RETENTION & EXPANSION

Grow Piqua Now is a participating member in the BusinessFirst! Program, a business retention and expansion program. This program is administered through a partnership agreement with Montgomery County and 23 other participating jurisdictions in the Dayton Region, including the City of Piqua. The Grow Piqua Now Retention & Expansion (R&E) Committee works to coordinate meetings with local businesses to encourage their retention and expansion. Studies have shown that 80-90% of new investments in equipment, facilities and personnel come from existing businesses.

History of BusinessFirst!
In 2000, a handful of business development agencies came together to discuss a shared goal—supporting the retention and expansion of area businesses. At that time, each organization used its own approach to gather information about the local business climate. This included developing their own method of identifying the appropriate tools to help these firms stay and grow here in the region. It became apparent that there was an opportunity to significantly change the way communities worked with their local businesses—improving service delivery and streamlining economic development resources.

What evolved from these discussions was the BusinessFirst! program. The goal of the program is to bring together communities in the Dayton Region and the business resource partners to provide a single point of contact, using a customer-oriented approach to link businesses and resources in the community.

The BusinessFirst! Approach
The program starts with an assessment by an Outreach Specialist, usually a professional in the business development community or a local business leader who has been specially-trained on the BusinessFirst! model. This initial visit with the company involves completing a brief survey that helps measure the company’s challenges and opportunities as well its opinions on the local business climate. Following that initial visit, an Outreach Specialist helps to design an action plan to match the business needs with available resources. Outreach specialists provide periodic follow-up to see how the company is progressing and to gain additional feedback.

Scheduling a BusinessFirst! Visit
Each year the Grow Piqua Now R&E Committee works to identify candidates for business visits. The committee relies on a variety of inputs to assemble the list of businesses to visit, including direct requests from local businesses. If your company is interested in scheduling a BusinessFirst! visit, please email Bill Murphy