2. WHO WE ARE:
Dr. Herbert Nold – Professor of Business Administration with a doctorate in Organizational Leadership
Lisa A. Jones – Prevention Program Manager at Central Florida Behavioral Health Network responsible for federal
funding of over $8 million for substance abuse prevention
Cindy Lambeth – Global Logistics Specialist & Export Compliance Specialist at Ferguson Enterprises
Rosemary Cottrell – 2014 graduate of Business Information Technology & Oxford University Graduate Scholar
3. Fast facts about Florida
• 4th largest state in the U.S., 3rd largest in population
• 2nd largest foreign trade zone
• 1 of 5 exporting companies is located in Florida
• 15 deep water ports and 19 commercial airports
• Multiple tax incentives for capital investment, research and
development, job creation
• No personal income tax or sales tax on manufacturing equipment
• 12 state universities, 28 state colleges, and 33 private colleges
5. Fast facts about Polk County
• 100 miles away from 9 million people
• Similar agricultural climate to Brazil
• Strong, affordable labor force
• Many opportunities for investment connected to the
tourism industry
• Active and robust business development councils
7. Manufacturing and Construction
400 manufacturing companies of all sizes in Polk (food, chemicals,
paper, building materials, technologies)
Manufacturing and Supply Chain Alliance of Mid-Florida
Polk State College & Florida Polytechnic University manufacturing
programs
Opportunity for potential business relationships with local
corporations
8. Financial Services and Investing
• Florida High Tech Corridor Council
• Targeted Industries:
• Aviation & Aerospace
• Digital Media/Interactive Entertainment
• Financial Services
• Information Technologies
• Microelectronics/Nanotechnology
• Modeling, Simulation, & Training
• Optics and Photonics
• Sustainable Energy
9. Travel, Culture, and Tourism
• Opportunities for growth in tourism,
resort, and travel industries
• Custom’s office will be opening in
December 2016
• Professional baseball teams Spring
Training
10. Logistics and Supply Chain Management
• Assistance to match needs with market supply
• Possible business relationships
• CSX
11. Aviation
• Opportunity for recruiting and training
• Efficient and cost effective
• Flight School USA and Aerospace degree at Polk State College
12. Agricultural
• Abundance of affordable land
• Area for potential growth-replacing citrus
• Possible area to grow eucalyptus
• Green zone
• More sustainable than citrus
Dr. Nold to do the introductions and the purpose of the program and presentation/research
*We would like to take a moment to thank Marco and Grace along with the all the members of the G100 for providing the opportunity to not only Cindy and myself, but to Central Florida and Polk County to research the potential for many opportunities with Brazil.
We started this research project last fall and have been able to talk with quite a few partners in our community from the business aspect as well as some Brazilian entrepreneurs in Polk County. It has been a great learning experience and process we hope you find valuable.
We did not receive the “Strategy for Polk County’s Economic Future” report from SRI International until recently, but as you read through it you will realize there are many similarities to our research.
As the recent report from SRI starts off, Polk County and the Central Florida region are poised for significant economic growth, and transformation in the coming years.
This is supported by strong locational assets, a business-friendly economic climate; and a community-focused, family-friendly quality of life.
We are here to introduce you to the advantages of doing business in Central Florida, specifically Polk County.
Along with having a Pro Business Governor, as the slide points out Florida is the 4th largest state in the US
3rd largest in population and the 2nd largest foreign trade zone.
Cindy, will you tell us more about the trade incentives?
Refer to Aviation article in The Ledger, SRI
One of the most connected locations in the Southeast, (colleges, highways, railways) (benefit: logistics infrastructure has already been established).
This map shows an overview of Central Florida, highlighting Polk County. As you can tell, we are very connected within the state of Florida and beyond!
Logistics:
4 seaports within an hour’s drive. Two major seaports are Port Canaveral and Port of Tampa and two smaller
4 local airports and 2 major international airports-Tampa and Orlando
Lakeland Linder Airport-will have custom’s office in late 2016
More rail miles than any other community in Florida, major CXS terminal recently opened in Winter Haven
Access to 4 major roadways-I75 & I 95 run north and south and I-4 and Hwy 60 run east and west connecting them ? Provide access to the entire Eastern United States up through Canada
4th largest land mass in Florida, Larger than the state of Rhode Island
7 colleges and universities and 6 technical schools: trained workforce ready to go to work
Polk County is nestled in the heartland region of central Florida, as noted by Cindy, being connected to both coast by the Interstate 4, we are within 100 miles of 9 million people. –shows there is a market
Our agricultural climate is very similar to Brazil. –mention eucalyptus?
There is a diverse workforce (highly trained, diverse in age & culture, offering a robust range of talent)
Tourism investment (Disney, Universal, LEGOLAND) and events; one being vacation housing opportunities abound with the central location between Tampa and Orlando
Business development councils offer a wealth of opportunities for assistance to bring in new businesses. Some of these include Central Florida Development Council, Lakeland, Winter Haven, Haines City, Brazil-Florida Business Council, and Enterprise Florida
The biggest part of our research was seeking opportunities where you could grow your business, connect with others to do a joint venture or enhance your workforce.
We will briefly discuss 7 various sectors.
Within the research paper and the SRI report, each of these have been expounded on in greater detail. As you will notice during this presentation and within the research paper and the SRI report, some of these sectors crossover into other sectors.
Manufacturing and Supply Chain Alliance-promotes and supports growth of manufacturers and their suppliers, partnering with workforce training organizations to obtain funding for their training programs for manufacturer and their suppliers
Polk State College at Clear Springs and Florida Poly- Technic have Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering Technology degrees as well as supply chain management.
An example of development would be construction of vacation homes for those coming from other countries to visit the theme parks.
Our region has established several business incubators and accelerators to promote the emergence of new enterprises which offer investing opportunities.
Florida Polytechnic University has recently established an office to facilitate the process of developing practical applications for technological innovations emerging from university research.
Some of the development involves matching funds research, workforce development, supported by a regional marketing program.
There are many who come to Florida to enjoy the warmer weather in the winter with an increase during spring break also during the spring training for baseball. Detroit Tigers (training in Lakeland with AAA minor team), New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros all have training camps within Florida. The Tampa Bay Rays are based in St. Petersburgh.
With the opening of LEGOLAND, there has been an increase with families coming into Polk County with younger children along with International travelers. Since LEGOLAND opened their hotel, more families are staying for more than a day at the park.
There is a wealth of Arts and Culture within Polk County with various events throughout the year to capitalize on.
With close proximity to both Orlando and Tampa, tourism is an increase niche sector for Polk County.
Orlando is home to the Orlando Magic basketball, Orlando City Soccer, and 2 major theme parks (Universal Studios and of course, Disney World.
The Tampa area is has Tampa Buccaneers football and Busch Gardens theme park. Close by in St. Petersburgh is the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team and #1 beach in the United States
As we stated earlier, the custom’s office will be opening in December 2016 at the Lakeland Linder Airport, this will add more opportunities for foreign travelers to come straight into Polk County.
This industry is growing and this is prime opportunity to help shape the tourism market and develop partnerships for new hotels, restaurants, or shopping locations. There are Brazilian communities within Polk County in Davenport.
Pictured on the slide is the new CSX terminal opened to distribute goods to the Eastern US
Show CSX article from the Ledger
We have a well-established strength in transportation and distribution towards higher-tech and higher-value activities within Polk County.
There are 1,119 transportation/distribution companies and 534 manufacturing firms
According to the SRI report, the Lakeland-Winter Haven MSA (metropolitan statistic area) ranked 4th out of the nations top 100 metro areas for manufacturing jobs as a share of all jobs in 2010. This industry also provides the connection to the international markets and export revenues.
Ferguson Enterprises picked this location because of the many tax incentives it was offered, the cheap land, affordable labor, and most importantly the central location. Polk County is in the center of the state, giving equal access to not only Tampa and Orlando but also Miami and Jacksonville, where there are even larger ports to import and export goods
With the climate being very conducive to training for aviation, Polk County is positioned to help develop the next generation of pilots.
We have the Aerospace degree at Polk State College as one of approximately 50 colleges and universities in the nation participating in the ExpressJet Airline Pilot Pathway Program.
Recently, the city and council have voted to provide incentives to and unnamed aircraft maintenance company to open within Polk County; presumably at the Lakeland Linder Airport.
** See Ledger Article (250 jobs…)
Polk County has established strengths with in the agribusiness, but with the greening occurring with in the citrus plants, there is a need to focus on diversifying into future-oriented and higher-value crops. This also leads into expanding research and advancing capabilities in the food and agri-sciences and technologies.
The Florida Citrus Commission is cutting back by 1/3 due to the loss of the crops. This is prime sector for research and development.
With the abundance of land, this could be an area of opportunity. One idea we have researched was the growing of eucalyptus trees. The weather is similar to Brazil and could replace some of the citrus crops.
Polk County has strong colleges to help educate and train those wanting to enter into the field of information technology. But this also melds into software development, media & design services, consulting & research, marketing, advertising, & branding services, data centers, call services, & customer services, and IT services & consulting.
Bill Gates invested $1 billion in the “high-tech corridor”-describe this
Polk State offers a bachelor of applied science with a concentration in Business Information Technology and Florida Polytechnic University is located in Lakeland and is entirely focused on STEM programs (science, technology, engineering, and math)
Several companies such as Sprint have located their call centers in Lakeland because of the opportunity for skilled, low-cast labor and shared business service operations
There is a great deal more information on the attachments and the research paper.
We have only touched on some to help stimulate your imaginations.
Should you desire to have some local research or groundwork completed and help facilitating connections to the appropriate groups, please contact Dr. Nold with Agility Insights.
We appreciate your time and hope this presentation spurs further discussions.
Now let’s take a few moments open up for questions.
