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Proud to CHOOSE GREATER PEORIA

January 30, 2025

The Power of What We Have

If I am being completely honest, too much time, money, and energy is given to the business attraction efforts in economic development. Cities, counties, states and organizations like ours place ads in trade magazines, build relationships with site selectors, attend trade shows, pay for “lead generation” services, and attend conferences. It certainly has value and is an important part of the job. But I have repeated the following truism so often that I’m not sure where I first heard it: More than 80% of a community’s jobs come from the companies that it already has. And frankly, I think it might be higher than that.

Everyone loves a nice groundbreaking or ribbon cutting and new investment usually means new jobs. But “new investment” is not limited to outside investment. When a company that is already here expands, that’s investment, too. Think of one of Greater Peoria’s largest employers, Caterpillar. Though actually “business attraction” at its start, they have been a mainstay of the region for nearly a century. As Caterpillar grew over those years, it added factories and offices, employed thousands, and also helped build a local supply chain of smaller, independent companies. OSF Healthcare, the region’s other biggest employer, grew from a smallish hospital established in 1877 to one of the largest healthcare systems in Illinois – all from our backyard.

Those are just two examples of why Greater Peoria EDC is focusing more effort on connecting with the businesses that are already here. These one-on-one meetings with the key leaders of local businesses, sometimes called “business retention and expansion” (BRE) visits, are one of the cornerstone activities in economic development. The meetings hope to accomplish a few things. First, we just want to learn about the business. What do they do? Who are their customers? Where are they growing? What is their future? Second, we look to identify areas where we think we might help. This might be a referral to a local resource, information about local or state government processes, assistance with grants or other incentives, or advice about everything from workforce to supply chains. A recent visit I did with a well established business generated four different referrals to help them address needs and opportunities. Third, when we have enough conversations with our business community, we can start spotting trends and opportunities for improvement. That helps us fuel regional economic strategies and provide valuable feedback to our partners.

And lest you think that growing our existing businesses has nothing to do with business attraction, let me tell you a story. Recently, Viridis Chemical announced that they will be relocating their ethyl acetate plant from Nebraska to Peoria, locating on land adjacent to the BioUrja ethanol plant near downtown Peoria (formerly ADM). Why did Viridis end up in Peoria of all places? Because they are a customer of BioUrja. BioUrja recognized that they were shipping ethanol hundreds of miles by train (a 10-day journey on freight rails) and suggested to Viridis that they move closer. The savings to Viridis will be tremendous: not only do they reduce transport costs almost entirely, they also basically their entire need to store the raw material (ethanol) for their process. An established Greater Peoria business is responsible for attracting a brand-new business. While this happened on its own, one of the outcomes of our business visits is to hopefully identify opportunities exactly like it.

If you are a business owner or leader, particularly of a company that does much of its sales outside the region, drop me a line. We’d love to meet with you to learn more about your business and to see if there are ways to help.