Brian Tapp, director of outreach with the Douglas C. Greene Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Southeast Missouri State University, told the Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission (BRPC) that small business accounts for 80 percent of the jobs created in Missouri. His comments came at a meeting of the BRPC. He went on to state that "entrepreneurship is the direction for job creation" in Southeast Missouri and the state.
Tapp said the Greene Center serves 24 counties in Southeast Missouri. The Center starts at the ground floor with an entrepreneur helping with business concept development, market research and analysis, and pricing and financial projects. The Center also provides face-to-face training and consulting, as well as helping new business owners find financing through regional SBA commercial lenders or small business micro-lenders.
Justin Probst, also with the Center, told the commission that he works in the field and has presented classes at the Malden, Kennett and Sikeston SEMO campuses. He said there were 4,500 participants last year.
Tapp estimated that 307 businesses were created, providing 573 jobs with a $30 million impact on
the regional economy through the creation or expansion of small businesses. All these businesses had 25 employees or less. He said these statistics show that small business is the direction in which government and business leaders need to be headed for job creation.
Southeast Missouri State University offers a management major option in entrepreneurship, a minor in entrepreneurship (any major), an agriculture/horticulture entrepreneurship minor and minors in several other fields, including fashion, health management and industrial engineering. They also offer a MBA option in entrepreneurship.
Agriculture is the basis for many small businesses in Southeast Missouri, Tapp said. He believes there are many opportunities and that people just need a business plan for their ideas.
Operation Jump Start, a program offered by the Greene Center, goes into local communities like Dexter to foster entrepreneurship. The Center just completed a six-week course in Dexter and helped a local small business get started.
Tapp said the next focus of the Center will be to introduce entrepreneurship in the school systems in the area to begin educating students about small business creation "at an early age."
Tapp said he came to Southeast Missouri from Iowa. He said he had been impressed with the entrepreneurship of people in the area, which he said was high compared to other areas of the country.
In other business, BRPC Executive Director Steve Duke reported that the flood plain zones reports were 60 percent complete in the counties. He noted that Stoddard County was one of the sponsoring counties. He said Stoddard County was approved last week by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
Duke also said all six counties that are in the BRPC have approved a Hazard Mitigation Plan as prepared by the BRPC. He said there had been no cost to the counties, cities and school districts for this service. The plan is needed for many construction projects, including FEMA Safe Room construction. He said not all counties and cities have approved the plan.
"One district refused to approve the plan," Duke said. He didn't understand why they refused, and it could pose a problem for future development in that district.
There was a short presentation on the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Priorities Committee meeting. Duke said the committee had prioritized 50 transportation projects for STIP funds. The top priorities included the highway interchange in Scott City, a four-lane highway from Caruthersville to Hayti, a four-lane highway from Kennett to the Arkansas state line, and an extension of Business 60 in Sikeston.
Dexter City Manager Mark Stidham, a member of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Transportation in Missouri, said the committee had held a series of meetings across the state to gain input on ways to raise revenue for transportation. He said federal funds will "dry up" by 2018. The committee will make a recommendation about raising money for transportation sometime in December so that a proposal could be put on the 2014 ballot, Stidham said.
Willard Adams with BRPC said the tire pick-up program in the counties was ending. He said it had been a very good and successful program, but the Department of Natural Resources was no longer funding it. He said counties were unhappy with the decision to end the program. He did say that a new e-waste roundup was being planned and that one would be held in each of the six counties that make up the BRPC.