Chamber Updates

Christmas Holiday It’s December 25th and I want to start by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! While most business activity is taking the holiday, there is still a segment of our business and public works that are spending their days working and today we want to recognize their efforts. While it seems like everyone is…

Year End Business Review The start of 2024 is only two weeks away, and a new year means new opportunities for business. Before we start focusing on future goals, now is a great time to reflect on 2023 and do a quick business or organizational review. While a year-end review can be very detailed and…

Graduation and Keeping Alumni Local This Saturday, December 16, 2023, Southeast Missouri State will hold it’s fall commencement with more than 850 students expected to complete their degrees and move into the workforce. We have talked many times about the impact that students have on the local and regional economy but today we will focus…

MOBUCK$ Program Reopens January 2nd Last week at the Cape Chamber First Friday Coffee Missouri State Treasure Vivek Malek shared information on several programs and resources that his office provides to citizens of Missouri. One program of note for Businesses, Farmers and Communities is the MO BUCK$ program Originally created in the mid 1980’s the…

United We Work program starts up in Cape Girardeau and Jackson In January of 2018 the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia released a report entitled Getting to Work on Time – Public Transit and Job Access in Northeast Pennsylvania. While the study was focused on that region, the findings are consistent across the country, even…

Making a local Impact with Holiday Shopping It’s hard to believe it, but this week is Thanksgiving, and that means the kick-off to the Holiday Shopping season. Recent data reported by pwc.com shares some interesting insights into shopping trends this year. In a recent posting entitled Holiday Outlook 2023, survey research indicated some positive news for…

Lutesville Solar Project Last week representatives with NextEra Energy were in the area to continue work on their planned Lutesville Solar Project. The 200-megawatt utility-scale solar powered-electric generation facility that represents an investment of more than $297 million. While the project is still in its final stages of planning and approvals, once started the benefits…

The Importance of Business News Coverage Last week Jeff Long, Business Reporter for the Southeast Missourian retired from the role he has held locally for many years. As Jeff moves into his retirement adventure it gave me cause to reflect on the importance of local news coverage for business and community success. Local news coverage…

An Opportunity to Elevate your Stage 2 Business According to the Edwards Lowe Foundation, citing data from YourEconomy.org from “2005 to 2015 second-stagers [businesses] only represented 17 percent of all U.S. businesses, but they generated more than 37 percent of jobs and 36 percent of sales.” A new partnership with Innovate SOMO and the Missouri SBDC is expanding…

A Lot of Development in Cape Girardeau Last week the City of Cape Girardeau gave final approval of the development agreement for the West Park Mall Project, starting the clock on Phase 1 getting underway in the next six months. This great new redevelopment project is joining into a string of great private sector developments…