We
have come a long way, and as the saying goes, we still
have a long way to go and much to accomplish. However,
we at the DBJ feel the publication is making a difference
in our region of Mississippi in regard to many things
including being used as a tool for economic development
by entities within the Delta, the state, and beyond.
Several weeks ago, I had a local economic developer
tell me that in the past year, three corporate prospects
who were looking at the Delta for an expansion and in
one instance, to relocate their entire company, went
out of their way to find an issue of the DBJ after hearing
about the paper in order to obtain some sense of the
Delta's business climate because "local newspapers
in various communities did not provide this information".
One of these companies wrote that Ò...we were
extremely impressed and somewhat surprised to learn
of the many varied and successful businesses featured
in that issue of the Delta Business Journal and it was
mainly due to the DBJ that we decided to move forward
with our plans to explore the possibilities for our
company in the Mississippi Delta.Ó
For
us at the DBJ, we cannot begin to tell you how much
this letter validated our mission: to raise the flag
on the positives of our region of the state and to show
the state and the world that first class companies can
exist and thrive in the Mississippi Delta and win on
an international basis. Viking Range Corporation in
Greenwood, and Delta & Pine Land in Scott come to
mind very quickly. There are many more. With this cheerleader
attitude at the DBJ, is it our opinion that ALL things
in the Mississippi Delta are perfect? Absolutely not.
Business climate wise, ÒthingsÓ are not
perfect in Silicon Valley either or in downtown Manhattan.
Lets face it: we in the Mississippi Delta are located
in the poorest region of the U.S. Education and training
continue to be great challenges. Progress is being made
in both of these areas, but our journey down this road
will not end anytime soon. However, our business and
political leaders and our education institutions are
fighting each and every day to move our region forward
across the board.
Every
month, we at the DBJ explore all of this issues and
we invite you to not only read our monthly editions,
we invite you to begin viewing our weekly online edition.
We also encourage you to communicate with us - what
do you like about the DBJ, or new web site? What do
you not like about either? We want to know.
Many thanks for reading the DBJ and for exploring our
web site. We look forward to hearing from you.
Scott
Coopwood
Publisher
Delta Business Journal |
