There’s a saying in business: Success
comes to those who get there first.
That absolutely describes the experience of visionary CEOs and entrepreneurs
who have anticipated the growth in the
greater Tampa Bay area, established businesses and capitalized on the region’s burgeoning prosperity. But the window of
opportunity is far from closed according to
Brian Keenan, president and CEO of Fifth
Third Bank (Tampa Bay), and he has lots of
companies supporting his conclusions.
In a June 2007 survey Moody’s rated
Tampa as No. 15 on its vitality index, and in
its 2006 Competitive Alternatives Study,
conducted among cities with populations
exceeding 1.5 million, KPMG rated Tampa
as the No. 2 city in the country in terms of
having the lowest cost of doing business. In
order to maximize the area’s potential
through expansion or relocation, CEOs
must run some financial forecasts to estimate their return and know how to tap
local resources to develop the models.
“Historically, Florida was known for
tourism and agriculture, but now Tampa is
a leader in high-tech, manufacturing and
service industries,” says Keenan. “There’s a
deep talent pool in Tampa Bay, but like
many places, it’s sill a competitive labor
market because we’ve averaged more than
11 percent job growth annually over the last
six years.”
Smart Business spoke with Keenan
about the greater Tampa Bay marketplace
and how CEOs can position their companies for success.
What else is contributing toward Tampa Bay’s
growth?
More than 80 million baby boomers will
soon be retiring, and many of those
retirees, who are currently residing in the
Northeast and the Midwest, will head south
and east into Florida, following I-75. That
migration will create new markets through
sheer increased population growth, and the
resulting ethnic diversity growth within the
region is opening up niche market opportunities. We have a very active local economic development group targeting both company expansion prospects and corporate headquarters relocation prospects within
industries, such as life sciences/biomedical,
microelectronics, and financial and information services. While there’s been a recent
trend toward saturation in some local business sectors, such as start-up restaurants
and support centers for financial services,
an increase in the presence of larger companies will open doors for many small business owners to play a supporting role.
How can CEOs compete in the local labor
market?
The good news is that quality of life is
rated very high, and there are more than
138,000 students attending college in the
greater Tampa area, many of whom represent tomorrow’s work force. While relocations to the Tampa area are still rising, there
are several concerns in that area, such cost
of living, taxes and insurance. The price in
May 2007 of an existing three-bedroom
home in Hillsborough County was
$207,000, and that alone helps control
wages for small business owners. However,
in order to compete for talent and keep that
talent on board, CEOs must establish their
companies as employers-of-choice within
the Tampa Bay area, and achieving that status requires competitive benefit packages.
Local survey data is available to help CEOs
assess their competitive position relative to
benefit and retirement packages. At Fifth
Third, we recognized that turnover is higher in smaller businesses, so we’ve added
additional services for those clients offering
banking discounts and a personal banker
specifically assigned to their company who
can assist with advice and financial education for the employees. Offering financial
literacy programs, first-time home-buying
seminars, and investment and retirement
seminars has helped our clients attract and
retain employees.
Is it possible to obtain financing for expansion into Tampa Bay given the current lending climate?
There are financing options available
despite tighter lending policies. The credit
market is tightening; the time to look for
credit is not necessarily when you need it.
Be proactive, get a strategy in place and
plan. We are consistently helping our
clients plan for tomorrow, today.
What resources will CEOs need to expand?
In addition to market-specific data,
employees and expansion funds, CEOs will
need vendor networks and local business
relationships to help them succeed, and
their financial partner should put them in
touch with those resources. Tampa Bay has
outstanding data capabilities, and in August
2006, Forbes ranked Tampa as the seventh
most wired city in the U.S. Having a strong
information technology infrastructure is
another vital resource for business expansion. Certainly, I recommend that CEOs
quantify expansion opportunities through
ROI modelling. The data is available to
assess the opportunity and many CEOs
might find that launching a new business or
expanding an existing one within the
greater Tampa Bay area might prove to be
very lucrative indeed.
BRIAN KENNAN is a president and CEO of Fifth Third Bank’s
Tampa Bay Affiliate. Reach him at (813) 306-2453 or
[email protected].