HOW SUMTER BUILDS

In previous generations, the old adage was “build it and they will come,” but in the 21st century the game and process of economic development has changed to be much more comprehensive.

Jay Schwedler, president and CEO of Sumter Economic Development and TheLink Economic Development Alliance serving Sumter and Lee counties, said myriad factors are at play in industrial site selections these days, and a “team approach” is essential to any community’s success.

The local economic development office brings the various community partners together as a cohesive group to include City of Sumter and Sumter County officials and the development board to focus on the mission of fostering an improved economic climate locally.

So “players” make up “the team” in order to have “a recipe for success,” he said.

“Wins” may be defined as winning a new company to the area or keeping existing companies local, while “losses” or setbacks are losing out on a prospect or a local business closure.

But, Schwedler said, the work of economic development actually goes much deeper than that.

Many factors come into play for the success of “an entire economic ecosystem” today.

“Your pencil has to be sharp in as many of those key factors as possible,” Schwedler said. “In other words, take absolute advantage of your assets in your community, and work to strengthen your weaknesses. And identify your opportunities locally, and address your threats. And when you do that from a wholistic standpoint, you begin to see progress being made.”

However, economic development is a slow process, and things do not happen overnight, he added.

“You have to really prepare as a farmer would do the soil conditions of your local economy,”

Schwedler said. “And that is what we try to do collectively as leaders within the community in various organizations. There is no one entity that has the ability to do it on its own. Everybody has to be working together. While we are the development board and it is our mission to foster economic development, all the other partners that are involved as a part of Team Sumter really contribute beautifully to the system that allows us to see wins.”

Losses do happen along the way in the form of companies closing down and life cycles of businesses maturing, but it is essential to make progress and have a plan when surprises do occur, he said.

That “game plan” includes strengthening local industrial parks and working behind the scenes and in partnership with educational entities on all levels to boost the local talent pool and workforce.

“We are not the author of workforce development by any means,” Schwedler said, “but we are a partner there as well. Economic development is really a unique environment by which the team is a very gelled entity working collectively. And I think our people and participants in the process of economic development give us probably as much advantage as any community because we can get things done.”

Given wins and losses in the ever-changing 21st century economy, Schwedler’s team is “constantly recruiting to win projects that want to be good, corporate citizens,” he said. Success really boils down to the people who compose your community, Schwedler added.

“The people make a community,” he said. “The people make a company. The people make a brand. The people make anything. It boils down to the people. And that has been always our competitive advantage. We have had many successes in economic development. Obviously, there have been some big wins, but the small wins are just as important as the large wins.”