BATON ROUGE — Louisiana companies are encouraged to apply for the nationally-acclaimed "Economic Gardening" Initiative, a new way of thinking about business growth that helps firms gain new markets in other states, generating new sales and importing greater value and income to Louisiana communities.
The Louisiana initiative has been recognized as a best practice by the Edward Lowe Foundation, which administers the program nationwide and hosts the National Center for Economic Gardening.
Louisiana’s Economic Gardening Initiative is wholly funded by Louisiana Economic Developmenr. For every dollar invested in the program, the State of Louisiana sees a return of $11.13.
CEO Chris Meaux of Waitr Inc. said the program identified markets his firms could enter and either be the sole player or the largest player while capturing market share ahead of competitors for his popular mobile app.
Waitr enables restaurants to deliver food and other services via an online portal. Within six months of completing its Economic Gardening engagement, Waitr expanded to thirteen new markets. Gov. John Bel Edwards and Meaux announced the addition of a 100-job technology operations center in Lafayette in June 2016.
“Economic Gardening changed our market expansion efforts from being a guessing game to having clarity where there was a high likelihood of success,” Meaux said. “We had a proven business model, but we needed to know how to expand it. The Economic Gardening program saved us time and money in our expansion efforts and resulted in stronger markets. Each launch has been successful – and we’ve been able to bring them up faster and easier. Economic Gardening has played an integral part in the development of our growth strategy.”
Louisiana Economic Development connects Economic Gardening participants with a four-person team of highly skilled researchers in specialized tools, including geographic information systems and digital marketing.
The resulting business intelligence helps business owners address very specific growth opportunities. Initial Economic Gardening consultations consist of up to 36 hours of market research in strategic areas, with the option for two more rounds if criteria are met.
LED staff and partners help companies focus on two or three business challenges. When the engagement is over, assistance is available for companies to turn the research into an action plan.
Since inception of the program seven years ago, 213 companies from eight regions of Louisiana have combined to create 1,367 new full-time-equivalent jobs while increasing annual sales by more than $215 million.
“Louisiana Economic Development is committed to accelerating small business growth in our state,” LED Secretary Don Pierson said. “Small businesses generate most of our private-sector job growth, and we want to provide small business owners and their employees with an environment that helps them flourish. For that reason, I’ve charged LED’s Small Business Services team with pursuing innovative ways to spur small business growth. The Economic Gardening Initiative is among the best tools we’ve discovered that can optimize small business performance in sales and job growth.”
Eligible Louisiana businesses are growing companies of $600,000 to $50 million in annual revenue, and staffs of five to 100 employees. For more information and an online application, visit OpportunityLouisiana.com/Economic-Gardening.
For questions about the program, contact Deputy Director of Small Business Services Christopher Cassagne at Christopher.Cassagne@la.gov or 225- 342-5882.
