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NEWS: Buffalo Niagara Enterprise
For Immediate Release: October 1, 2010
 
For Information Contact:
Paul S. Pfeiffer
Director, Investor & Public Relations
(716) 842-1357, ext. 118 or cell: (716) 913-6283

BNE Presents Annual Numbers, Strategic Plan

Buffalo, NY – Emphasizing the need to be smart, fast and well resourced, the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise today released their 2010-2011 Strategic Plan and 2009-2010 Annual Report via electronic distribution of an interactive PDF document to investors and economic development partners.  The new format for reporting results was designed to enhance the documents effectiveness as a marketing and public relations tool while also saving monies that can now be channeled into research, marketing and business development programs. 

BNE reported 9 new project “wins” for the fiscal year, representing $11.8 million in new private sector investment.   A “win” is defined as a commitment by a BNE client managed company to invest in new or expanded business operations.  While economic and recessionary factors drove win and investment numbers down from last year, the positive job impact on the region from the 9 wins saw an increase of more than 700 from last year going to 2,079 (578 new jobs pledged and 1,501 jobs retained). 
 
“The positive employment impact of over 2,000 jobs is very significant in our community.  However, severe state, national and global recessions have impacted economic development policies and practices, and the win and investment numbers we report this year are down from previous years,” said National Fuel Gas Company President & CEO David F. Smith, Chairman of BNE’s Board of Directors.  While this dynamic has affected peer organizations in competing regions around the country, Smith also said that he believes the BNE’s strong research initiatives and major investments in tool kit items will make the organization stronger and more effective going forward.  “BNE’s rapidly increasing number of prospects, record activity levels, the strength and uniqueness of our regional assets all point to our region being well positioned to succeed as our economy recovers,” Smith added.

BNE’s nine wins were in five different targeted industry clusters, reflecting diversity in the regional economy that economists say is one reason why it has weathered the recession better than most other areas of the United States.  The emphasis on attracting Canadian business has
continued to pay dividends as five of the nine wins were Canadian companies expanding into the region.  After re-focusing their efforts three years ago back to their core mission of attracting investment from outside the region, 2009-2010 marked the first time in BNE’s 11 year history where 100% of their wins were attraction based.

Another example of BNE maximizing limited resources this past year were joint marketing initiatives like CanAm Wind Energy, a collaboration between BNE, the Greater Rochester Enterprise and the Niagara Economic Development Corporation in southern Ontario, and the New York Loves Clean Tech initiative.  Sponsored by BNE investor National Grid, NY Loves Clean Tech is a green industries marketing effort that pools the collective strengths and regional assets of the BNE, Empire State Development and four other upstate economic development organizations. 

The successful marketing effort helped to generate 97 new leads and 25 new projects for the BNE last year.  These numbers were significant to the BNE as restocking their pipeline of activity had been a primary goal for the last two years. 

“Our project portfolio has been more robust than at any other time in our history, and the strong number of leads and projects generated last year added significantly to the total body of work that we are currently managing,” said BNE President & CEO Thomas A. Kucharski.  “Right now in this business climate however, companies are very much taking a wait and see approach before committing to expansion or re-location projects.  Around the country and around the globe they are taking more time examining economic and political factors before pulling the trigger,” he added. 

Support of Kucharski’s assessment is found among peer economic development organizations that the BNE benchmarks itself against.  In seven of these groups who report comparable information, five of them saw reductions in the number of wins reported. 

This dynamic has not dissuaded BNE’s efforts, but instead allowed them to commit resources to different priorities that will enhance their competitiveness.  Among those were the Green Industries Study released earlier this year, the recently unveiled Labor Market Assessment and the implementation of GIS Planning and the ZoomProspector.com website to supplement the Buffalo Niagara Commercial Listing System.  A Life Sciences Research Study and Strategic Marketing Plan was completed last year, while additional business and industry intelligence resulted in the former back office cluster evolving into the newly renamed and redefined Advanced Business Services. 

“I believe we entered the 2010-2011 year with solid research, a compelling message and a targeted business development approach that will be successful in persuading companies to invest in our region as the overall economy improves,” said Kucharski.

Those same sentiments were shared by International Economic Development Council President & CEO Jeff Finkle, who shared his thoughts and opinions on the future of the economic development industry with BNE investors when he was in town last week.

“It’s a tough time out there, and it’s a time when organizations that are smart, fast and well resourced will do well.  What’s working best is consistency.  Those groups that maintain their investor base, consistently send out their messages and follow up with prospects even when they are not ready to move are the organizations that are going to win over the long haul,” said Finkle.  “I think this organization has that type of investor base, has that type of staff and has that type of consistency that should serve it well,” Finkle added.

BNE Chairman Dave Smith said that his confidence and optimism moving forward also stemmed from the generous support of BNE investors.  “We concluded our 2009-2010 year with a 92% retention rate, and we entered the new fiscal year with a budget that is 97% private sector funded.  This extraordinary level of support is a great testament to the leadership provided by our region’s private sector,” Smith said.  “I want to sincerely thank each investor, and my fellow board members, on behalf of our staff, the hundreds of companies we have assisted over the years and the over 30,000 employees holding jobs created and retained through the BNE’s efforts,” the chairman concluded. 

To view the 2009-2010 Annual Report and 2010-2011 Strategic Plan interactive document, go to www.buffaloniagara.org/Home/About_BNE/AnnualReport.

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Buffalo Niagara Enterprise is the point of contact for business attraction and expansion for the eight counties of Western New York.  For information on doing business in the Buffalo
Niagara region, visit www.buffaloniagara.org.