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Economics
B2B Stories

Big investment in mobile training

Augusta Technical College has received a $750,000 donation from Syensqo to develop a mobile learning center. A news release said the mobile unit will address critical challenges while supporting workforce enhancement and community development. “The lasting impact of COVID-19 and growing inflation have created significant barriers for students, particularly those from economically disadvantaged and rural backgrounds. Augusta Tech’s response, supported by Syensqo, aims to mitigate these challenges by providing more remote offerings through this state-of-the-art mobile lab,” read the release. “That is going to be used for our new mobile

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Dana Lynn McIntyre November 19, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

Simon Says: Remote worker survey of Augusta employees

Nationally, 13.8% of workers worked from home in 2023. Pre-pandemic, this number was 5.7%. Coworking Mag explored demographic, income, education, and industry data from the Census Bureau to profile the average remote worker in the Augusta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). In Augusta, 10.1% or more than 28,600 people in the workforce are remote workers.  In tech-heavy cities such as Raleigh NC and Austin TX, remote workers make up almost 25 percent of the workforce. Of these remote workers, 63.6 percent are women, the second highest in the southeast behind Fayetteville

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Dr. Simon Medcalfe November 18, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

Guest Column: Strong Roots Can Weather Any Storm

In Georgia, where farming is more than a livelihood—it’s a way of life—Hurricane Helene tested those roots like few storms before. As the nation’s top pecan-producing state, Georgia takes great pride in its orchards and the farmers who tend them year after year. But Helene’s impact has left farms and rural communities with billions in damage, impacting pecan orchards especially hard and disrupting the broader supply chain. For Stuckey’s, a company that relies on Georgia pecans for nearly all of our products, this has been a wake-up call about just

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Stephanie Stuckey, Chair of Stuckey’s Pecans November 18, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

Tourism means big bucks in metro Augusta

The economic impact tourism has on Augusta and the surrounding area was celebrated by Destination Augusta, the Augusta Sports Council, and Film Augusta. The numbers were announced at the 2024 Destination Augusta Champions event. Bennish Brown, President and CEO of Destination Augusta (pictured above), told ABD the event is an opportunity to acknowledge the demanding work done by people in the tourism industry. “We realize we don’t do this by ourselves. We want to make sure this industry knows we appreciate them,” he said. “We are the third largest employment

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Dana Lynn McIntyre November 17, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

Legislative Breakfast Spotlights Workforce-Education Connection

Sonny Perdue, Chancellor of the University System of Georgia, delivered the keynote address at the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce’s annual Legislative Breakfast Thursday morning. Perdue has worn many hats over his career. Veterinarian, served in the Georgia State Senate, two terms as Georgia Governor and Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He said serving as Chancellor is the most impactful job he has ever had. “We have over 350,000 lives a year in our university system, learners that are looking for life changes,” he said. “And that’s the

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Dana Lynn McIntyre November 14, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

CSRA company expands with $4 million investment

The parent company of a manufacturing company on West Five Notch Road in Edgefield County, just south of Murrah Road, plans to expand. A news release from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) announced Portland Bolt and Manufacturing will add a new facility alongside the former Southern Anchor Bolt facility. The $4.3 million investment will create more than 20 jobs. “We applaud Portland Bolt’s continued investment in Edgefield County and the new opportunities it creates for South Carolinians with this expansion. This announcement highlights Portland Bolt’s commitment to our community,

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Dana Lynn McIntyre November 13, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

SRP accelerate$ Augusta

Augusta Technical College, in partnership with the Downtown Development Authority of Augusta, has announced that SRP is the naming sponsor for Accelerate Augusta, the region’s newest small business incubator and microenterprise center. SRP has made a significant multi-year commitment to support the project. As a result, the initiative will be referred to as “Accelerate Augusta Powered by SRP” for the next 10 years. SRP’s investment will provide furnishings and technology for the program, which will be headquartered at 600 Broad Street, as well as underwrite training programs for emerging businesses.

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Staff Report November 12, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

Navigating federal recovery programs after Helene

The Small Business Administration (SBA) joined with the North Augusta Chamber of Commerce to explain the types of loans available to recover after the storm. SBA is best known for assisting small businesses with financial needs, including startup and disaster recovery. However, the agency held a workshop on Friday to explain it can also help homeowners, renters, and nonprofit organizations. Stephen Clark, Public Affairs Specialist, told ABD they hold workshops like the one in North Augusta to reach as many people as possible. “We do have physical damage disaster loans

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Dana Lynn McIntyre November 12, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

Simon Says: Our strong labor market

In a stunning victory last Tuesday night, Ruben Amorim’s Sporting Lisbon trounced Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City 4-1. Now, the hard work begins as Amorim tries to rejuvenate a moribund Manchester United. In other news, the Augusta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Labor Market Index (LMI) increased by 0.3 percent in September from August. It is 1.0 percent higher than September 2023. As I reported last week, employment and nominal average weekly earnings hit record levels in September. Additionally, the labor force expanded, and the average hours worked increased. The only component

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Dr. Simon Medcalfe November 11, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

Breaking down the potential impact of tariffs

A hallmark of President-elect Donald Trump’s reelection campaign was a proposed increase in tariffs on goods coming into the United States. He proposed an increase of 10% to 20% on all foreign countries, with an additional 60% to 100% tariff on imported products from China. The National Retail Federation (NRF) commissioned a study to determine how increased tariffs will impact the cost of imported goods in six categories: Clothing, footwear, toys, furniture, household appliances, and travel goods. The study found that American consumers could lose between $46 billion and $78

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Staff Report November 11, 2024 No Comments
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