growfl.com.

The Economic Gardening Institute’s signature GrowFL program has helped more than 400 companies create more than 1,400 new jobs statewide since November 2009. In September,1 state funding for the initiative ended, and the program began working directly with communities to tailor offerings to meet the needs of their particular industries.

Seminole County is providing $50,000 for the initiative. UCF will provide the economic gardening services and manage the application process. Technical assistance services will be provided free of charge, while costs for participation in CEO Roundtables will be shared by Seminole County and the participating businesses.

Several Seminole County CEOs and companies took advantage of the state-funded GrowFL pilot program. The group includes Richard Sweat, president and CEO of .decimal Inc., a Sanford-based manufacturer of custom devices to target radiation therapy. He credited GrowFL with helping his company expand into Japan and Canada.

“Not only has GrowFL provided invaluable market research for .decimal’s international expansion efforts, but they have also provided excellent networking opportunities with some of Florida’s top second-stage company CEOs,” he said.

“We like nothing better than hearing about the success of our client companies,” said Tom O’Neal, associate vice president for Research and Commercialization at UCF and executive director of the Florida Economic Gardening Institute. “Companies that receive support to grow in an area are more likely to stay in that area, and in these tough economic times we want to help as many communities as possible keep their lifeblood.”

By Elizabeth M. Mack “Our company would not be what it is without GrowFL,” Arthur Aveling said about Magic Whiteboard Products, the young company that distributes a product with a new spin on the whiteboard. GrowFL helped the Avelings create a website for Magic Whiteboards, but also helped in identifying their market and how to reach that market effectively. “We would not have the same quality website or same focus of quality and targeted prospects that we have now,” Arthur Aveling said. “Our business has been growing every day. This is going to create jobs in Tallahassee. That’s what one of the goals of GrowFL is, and we are doing it.” For the rest of the article, head to Tallahassee.com

Communities looking for job growth need look no further than their own backyard to find existing businesses that are poised to grow, according to Tammie Nemecek, director of partner development for the Florida Economic Gardening Institute at the University of Central Florida.

The challenge, however, is helping them make the leap successfully, Nemecek told members of the DeLand Area Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.

To read more, head to The Daytona Beach News-Journal

Economic gardening’ grow is now the way to grow

By Philip Newswanger September 2, 2011 Behold the brave new world of economic gardening. But Christian Gibbons, considered the godfather of economic gardening, forewarns acolytes about this economic development initiative. “Economic gardening is not a quick fix and it is not a silver bullet. It is a long-term strategy,” Gibbons said in the 2010 summer issue of the Economic Development Journal. “It is not a fad diet. It is a lifestyle change.” “It takes awhile to put the infrastructure in place and to get to a scale large enough to make a difference,” Gibbons said. “It also takes awhile for a company to start to grow and add jobs. However, with patience and commitment, it has proven to be a viable alternative to the traditional practices of economic development.” Economic gardening has been dubbed an entrepreneurial approach to economic development, but exactly what is it? Purists believe it’s a process by which local companies, primarily stage-two companies – fast-growing with 10 to 99 employees and generating at least $1 million in revenues – are given the tools to expand, be it through new customers or new markets. That includes everything from market research to advertising and marketing. It could include forums, conferences and webinars – whatever it takes for a company to expand, sell more, generate more revenue and create jobs. Economic hunting, a traditional strategy, is just the opposite – tracking down huge corporations from outside a region or city that will invest millions of dollars and create hundreds of jobs. Landing a major corporation is rare today. A snapshot of Hampton Roads shows that the jobs of large employers, those employing more than 100 workers, fell from 2000 to 2008, the latest years for which data are available. In addition, large employers dropped from sight during the same period while more small companies opened and created more jobs. The seed The idea behind economic gardening germinated in Leadville, Colo., in 1982, and took root in 1987 in the city of Littleton, Colo., Gibbons said. At the time he was the director of economic development for Littleton. The state was in a recession and defense contractor Martin Marietta, the community’s major employer?, had laid off thousands of workers, a million square feet went dark, and vacancies in downtown Littleton approached 30 percent. Instead of chasing companies to replace Martin Marietta, the Littleton City Council decided to work with local companies to develop good jobs, upset by having out-of-state corporations dictate their economic future. The idea was based on research by David Birch at Massachusetts Institute of Technology that indicated the great majority of all new jobs in any local economy are produced by the small, local businesses of the community. “Those companies are creating the most jobs in the country,” Gibbons said in a telephone interview. Retail jobs weren’t included. “We were not looking at $7- an-hour and no-benefits jobs,” Gibbons said. In setting up the program, Gibbons and city officials decided to discontinue handing out subsidies. He said Littleton has not given a single penny to anyone since the inception of its economic gardening program. “Most corporate expansions have been overseas,” Gibbons said. “If you’re in an economic development job, it’s getting harder and harder to recruit. Companies are recruiting jobs – they’re just creating them in India or China.” Gibbons and city officials saw that the companies that competed primarily on low price usually got the relocating business. Rural towns with cheap land, free buildings, tax abatements and especially low wage labor would “win” these relocating businesses, he said. “Our experience indicated that these types of expansions stayed around as long as costs stayed low. If the standard of living started to rise, the company pulled up stakes and headed for locations where the costs were even lower, often Third World countries. “We’re not in that business,” Gibbons said. Where are the jobs? A U.S. Department of Commerce report published in April supports Gibbons’ contention about corporations boosting hiring overseas. Multinational corporations, which employ a fifth of all U.S. workers, cut their U.S. workforce by 2.9 million during the last decade while increasing employment overseas by 2.4 million. In the 1990s, by contrast, companies added 4.4 million jobs in the U.S. and 2.7 million jobs overseas. “Economic developers don’t create jobs,” Gibbons said. “Entrepreneurs do. “We’re not saying that attraction and recruitment activities should be discontinued, but they’ve been overemphasized due partly to competitive and political pressures,” said Mark Lange, executive director of the Edward Lowe Foundation in Cassopolis, Mich., in a paper entitled “Economic Gardening, An Entrepreneur-Oriented Approach to Economic Prosperity.” According to its website at www.edwardlowe.org, the foundation embraces and encourages entrepreneurship as the source and strategy for economic growth, community development and economically independent individuals. The foundation highlighted three strategies. The traditional strategy emphasizes movement rather than growth, attracting and retaining companies by offering tax incentives, workforce development services and infrastructure improvements. Another approach: Small business development organizations serve startups and small businesses by providing information about business plans, cash-flow analysis and succession planning. Hampton Roads practices both these strategies at city economic development departments and through such regional organizations as the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance and the Hampton Roads Small Business Development Center. The third strategy, economic gardening, embraces growth-oriented companies and issues like penetrating new markets, refining business models, developing teams and embracing new leadership roles. “The key to running the program is who can finance it and who has relationships with local companies,” Gibbons said. “Government tends to have money for this but it could be universities, foundations, chambers if they have that kind of budget. One reason the city of Littleton supports it is that we are tied into the success of our local businesses through the tax base.” Economic Gardening in Practice GrowFl is a prime example. The Florida statewide program launched in 2009 with the backing of then-Gov. Charlie Crist and the Florida legislature. The state funded $10 million for the program – $1.5 million for a technical assistance pilot program and $8.5 million for loans for companies that demonstrated high potential for growth and expansion. In the fall of 2009, Florida’s Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development selected the University of Central Florida as the administrator of the technical assistance program. In November 2009, UCF formed the Florida Economic Gardening Institute and the GrowFl program under a contract with the state worth $1.43 million. In less than a year, GrowFl provided technical assistance to 159 companies and conducted a host of other activities, according to its annual report issued last October. Among its offerings – CEO roundtables and forums, small business innovative research webinars, workshops, seminars and online education. GrowFl plans to expand its services this year. “The state of Florida statute has us focus on companies with 0 to 50 employees and within industries listed on Florida’s ‘qualified target industry list,’” said Fran Korosec, director of client services for GrowFl, in an email. “We are looking at expanding the assistance to all second-stage companies [10 to 99 employees] as we move into fall of this year.” GrowFl must prove its worth. “Our contract with the state is performance-based in that we have to serve so many companies and do certain things, such as events,” Korosec said. “However, we do believe the true measure of performance is job creation and that is why we do job surveys and economic impact studies.” An economic impact study released in January said GrowFl helped to create 1,458 jobs, $281.2 million in sales and $8.4 million in net state and local tax revenues. A survey of CEOs whose firms participated in the technical assistance program showed that it cost $3,416 for every job created, the GrowFl study said. In Littleton, Gibbons said it takes his department two to three weeks to supply data or market research to companies. “The cost runs about $3,900 per company but there are some set-up costs in addition,” Gibbons said. “That’s a turnkey cost – staff time, databases, administrative software, office space, benefits – that buys 35-40 hours of high-quality research time.” In Virginia, two groups practice a hybrid of economic gardening, which combines loans and counseling to local and state companies. One is United Virginia, based in Richmond. The other is the Staunton Creative Community Fund, based in Staunton. Meghan Williamson is executive director of the Staunton fund, which has counseled more than 100 individuals and made 18 loans to small businesses. “We believe the essence of economic gardening is a development philosophy that helps communities grow from within, that emphasizes the talents, needs, assets, opportunities and unique attributes of the local economy,” Williamson said. “While that often includes an emphasis on stage-two companies, we have seen a strong need for assistance at the startup stage of business development,” she said. “A young organization ourselves, we have funded predominantly startup companies, but we are excited to be helping shepherd both ourselves and clients into a higher growth stage. “We also see an important aspect as helping the types of companies that add new depth and diversity to our local economy – be they green industries, artists and musicians, or unique retailers that add vibrancy to a rural community,” Williamson said. The fund’s clients include a publishing company, a food co-op, a comic book store and a film company named Flying Warthogs Film. Traditional retailers are accepted, but they must have a twist. “Our new retailers need to really think about what they are selling,” Williamson said. “If they think they are selling a book or a toy, they’re done for. Amazon and Walmart do it already.” Bookworms, a local bookstore, started a series of book clubs. A toy store has days when children can make a craft or bake cookies. The comic book store accepts works from local authors, an idea written into its business plan. “They may not sell many times, but they are building a relationship,” Williamson said. “Retail isn’t about selling a product. It’s about creating connections and an atmosphere and a relationship with the local community. “You have to have an authentic relationship with your customer. You can’t sell the image of being a community gathering place; you have to be an actual community gathering place.” “The funding is certainly a benefit, especially when you’re starting out,” said Ron Ramsey, owner of Bookworms. “The ongoing benefit is the networking with other businesses, not necessarily the same business, to foster a sense of community.” “We have worked closely with the Staunton Creative Community Fund,” said Brian Wiedemann, co-owner of George Bowers Grocery, an independent store offering local and specialty food.”They were essential partners in helping us get the business started. “They have provided low-interest startup capital for microbusinesses like ours, and we took advantage of that,” he said. “Secondly, and I think more importantly, they provide a sympathetic but yet somewhat objective sounding board for your business. They act as a board of advisers, guidance counselors, cheerleaders.” Nonprofits are also accepted. In fact, the fund acts as a virtual incubator for startup nonprofits. The fund does all the back-office work, such as handling contributions and accounting. “By avoiding the need to handle independent 501(c)3 certifications and annual audits, all of which are done under the umbrella of SCCF, the burgeoning nonprofit initiatives can focus directly on fundraising, mission-related activities and community capacity building,” Williamson said. “These partnerships have been effective with everything from local environmental networking and educational organizations, to a startup that provides musical counseling services for disabled and elderly individuals. “Just as any good gardener fertilizes and prunes, we fund, train, network, consult, and inspire,” Williamson said. “Likewise, the economic ecosystem we are designing must be diverse to be stable, and we seek to grow a variety of for-profit and nonprofit ventures that add vibrancy and resilience to our local community.” Asked what she looks for in a business plan, Williamson said, “We examine all our business plans using a triple bottom line: Is the plan economically viable? Does the business create a social or community benefit? Is there a positive environmental impact?” United Virginia, a nonprofit financed by public and private dollars, is similar, although its goals are state-based. “Common Good for the Commonwealth” is its slogan. “United Virginia was started as a nonprofit doing community organizing around important issues such as energy, the environment and health care,” said Rob Martin, its managing director. United Virginia supports economic and community development through public and private partnerships, such as the Virginia Interfaith Center and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. The idea behind United Virginia is to inject money into low-income and low-wealth communities. That can be done through workshops UV conducts and through the Virginia Enterprise Initiative, a loan program for low-income communities and entrepreneurs that can’t get traditional financing. UV drives human and social capital, not financial capital, Martin said. “The mechanism is the workshops we facilitate.There’s a lot in the workshop that differentiates it from a business planning class. “There’s a wealth of resources in the community to support small businesses,” Martin said. “We can help any entrepreneur get into business and grow their business.” And they have. For example, a couple in Martinsville wanted to start a greenhouse farm. “One is a recovering alcoholic, the other is disabled and legally blind,” Martin said. “One never had a college degree; one never worked a career in business. By doing a business plan in our workshop and reaching out to our resources, they had a $15,000 greenhouse donated to them. “We have people who have graduated from our workshops who come in and speak to our community,” Martin said. “We facilitate it. But it’s their initiative. They are also stewards of the initiative.” United Virginia creates a community of support, Martin said. “We introduce early-stage entrepreneurs to the network and resources so they can write a really excellent business plan with the support of the community behind them. They are part of the economic ecosystem.” To date, 22 loans totaling $100,000 have been approved by the communities in which these underfunded entrepreneurs live and work. philip.newswanger@insidebiz.com

Tammie Nemecek lands UCF ‘gardening’ job, leaves Collier EDC post in 10 days

By Laura Layden August 1, 2011 NAPLES — Tammie Nemecek has a new job in economic development, where she’ll focus on “gardening.” The longtime CEO and president of Collier County’s Economic Development Council has been hired by the University of Central Florida in Orlando to help grow jobs through a statewide economic gardening program. “It completely fit exactly what I wanted to do going forward,” said Nemecek, 42. The gardening program is designed to help small businesses expand their market share and increase their revenues so they can grow. Nemecek will work for the Florida Economic Gardening Institute, created by the Florida Legislature in 2009 to help boost Florida’s economy. Asked about her role, Nemecek said she’ll be working in partnership development. She will reach out to other economic development councils around the state to spread the gardening program, known as GrowFL. She’s well-known in economic development circles after being in her job for so many years and serving as chairwoman of the Florida Economic Development Council, representing local councils statewide. “I get to work with my best friends around the state and to do something I love and I’m passionate about,” she said. Her job won’t require her to move, which she’s happy about. “I will be traveling all over Florida,” she said. Nemecek announced her retirement in March after 17 years with the Collier Economic Development Council. She never expected to stay with the agency so long, but it was hard to leave. “It never felt like 17 years,” she said. “Every year there are new opportunities and new challenges.” Nemecek also applied for a job as CEO and president of the Sarasota Economic Development Corp. Though she wasn’t hired, she doesn’t second-guess her decision to put her name in the hat. She believes “things happen for a reason” and the job she got came at just the right time. She’s eager to start. Her last day at the Economic Development Council is Aug. 10. She starts her new job on Sept. 1. The economic gardening program is aimed at “stage two companies,” which are ones with 10 to 100 employees and $1 million to $25 million in annual revenues, explained Tom O’Neal, executive director of GrowFL. Nemecek is a good addition to the institute because she knows the GrowFL program well and understands what it takes to grow a company from small to large, he said. “She gets it,” O’Neal said. There are two parts to the economic gardening program: technical assistance and CEO forums. A research team at the university interviews executives with qualifying companies and then puts together information needed to help them make better decisions about growth, including competitors and market share. “They don’t ever tell the entrepreneur what to do,” Nemecek said. The other part of the gardening program, the forums, gives CEOs the opportunity to network and give each other advice. Collier County was an early adopter of the GrowFL program. The Economic Development Council has helped 60 local businesses through the program, which expect to create about 230 jobs over the next year, Nemecek said. “It’s exponential as far as the number of companies we can help through the program,” she said. The gardening program is proactive, rather than reactionary, allowing economic development councils to have a more nurturing role, helping businesses grow instead of just waiting for it to happen. The program is inexpensive, compared to traditional incentives used for job creation, Nemecek said. The Economic Gardening Institute has fewer than a dozen employees. Initially, it focused on a handful of regions in the state to deliver its GrowFL program, including Broward, Collier and Sarasota. The Legislature funded the program for two years, but future funding was vetoed by Gov. Rick Scott after the last legislative session. Now, the institute is hunting for other sources of revenue to keep the program going and looking for support from city and county governments and private groups, said Fran Korosec, director of client services for GrowFL. The institute has received a grant from the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, which will allow it to continue offering technical assistance to 23 counties in the area of the Interstate 4 corridor. “We hope to grow on that,” Korosec said. In its first year alone, GrowFL reached 1,000 companies and helped create 400 jobs statewide. Nemecek’s decision to retire comes as Collier’s Economic Development Council is in the midst of developing a new strategic plan for creating jobs. The plan is to be presented to Collier County commissioners in September. A search for a new president and CEO won’t start until after that workshop, said Bob Mulhere, the council’s volunteer chairman. In Collier County, the Economic Development Council is a private-public partnership. The council receives $400,000 annually from county government to support its job-creating efforts. Mulhere wishes Nemecek the best and says he’s confident she’ll do well in any job she does that involves economic development. The council has hired Gilroy + Associates Inc., a Naples-based business consultant, to help with management until Nemecek is replaced. The company is no stranger to the Economic Development Council. After Hurricane Wilma hit in 2005, the company helped the council set up and oversee a business assistance center. Gilroy + Associates offers a range of services and its past clients include Operation Smile International, The Land Trust for Tennessee, the Shelter for Abused Women & Children, Lee Memorial Children’s Hospital and the Community Foundation of Collier County. Nemecek’s replacement is expected to be hired by the end of the year. She said it’s a good time to be searching for a new president and CEO because of the governor’s focus on creating jobs and streamlining the state’s economic development efforts. She said the council should look nationwide and go after the “best of the best” in economic development. When you’re in economic development, it never stops, Nemecek said. “It’s hard to leave when you have unfinished business,” she said. “At a certain time, you know it’s the right time. You just know it.” She knows it. Connect with Laura Layden at www.naplesnews.com/staff/laura_layden.

Steel contract adds employees By Patrick Peterson A Cocoa steel fabricating company will need nearly 60 additional workers to build part of a tethered, balloon-based surveillance system that will be used in Iraq and Afghanistan. Coastal Steel Inc., through a contract with Lockheed Martin, will build about 30 percent of the airborne system, versions of which the military has used since 1994. The Persistent Threat Detection System provides soldiers and Marines with an eagle-eye view of surrounding terrain. The company will provide about a third of the device’s 3,200 components. Having hired 35 employees to complete the new contract, the company’s work force stands at 98. About 20 additional workers will be hired. As thousands of Brevard County residents head into unemployment because of the end of the shuttle program, the company expects to hire technicians, welders, assembly workers and machinists and others — some of whom could come from the space industry, said Dale Coxwell, executive vice president of Coastal Steel Inc. and president of Coastal Steel Manufacturing. “It would be nice if we could bring them in from the space center,” he said. The contract was won with the assistance of GrowFL, a state economic organization that provides second-stage businesses with research, consulting and expertise in finding new markets. GrowFL is a product of the Florida Economic Gardening Institute, which the state Legislature created in 2009 to stimulate investment in Florida and provide technical assistance for expanding businesses. GrowFL has helped more than 200 second-stage companies across the state and is equipped to assist additional companies through the end of August, when the program’s state funding runs out. It will depend on alternative funding sources in the future. GrowFL provided Coastal Steel with market research, competitive intelligence, social media development, search engine optimization and prospect lists. The 35-year-old, family-owned business, one of Cocoa’s largest employers, was founded by Phillip Coxwell. It has grown to occupy more than 40,000 square feet on 19 acres. The company’s portfolio includes work on several Walt Disney World projects, including the Animal Kingdom’s Expedition Everest, Magic Kingdom’s Mission Space and the 90-foot-tall Mickey’s Sorcerer’s Hat at Hollywood Studios. The company plans to grow in the ride/show and aerospace industries, as well as within the industrial and commercial sectors. Contact Peterson at 321-242-3673 or ppeterson@floridatoday.com.

Small companies need a sound plan to grow

Bob Swindell of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance says economic development plans like GrowFL are essential to creating a vibrant business community. By Cindy Kent  April 29, 2011 Who: Bob Swindell What: Swindell is president and chief executive officer of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance. He spearheads the state’s economic development initiative, GrowFL, for the Broward County region. GrowFL , launched in 2009, is Florida’s Economic Gardening Technical Assistance Program designed to assist second stage companies address the gap between where the company is now and where it needs to be to grow. For-profit, existing second-stage companies with over 11 employees have to meet standards and go through an application process to qualify for the GrowFL program. The key is to create a favorable environment so that businesses thrive, says Swindell. “In turn, they employ people and experience exponential growth and cycle up,” he said. “Everyone benefits,” said Swindell. The back story: A second-stage company is one that has survived the start-up phase and wants to ramp up services, production and productivity A second-stage company understands its financials, but still has obstacles ahead such as transitioning from an entrepreneurial culture to a more corporate structure, increasing sales and fulfilling orders. For instance, qualified participants partner with GrowFL team members to review core business strategies. They apply market research toward strategies to increase prospects and drive sales. They develop social media and Internet strategies to optimize reach. GrowFl experts facilitate business introductions and referrals. “GrowFL is about reputation building,” said Swindell. Small businesses that set roots in a community want to see a template of proactive regional efforts, like GrowFL, that are committed to their success, says Swindell. On the other hand, “the business owner has to be as committed as the resource,” said Swindell. The take away: Position your company for growth and sustainability by strategically utilizing community resources, collaborating just as you would with any business partner, says Swindell. Solid business opportunities attract skilled educated workers, create the local talent pool and generate a high wage job market, says Swindell. At the end of the day, it’s about building collaborative relationships, says Swindell. Knowledge Readiness. Some business owners think their business is poised as a second-stage company because it meets criteria, but for one crucial aspect — the business owner has to be mentally ready, says Swindell. “If you have too much of your focus grounded on the running your business and can’t take the time to look up to see the horizon, it’s going to be difficult to find the time to be committed to the program and participate effectively,” he said. Think outside the business. Industry, business associations, state and regional agencies provide resources to companies that want to level up their management team or pace expansion with internal controls. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, says Swindell. Details: Florida Economic Gardening Institute 407-823-6384. Email Info@GrowFL.com www.GrowFL.com Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance www.gflalliance.org By Cindy Kent, Sun Sentinel, ckent@tribune.com or 954-356-4662. Follow her on Twitter,com @mindingyourbiz.

Milestone for GrowFL Sara K. Clarke

April 24, 2011 The Florida Economic Gardening Institute said its initiative to help second-stage businesses has accepted its 200th company. GrowFL, which provides market research and other tools to help companies already past the start-up phase grow to the next level, said those 200 companies include 55 businesses in Orange and Seminole counties. The institute is a statewide effort, based in Central Florida, established in 2009 by the Florida Legislature. GrowFL said the 200 companies that have received assistance generated $860 million in revenue last year and employed 4,725 people. To qualify for the program’s no-cost technical assistance, companies must be engaged in one of the following sectors: manufacturing; finance and insurance services; wholesale trade; information industries, professional, scientific and technical services; management services; or administrative and support services. Additional information is available at GrowFL.com.

By Valerie Whitney

 

April 23, 2011

DELAND — The economy keeps trying to knock the “sale” out of John Cosker’s boat company. Cosker, president of DeLand-based Mystic Powerboats, temporarily closed the doors of his manufacturing business before heading to the Miami International Boat Show in 2009. Then fate stepped in and he sold one of his boats, which range in price from $1 million to $4 million. Other orders started rolling in and by year’s end, Mystic sold and/or delivered six boats and increased the size of its workforce to 23 employees, up from six before the temporary shutdown. Business remained strong when 2010 rolled around, but things changed halfway through the year and sales slowed again. Today, Mystic employs 10 workers. Cosker, however, said his business is in better shape than it was two years ago. Mystic has several custom projects in the works and has been doing engineering work for other companies. “We can survive on four cats (catamaran sales) a year,” said Cosker, whose business is one of several in Volusia County that have received technical assistance from the state’s “GrowFL” economic gardening program. According to the program’s website, GrowFL was created in 2009 to stimulate investment in Florida’s economy by providing technical assistance for expanding businesses in the state. The Florida Economic Gardening Institute, which coordinates the program, is headquartered at the University of Central Florida under contract with the state’s Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development. The aid provided by the program includes advanced research to help businesses evaluate their markets, define core business strategies and optimize Internet marketing. To date, GrowFL has helped 200 businesses statewide. Collectively, those companies generated $860 million in revenue and employed 4,725 workers in 2010. Cosker said GrowFL officials helped steered his company toward taking part in a state-funded training program for new workers. It also prompted him to take a closer look at other markets to pursue for his business. “A lot of the contact they found were people I already knew,” he said. Still it was helpful to learn about other countries he might explore for business. He is now actively pursuing potential customers in Brazil and his workers this past week were putting the finishing touches on a racing boat for a businessman from Sweden. Jim Gibson, president of Adsil Inc. in Daytona Beach, said GrowFL helped his company reap direct and indirect benefits. Adsil manufactures clear, inorganic, siloxane coatings that protect a wide array of different surfaces. “We got a list of targeted customers and sources,” Gibson said. He added that he also learned through GrowFL about another state economic development program that helps businesses with exporting. Larry Lucas, owner of Flowers Central Inc. in Daytona Beach, gave mixed reviews to GrowFL. “I know it is a good program and they are doing a good job,” said Lucas, who signed up to receive assistance last year. He was looking for help with locating new clients for his wholesale business. “It just didn’t work for us at this time,” he said. Linda Jennings Nelson, a spokeswoman for the Florida Economic Gardening Institute, said Flowers Central has been invited back for a second consultation with GrowFL advisers. “Maybe both sides missed the mark (initially). The jump- start team may have taken too broad of an approach” in that instance,” Nelson said. GrowFL helped Advanced Manufacturing & Power Systems in DeLand qualify for a state economic development low-interest loan to help train the new employees that included a welder, electrician and assembler. The company has grown from 30 employees two years ago to 37. “Whether or not you utilize the information, it forces you to look at the way you do things, otherwise they won’t let you sleep until you do,” Advanced Manufacturing owner Joe Scofield told the News-Journal in an interview earlier this year.