Photo courtesy of Jim Weber
I NAUGUR AL STATE OF THE ECONOMY R E CA P
Memphis is on a roll, call for increased spending between local businesses By Apryl Childs-Potter
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wo major themes emerged from the Greater Memphis Chamber’s inaugural State of the Economy event: positive momentum is changing the narrative about the city in Nashville and a concerted effort to increase spending between local businesses is key to accelerating economic growth in the Bluff City. Memphis is moving in the right direction and the state is taking notice. That was the message from Bob Rolfe to a crowd of nearly 300 business leaders at the event, which was sponsored by Paragon Bank. “The narrative has changed...your city and your county are in a great place, and we will be back with additional announcements,” Rolfe said. On the heels of the most significant day for economic development in modern history for Downtown Memphis, Rolfe joined Larry Jensen, President & CEO of Cushman & Wakefield | Commercial Advisors for a panel discussion on the local, state and national economy. The panel was moderated by David Waddell,
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President & CEO of Waddell & Associates. Jensen said roughly $19 billion in new projects were either planned, underway or completed since 2014, but noted that more should be done to spread the investment across the community’s geographic footprint. Waddell credited strong collaboration between the public and private sectors in Memphis and Shelby County for the recent string of headquarters relocation announcements that will bring FedEx Logistics, Indigo Ag and Mimeo to or near Downtown Memphis. MEMPHIS-FIRST APPROACH COULD SPUR SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH While new investment and relocations are getting headlines, Waddell stressed that a concerted effort to increase spending between existing local businesses could create catalytic change for the city. “Small and locally-owned businesses create the majority of the jobs in the economy and we’ve
