September 2017

2017 | In Focus | September 2017Something for EveryonePanama City Mall

2017 | In Focus | September 2017

Something for Everyone

Panama City Mall

Panama City, Florida is an idyllic place on St. Andrews Bay, along Route 98, with long stretches of white sandy beaches, amusement parks, and an old fishing town that caters to both locals and a large tourist population. Panama City Mall is the perfect complement to the city as it is the only enclosed shopping center for sixty-five miles.

2017 | In Focus | September 2017Revolutionizing Fashion, Beauty, and Health in CanadaOpulence

2017 | In Focus | September 2017

Revolutionizing Fashion, Beauty, and Health in Canada

Opulence

In 2005, Ramin Mesgarlou started Opulence (then known as Global Wealth Trade Corporation, or GWT Corp) from his home office with a vision that was twofold. First, he wanted to create one-of-a-kind fashion and beauty products, and second, he wanted to give entrepreneurs all over the world a chance to build their own wealth by selling these high quality products through their own online businesses.

2017 | In Focus | September 2017Welcoming Manufacturing BusinessesMarion County, IA

2017 | In Focus | September 2017

Welcoming Manufacturing Businesses

Marion County, IA

Across Iowa, more companies are realizing the benefits that come with doing business in this Midwestern state and particularly in Marion County. The county was named after Brigadier General Francis Marion, who served in the American Revolutionary War. This scenic area has been a popular location for businesses for well over a century and is today the home of many respected companies including window and door manufacturer Pella Corporation, Precision Pulley & Idler, Vermeer Corporation and others such as the 3M Company, Weiler Corporation, Cascade Lumber Company, Van Gorp Corporation, Lely and LDJ Manufacturing.

2017 | In Focus | September 2017The Thriving ‘Land Between the Lakes’City of Albert Lea, MN

2017 | In Focus | September 2017

The Thriving ‘Land Between the Lakes’

City of Albert Lea, MN

Municipal boosters in Albert Lea, a small city based in Southeastern, Minnesota, were asked a simple question: what is the main thing you want the public to know about your hometown?

“We are a beautiful community that’s open for business,” replies Albert Lea Economic Development Agency (ALEDA) Executive Director Ryan Nolander. City officials are eager to attract new business while enhancing the existing economic base.

2017 | In Focus | September 2017The Best of Both WorldsPine County, MN

2017 | In Focus | September 2017

The Best of Both Worlds

Pine County, MN

Pine County has been around as long as the state of Minnesota. For many years it was a rural, agricultural community made up of smaller towns of about fifteen hundred residents. That began to change with the pan-urban growth out of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis – Saint Paul) in the 1980s and 1990s, and there has been a fair amount of population growth since then, particularly in the southern part of the county…

2017 | In Focus | September 2017Laidback Lakes LivingOtter Tail County

2017 | In Focus | September 2017

Laidback Lakes Living

Otter Tail County

Otter Tail is a rural county in beautiful west central Minnesota. It is geographically blessed – from a natural resource perspective – with 1,048 lakes, more than any other county in the entire United States. This has resulted in the county having more shoreline than California and Florida put together. It is quite large, spanning roughly 2,500 square miles. “If you were to take all of the highways within the county, stretch them out and lay them end-to-end, they would stretch to Houston, Texas,” says Economic Development Director Nick Leonard.

2017 | In Focus | September 2017The Right Place to BeWright County, MN

2017 | In Focus | September 2017

The Right Place to Be

Wright County, MN

Pardon the pun, but Wright County really is the right place to be if you have a choice of small business-friendly communities in which to live and work. Depending on where you are in the county, you are only thirty to forty-five minutes from all the amenities of the urban centers of St. Paul-Minneapolis and St. Cloud, and yet you are surrounded by rolling farm country and over two hundred lakes. Visit Monticello, on the banks of the Mississippi, and you will see flocks of trumpeter swans, once an endangered species. Moreover, the county’s economic development partnership is ready to talk business. Its mission statement: “Partnering for Opportunities” says it all. Intrigued? Read on.

2017 | In Focus | September 2017Open for BusinessKandiyohi County and City of Willmar, MN

2017 | In Focus | September 2017

Open for Business

Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar, MN

Located just two hours west of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota, is the City of Willmar, in Kandiyohi County. Business in Focus spoke with Aaron Backman, the executive director of the Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission (EDC); Joanna Schrupp, business development officer for the MinnWest Technology Campus; and Betsy Bonnema from co-working space WORKUP, to learn more about this dynamic county and what it has to offer for existing and prospective businesses.

2017 | In Focus | September 2017The Problem SolversFaustel

2017 | In Focus | September 2017

The Problem Solvers

Faustel

Faustel is a privately held solutions provider for coating and laminating equipment that process paper, film, foil, and non-woven materials (nonwovens is a special category of fabric-like materials made by tangling fibers into a web rather than weaving). The company has also developed equipment to work with exotic materials such as carbon fiber.

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