NOW ON THE JOB: SHREVEPORT'S ECONOMIC DIRECTOR

William Sabo addressed the Shreveport City Council on Monday, Oct.7, and shared his economic philosophy. On Tuesday, Oct.8, he was approved by the Council as the next Economic Development Director for Shreveport. He assumed his duties on Nov.1.

Here is a summary of his comments on economic development:

1. It takes government, private business and educational and training institutions to really
make economic development work.

2. The foundation of economic development is workforce development. If you don't have the workers then people will not come here with their companies.

3. You must make it easy for companies to come here. A one time, one stop shop at city hall is at the top of my agenda. It must be easy to do business with the City and the City must be welcoming---government, existing businesses and citizens.

4. Recruitment aside, the second stage to economic development is retention. These are the businesses that are going to hire people that we train first. They are going to expand, and they are going to grow.

5. It's small businesses that really provide job opportunities. The goal is to have economic gardening which means getting a lot of different types of businesses with diversity of ownership.

6. Working with each council member to identify areas to promote and areas that need increased attention and resources is a top priority with me.

Sabo stated that his first eight months on the job will be learning the nuances of the City and each council district along with meeting with existing economic development entities.

Sabo is the only certified entrepreneur development professional in Arkansas where he presently works and to his knowledge the only one in Louisiana.