Business

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Survey sees hot biz prospects for city

Drive to gauge relocation has first results

By: Martin Cash

26/06/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

WAYNE.GLOWACKI@FREEPRESS.MB.CA The Exchange District could be part of a bid to pitch relocation to Winnipeg to outside firms.

A Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce initiative beating the bushes for prospective businesses that might move to Winnipeg has uncovered 12 hot leads.

The private-sector initiative, called Selling Winnipeg to the World, is trying to focus on firms that might find Winnipeg an attractive site and then highlight the city's positive business attributes to get it on more radar screens.

The first batch of data from interviews with about 200 CEOs and business leaders was unveiled yesterday.

It's still early in the process, but organizers said they were encouraged by the number of potential prospects that have emerged.

Among other things, the business leaders were asked if there were players and suppliers in their industry not operating in the city who ought to be.

Selling Winnipeg will then take those leads and mount a targeted, direct sales effort to try to bring those prospects to the city.

Bill Morrissey, the vice-president of the chamber who is championing the process, said it was an important day for the chamber yesterday.

"We wanted to tap into the intelligence that resides in the Winnipeg business community and most importantly, we were looking for leads," he said. "We have flushed out some great leads and the show of support has been fantastic."

He said it was unlikely the city would land all 12 prospects, but if that did happen it would mean an additional 550 jobs in Winnipeg.

At least one of those leads is a European company looking to set up a North American presence whose site-selector consultant has placed Winnipeg near the top of the list.

Morrissey presented some of the findings Thursday to a group of about 100 stakeholders, volunteers and survey participants.

In addition to searching for leads, the purpose of interviewing Winnipeg business people was to take a reading on what they think works best in the city and to focus on sectors that hold the most promise for growth.

Morrissey said the results were not surprising -- the highest positive attribute was the reliable workforce and the most prominent negative one was the tax base.

Eventually the chamber group wants to create a model that will allow them to do corporate analysis to better target prospects.

The next stage in the process will be to convene stakeholders to determine which industry sectors should be targeted. Then an "economic partnership" will be formed to chase the leads.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

Why Winnipeg?

The results of an unscripted survey of more than 200 Winnipeg business leaders who were asked why they chose to do business in Winnipeg.

67 per cent -- because of the people and the workforce:

62 per cent -- quality of life

44 per cent -- legacy connection in Winnipeg to employees and customers

43 per cent -- diversified, stable and strong economy

24 per cent -- competitive operating costs

15 per cent -- location

What sectors should the Selling Winnipeg to the World team focus on?

23 per cent -- transportation and related services

13 per cent -- agriculture-related

13 per cent -- manufacturing

12 per cent -- high technology and science

8 per cent -- energy-related and life science

5 per cent -- aerospace

4 per cent -- call centre and back office services

3 per cent -- financial services

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 26, 2009 B4

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