Manatee County has more to offer than just beautiful beaches. It also is home to innovative companies and businesses. The county is headquarters for publicly held companies like Sun Hydraulics and Gevity HR. It also is where the nation’s supply of Tropicana orange juice is shipped from. A couple of decades ago, Nancy Engel of the Manatee Economic Development Council recalls boat-builders and food services companies dominated the landscape. Not anymore. Today Manatee still has boat-builders like Chris-Craft and food services companies like Sysco Food Services-West Coast Fla., but there are also companies like Biolife, maker of a medical product that stops bleeding, and Hoveround, a company that manufactures electric scooters for the elderly and disabled.
RESPONDING TO MARKET CHANGES
“When I first came over 24 years ago, we had very different companies,” Engel said. “We understood their product. They had potential for high growth, but things didn’t move on such a fast pace. Nowadays, innovation — and that’s across even traditional companies — and the ability to respond to market changes really drives a lot of the success.” Of course, like the rest of the country, Manatee County has taken its knocks in the current economy. The housing boom of the early- to mid-2000s meant construction jobs were plentiful. When the bottom fell out of the market around 2006, it sent reverberations throughout the county. But experts are optimistic that will all change. However, that doesn’t mean the county is waiting around for it to happen.
BUSINESS RECRUITMENT
Manatee County officials are concentrating on attracting “value-added” industries and businesses — ones that sell their goods and services to places outside the local area, thereby bringing new dollars into the community. Bob Bartz, president of the Manatee Chamber of Commerce, said those jobs typically pay 115 percent of the national annual wage and literally breathe new life into the community by way of outside dollars. “If I make a dollar here by selling you an ice cream cone and I take that dollar and I buy a loaf of bread, the dollar just keeps circulating within the community. So we need that introduction of new dollars. It’s important.” But that’s not to say the county doesn’t have companies already competing on a national and global scale. Take for instance Pierce Manufacturing. The division of Oshkosh Corp. with 400 workers makes emergency vehicles and recently announced a $28 million contract with the U.S. Army for a water distribution and tactical support vehicle. There also is Eaton Corp., a firm with 300 employees that makes electronics components for the aerospace industry. “We’re not a one-company town,” Engel said.
CREATING RIGHT CLIMATE
Manatee County also possesses something that makes it a magnet for savvy professionals and semi-retired executives: Its beautiful beaches and pleasant climate. Not only does that create a good base of senior-level employees from which companies can recruit, but it also produces local entrepreneurs. That has spawned everything from biomedical start-ups to companies that serve the defense industry. Experts believe such entrepreneurship will help the area weather the current economic slump and the lag in the housing market.
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