Orangeburg County has a lot to offer business, governor says

By GENE ZALESKI, T&D Staff Writer

“The opportunities for this county are very great,” S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley told a room packed with county leaders and small business officials Tuesday evening.

“Know that you have a lot more than most counties. The only thing is get it out there.”

Haley was the guest speaker at the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce’s newly initiated Great Speaker Series. During the event at the Orangeburg Country Club, she cited the county’s interstates, its family values and strong work ethic as stories that need to be told to industrial prospects.

“When a CEO comes to an area, they want to see and care about a community of character, they want to see and care about people, they want to see where they are going to live … and where are my kids going to go to school,” she said.

Haley, who once served on the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors, said she is also concerned the Orangeburg area does not have a movie theater or more downtown amenities such as restaurants.

“For a community, things like that matter,” she said. “Start driving through the area as if you are CEO. That is what will make you realize what you can improve and what you can do better.”

Haley offered her help and commitment to help bring companies and jobs to Orangeburg County.

“Help me continue to sell Orangeburg County,” she said, asking what the county and city are doing to attract industry and small businesses.

Haley challenged officials to take advantage of state-level initiatives.

The governor said she has made it a priority to improve rural communities by including incentives for project managers to attract industry to rural areas and ensuring rural schools have access to the same technology as urban schools.

“We are trying to infiltrate every community possible to make sure everyone can know what job growth feels like,” she said.

Over the last four years, about 20,000 state residents have gotten off of welfare and gone to work, Haley said.

“They don’t want to sit on the couch. They want to work,” she said. “They want to make their families proud.”

Chamber President Dede Cook said if the county and city do not follow the lead of the state and Haley at business retention, the county is doomed to failure.

“We have to first believe in ourselves before anybody else can believe in us,” Cook said. She noted the Chamber and Downtown Orangeburg Revitalization Association have embarked on a process of designing a plan for the city based on a market analysis on what residents want and need.

“If you do not like Orangeburg and if you don’t think we can do it, then all we ask of you is you take two steps aside and move out of our way so we can make it happen,” she said. “We hope that once we get used to winning, we will continue to win.”

“We plan to go after heavily those companies that will really serve well to come to Orangeburg County,” Cook said.

Cook said the Chamber is committed to following the state’s lead in making sure small businesses have incentives on the local level to invest and that both primary and secondary education sectors and industries can cooperate to keep students working in Orangeburg County.

“We know what the problems in education are,” Cook said. “We want to see what we as a business community can do.”

Cook also said the Chamber is strongly seeking to retain small businesses.

Contact the writer: gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5551.