At the 2017 Conference on Technology Innovation, Jon Maynard spoke on how economic developers should target “tropical fish” in their growth strategies instead of “big whales.” The goal—make your city a better place to live, and the jobs will follow.
“In Oxford, Mississippi we’ve been doing ‘tropical fish’ development for [30 plus] years,” said Jon Maynard, president of the Oxford-Lafayette County Economic Development Foundation. That’s in contrast to “big whales” economic development, where you grow and nurture smaller businesses instead of trying to “buy” big new businesses to the area with incentive packages.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” Maynard said. By focusing on “tropic fish” development—a human-level focus, you can get growth like Oxford has experienced; the Oxford “micropolitan” area ranks 32nd in the country for growth metrics.
Other “micropolitan” areas in Mississippi are going the wrong way.
Maynard says the solutions are to focus on recruiting people, not companies; “shop local” programs that support local businesses, communicating (including and especially about community challenges) and “give a damn.” Make sure you pay attention to the little things.
