- Steve Ahlenius of the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce talks about economic growth and the future of the area. Ahlenius says Beaumont is poised for growth and development of small businesses.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
And today we're talking with Steve Alaneuswith the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce,
the president and the CEO. Andthank you for spending some time with us
today. Well, Jim, thankyou for email on your show. And
there's a lot of exciting things happeningin Beaumont, happening with the Chamber.
I know that one of your focusis with the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce
(00:24):
is economic expansion and developing the economyin Beaumont and Southeast Texas. Absolutely,
you know, I remind folks thatthe purpose of our chamber is to grow
the economy, help businesses be successfuland have a positive impact. If we
do those things that I think we'redoing the right things, and we're going
to have a successful, growing Chamberof Commerce, but more importantly, a
(00:45):
successful and growing business climate. Well, of course, we have a lot
of industry here, a huge amountof construction right now. Many of us
feel like when we see these nationalstories about the economy and the national stories
about everything, they just don't pertainto Southeast Texas. It seems we have
a more positive outlook and perhaps amore positive potential. Absolutely, you know,
(01:11):
I've been I've been here almost ninemonths now, and I've just been
amazed at the foundational things that Beaumonthas in terms of industry, in terms
of workforce and some of those keythings that you need to grow and take
advantage of what's happening and not onlythe national economy but the global economy,
and I think Beaumont is well positionedto do that. And there's some really
(01:34):
key things I think as we moveforward that you're going to see opportunities happen
here. Beaumont actually does have aglobal footprint, doesn't it. It does.
It's huge and people don't realize Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know,
you look at what comes out ofthe out of the refineries and out
of the petrochemical industry, and it'sobviously going global. And with Ellen g
(01:56):
happening, you know that's going tobe another you know, that's been an
amazing pivot to watch where it wasoriginally designed to be imported into the United
States and now immediately and everything that'shappened over the last two years now they've
switched to exporting LNG and so it'sit's just an amazing process to watch.
And of course all of these industriesand many of them large industries in the
(02:16):
area. Does that lead to thechambers ability with economic development to bring in
smaller allied industries that these large industriesneed. Absolutely, And what you're referring
to is what we call cluster industriesthat support those bigger industries. And Beaumont
(02:37):
and this region Southeast Texas has areal strong cluster as far as petrochemical.
You have folks that are well trainedor well versed that are you know,
I guess certified to work in theplants and so you see that, you
know, the depth of the benchin terms of town is pretty deep here.
Well, now what are you doingat the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce
(02:57):
in terms of economic development? Again, what steps are you taking? You
have a couple of programs underway.It's going to be very beneficial to bringing
business in. Well, very excited. Just this Tuesday, the City of
Beaumont agreed to fund a pilot project, or what I call as a demonstration
project for two things. One iswhat we call a Growth and Expansion Fund,
(03:19):
which is up to fifteen thousand dollars. That is a grant. It's
not alone, it doesn't have tobe repaid back for businesses that are older
than five years old, that arelooking to expand, have a new product,
maybe they want to bring into themarket, maybe they're wanting to do
on e commerce, a website,redesign, marketing, whatever it is.
(03:40):
It is a competitive process. Insteadof shark tank, I call it dolphin
tank. They will they go througha rigorous process in terms of submitting a
business plan and then there's certain criteriasthat the judges are going to look at.
But we want to make it ina positive experience. So give those
business as an opportunity to start thinkingabout, Okay, if I want to
(04:02):
grow, what do I need tobe thinking about in the direction I need
to go. They can then usethat money to purchase these items, services,
products, whatever it is, eveninventory. But here's the catch,
Gym. It is that we won'tpay that business directly. We will do
a third party pay, meaning wewill pay that vendor, we'll pay that
(04:23):
marketing firm, we'll pay that softwarecompany that's developing the website, whoever it
is. We won't pay that companydirectly. And again I think this is
the commitment of the City of Beaumontand the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce to
make sure that businesses, small businessesare being successful. You know, sixty
seventy nine percent of all job growthcomes from existing businesses, thirteen percent come
(04:47):
from new businesses coming into the community, and eight percent then come from startups.
People who have the idea, I'mgoing to start my company or a
business, and I'm going to doit here, which really leads into the
next program that's launch. And again, in partnership with the City of Beaumont
and the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce, we're launching the First Step Innovation Grant
program, which is for somebody whohas that next cool idea that they're trying
(05:12):
to get to the marketplace. Thismoney, again it's a grant. It
doesn't have to be repaid. Thismoney is designed to help them move their
idea for it. So maybe theyneed to do a patent, maybe they
need you to a product, aprototype, development, market feasibility website,
the typical things that once you kindof burn through all your friends and family
and giving your money, that you'relooking for help, Yeah, what's my
(05:34):
next step? And again it's likeShark Tank, but we call it Dolphin
Tank. There'll be a panel ofjudges and the idea is for them,
just like if you were going topitch it to an investors, Just like
you're going to pitch it to anangel network or a VC network or early
stage investors. You know, howdo you get people to buy into your
idea, your vision? And again, this is a program designed to create
(05:57):
that innovation within our community and alsosupport and create that ecosystem which is so
critical for our community to be successfulin economic development. And the key thing
is, you know, everyone getsexcited about the new companies coming in and
a lot of times they'll put insentence on the table, you know,
and you talk to existing businesses thathave been here for fifteen or twenty years
(06:17):
and they go, what about us? You know, we've been here all
this time. And this program,these two programs are really designed to foster
and build up our existing small businessesversus throwing money at new businesses coming in.
Again, talking with Steve Allenius withthe Beaumont Chamber of Commerce, creator
Bumont Chamber of Commerce, and we'vebeen talking about industry into these programs,
(06:41):
you have to bring businesses in orhelp existing businesses. Well, one of
you also think about development of Iguess cultural opportunities or one of the criticisms.
Sometimes you hear of the areas,Yes we've got some jobs, and
yes they're well paying jobs, butI don't know that I want to live
(07:01):
here, Maybe I want to liveelsewhere. Will part of the economic development
being encouraging maybe a small business,a small shops, restaurants, development of
downtown, or other things that wouldimprove quality of life. Yeah, Beaumont,
great question, and obviously I callit quality of place. Right.
There was a book written back inthe early two thousand by Jim Call I
(07:23):
mean by Richard Florida called The Riseof the Creative Class, which is based
on that concept, how do youmake your community cool? Because that's where
the millennials, that's where the genz, that's where the next generation are
going to want to go. Andso a part of that is the food
scene. Part of that is liveentertainment and what we kind of call street
level stuff that people can walk inand, you know, sit down and
(07:45):
here a good you know, goodblues you know band, or a good
rock band or whatever they're looking for, right, and Beaumont has some of
those basic elements. You look atdowntown and I'm amazed at the opportunities we
have with downtown Beaumont. You lookat an undeveloped riverfront that goes through downtown,
huge upside that Beaumont is really positioned. I know, and I've said
(08:07):
this many times. I know there'scommunities that would give their eye teeth to
have a river running through it,and here we are sitting on one that's
undeveloped and ready to be his primedfor growth. So we've got a lot
of those elements already here. Thequestion is how do we pull that recipe
together, how do we bring folksand how do we create that opportunity?
(08:28):
And you know, the Innovation Grant, the small business grants, those are
all programs designed to start feeding thatbecause really what we're after is that flywheel
effect of success that somebody sitting andgoes, well, if he was if
he was successful doing that, orshe I can do it, and then
all of a sudden it becomes everyone. You just start building this momentum,
(08:48):
and I think Beaumont is really positionedin order to take advantage and that kind
of development then would inspire. Asyou're talking about some of these very creative
people with creative ideas that may goelsewhere will say, hey, I would
stay in Beaumont place absolutely, youknow, and I know, I know
there's an attraction for a young personfinishing college to look at like an Austin
(09:11):
or Seattle or Boston some of thosebigger cities. Cost of living there is
outrageous, and so we have amuch lower cost of living here, a
much more affordable lifestyle. Housing isstill affordable for a family of four here,
and so Beaumont has those foundational thingsin place that can make a huge
(09:31):
difference. It can make a differenceif someone would like more information, would
like to speak to you, orspeak to someone in the Chamber of find
out about these programs. These aresome amazing programs. Now that you're working
with the City of beaumont Own,how do they do that? Well,
we are going to this is Thursday, but by Monday we will have these
(09:52):
programs up on our website. Theycan go and download the rules and guidelines
and then proceed for it. Withthat. We haven't set the deadline and
when the applications must be in,but it's going to be sometime Midsummer.
We're gonna give folks probably six toeight weeks to get you know, to
get with some to to develop theirbusiness plan and get that ready. They
can go to the Beaumont Chamber ofCommerce dot org. They can they'll be
(10:16):
able to see these programs list onour website and download the information and then
in turn, that's where they'll beable to upload their business plan once it's
completed and they want that's what theywant to submit. So well, we'll
be setting the deadlines probably sometime midJuly for the applications to be in and
then we will have the panel ofjudges. It will be all It will
(10:37):
be a pleasant experience. You know, I want people to walk away encouraged,
not discouraged. You know that soundsgreat. And again, hey,
thanks for spending some time with ustoday about akom To evolvement and just what
the greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce isdoing. Thank you, Jim, Thank
you enjoyed the conversation
And today we're talking with Steve Alaneuswith the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce,
the president and the CEO. Andthank you for spending some time with us
today. Well, Jim, thankyou for email on your show. And
there's a lot of exciting things happeningin Beaumont, happening with the Chamber.
I know that one of your focusis with the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce
(00:24):
is economic expansion and developing the economyin Beaumont and Southeast Texas. Absolutely,
you know, I remind folks thatthe purpose of our chamber is to grow
the economy, help businesses be successfuland have a positive impact. If we
do those things that I think we'redoing the right things, and we're going
to have a successful, growing Chamberof Commerce, but more importantly, a
(00:45):
successful and growing business climate. Well, of course, we have a lot
of industry here, a huge amountof construction right now. Many of us
feel like when we see these nationalstories about the economy and the national stories
about everything, they just don't pertainto Southeast Texas. It seems we have
a more positive outlook and perhaps amore positive potential. Absolutely, you know,
(01:11):
I've been I've been here almost ninemonths now, and I've just been
amazed at the foundational things that Beaumonthas in terms of industry, in terms
of workforce and some of those keythings that you need to grow and take
advantage of what's happening and not onlythe national economy but the global economy,
and I think Beaumont is well positionedto do that. And there's some really
(01:34):
key things I think as we moveforward that you're going to see opportunities happen
here. Beaumont actually does have aglobal footprint, doesn't it. It does.
It's huge and people don't realize Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know,
you look at what comes out ofthe out of the refineries and out
of the petrochemical industry, and it'sobviously going global. And with Ellen g
(01:56):
happening, you know that's going tobe another you know, that's been an
amazing pivot to watch where it wasoriginally designed to be imported into the United
States and now immediately and everything that'shappened over the last two years now they've
switched to exporting LNG and so it'sit's just an amazing process to watch.
And of course all of these industriesand many of them large industries in the
(02:16):
area. Does that lead to thechambers ability with economic development to bring in
smaller allied industries that these large industriesneed. Absolutely, And what you're referring
to is what we call cluster industriesthat support those bigger industries. And Beaumont
(02:37):
and this region Southeast Texas has areal strong cluster as far as petrochemical.
You have folks that are well trainedor well versed that are you know,
I guess certified to work in theplants and so you see that, you
know, the depth of the benchin terms of town is pretty deep here.
Well, now what are you doingat the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce
(02:57):
in terms of economic development? Again, what steps are you taking? You
have a couple of programs underway.It's going to be very beneficial to bringing
business in. Well, very excited. Just this Tuesday, the City of
Beaumont agreed to fund a pilot project, or what I call as a demonstration
project for two things. One iswhat we call a Growth and Expansion Fund,
(03:19):
which is up to fifteen thousand dollars. That is a grant. It's
not alone, it doesn't have tobe repaid back for businesses that are older
than five years old, that arelooking to expand, have a new product,
maybe they want to bring into themarket, maybe they're wanting to do
on e commerce, a website,redesign, marketing, whatever it is.
(03:40):
It is a competitive process. Insteadof shark tank, I call it dolphin
tank. They will they go througha rigorous process in terms of submitting a
business plan and then there's certain criteriasthat the judges are going to look at.
But we want to make it ina positive experience. So give those
business as an opportunity to start thinkingabout, Okay, if I want to
(04:02):
grow, what do I need tobe thinking about in the direction I need
to go. They can then usethat money to purchase these items, services,
products, whatever it is, eveninventory. But here's the catch,
Gym. It is that we won'tpay that business directly. We will do
a third party pay, meaning wewill pay that vendor, we'll pay that
(04:23):
marketing firm, we'll pay that softwarecompany that's developing the website, whoever it
is. We won't pay that companydirectly. And again I think this is
the commitment of the City of Beaumontand the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce to
make sure that businesses, small businessesare being successful. You know, sixty
seventy nine percent of all job growthcomes from existing businesses, thirteen percent come
(04:47):
from new businesses coming into the community, and eight percent then come from startups.
People who have the idea, I'mgoing to start my company or a
business, and I'm going to doit here, which really leads into the
next program that's launch. And again, in partnership with the City of Beaumont
and the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce, we're launching the First Step Innovation Grant
program, which is for somebody whohas that next cool idea that they're trying
(05:12):
to get to the marketplace. Thismoney, again it's a grant. It
doesn't have to be repaid. Thismoney is designed to help them move their
idea for it. So maybe theyneed to do a patent, maybe they
need you to a product, aprototype, development, market feasibility website,
the typical things that once you kindof burn through all your friends and family
and giving your money, that you'relooking for help, Yeah, what's my
(05:34):
next step? And again it's likeShark Tank, but we call it Dolphin
Tank. There'll be a panel ofjudges and the idea is for them,
just like if you were going topitch it to an investors, Just like
you're going to pitch it to anangel network or a VC network or early
stage investors. You know, howdo you get people to buy into your
idea, your vision? And again, this is a program designed to create
(05:57):
that innovation within our community and alsosupport and create that ecosystem which is so
critical for our community to be successfulin economic development. And the key thing
is, you know, everyone getsexcited about the new companies coming in and
a lot of times they'll put insentence on the table, you know,
and you talk to existing businesses thathave been here for fifteen or twenty years
(06:17):
and they go, what about us? You know, we've been here all
this time. And this program,these two programs are really designed to foster
and build up our existing small businessesversus throwing money at new businesses coming in.
Again, talking with Steve Allenius withthe Beaumont Chamber of Commerce, creator
Bumont Chamber of Commerce, and we'vebeen talking about industry into these programs,
(06:41):
you have to bring businesses in orhelp existing businesses. Well, one of
you also think about development of Iguess cultural opportunities or one of the criticisms.
Sometimes you hear of the areas,Yes we've got some jobs, and
yes they're well paying jobs, butI don't know that I want to live
(07:01):
here, Maybe I want to liveelsewhere. Will part of the economic development
being encouraging maybe a small business,a small shops, restaurants, development of
downtown, or other things that wouldimprove quality of life. Yeah, Beaumont,
great question, and obviously I callit quality of place. Right.
There was a book written back inthe early two thousand by Jim Call I
(07:23):
mean by Richard Florida called The Riseof the Creative Class, which is based
on that concept, how do youmake your community cool? Because that's where
the millennials, that's where the genz, that's where the next generation are
going to want to go. Andso a part of that is the food
scene. Part of that is liveentertainment and what we kind of call street
level stuff that people can walk inand, you know, sit down and
(07:45):
here a good you know, goodblues you know band, or a good
rock band or whatever they're looking for, right, and Beaumont has some of
those basic elements. You look atdowntown and I'm amazed at the opportunities we
have with downtown Beaumont. You lookat an undeveloped riverfront that goes through downtown,
huge upside that Beaumont is really positioned. I know, and I've said
(08:07):
this many times. I know there'scommunities that would give their eye teeth to
have a river running through it,and here we are sitting on one that's
undeveloped and ready to be his primedfor growth. So we've got a lot
of those elements already here. Thequestion is how do we pull that recipe
together, how do we bring folksand how do we create that opportunity?
(08:28):
And you know, the Innovation Grant, the small business grants, those are
all programs designed to start feeding thatbecause really what we're after is that flywheel
effect of success that somebody sitting andgoes, well, if he was if
he was successful doing that, orshe I can do it, and then
all of a sudden it becomes everyone. You just start building this momentum,
(08:48):
and I think Beaumont is really positionedin order to take advantage and that kind
of development then would inspire. Asyou're talking about some of these very creative
people with creative ideas that may goelsewhere will say, hey, I would
stay in Beaumont place absolutely, youknow, and I know, I know
there's an attraction for a young personfinishing college to look at like an Austin
(09:11):
or Seattle or Boston some of thosebigger cities. Cost of living there is
outrageous, and so we have amuch lower cost of living here, a
much more affordable lifestyle. Housing isstill affordable for a family of four here,
and so Beaumont has those foundational thingsin place that can make a huge
(09:31):
difference. It can make a differenceif someone would like more information, would
like to speak to you, orspeak to someone in the Chamber of find
out about these programs. These aresome amazing programs. Now that you're working
with the City of beaumont Own,how do they do that? Well,
we are going to this is Thursday, but by Monday we will have these
(09:52):
programs up on our website. Theycan go and download the rules and guidelines
and then proceed for it. Withthat. We haven't set the deadline and
when the applications must be in,but it's going to be sometime Midsummer.
We're gonna give folks probably six toeight weeks to get you know, to
get with some to to develop theirbusiness plan and get that ready. They
can go to the Beaumont Chamber ofCommerce dot org. They can they'll be
(10:16):
able to see these programs list onour website and download the information and then
in turn, that's where they'll beable to upload their business plan once it's
completed and they want that's what theywant to submit. So well, we'll
be setting the deadlines probably sometime midJuly for the applications to be in and
then we will have the panel ofjudges. It will be all It will
(10:37):
be a pleasant experience. You know, I want people to walk away encouraged,
not discouraged. You know that soundsgreat. And again, hey,
thanks for spending some time with ustoday about akom To evolvement and just what
the greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce isdoing. Thank you, Jim, Thank
you enjoyed the conversation
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