Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Entergy Links With Okla. Locator For Recruitment

Arkansas communities with economic development programs spend considerable time and resources location or identifying companies in the process of expanding or relocating.

Through Teamwork Arkansas, Entergy has contracted with Plant Site Locators (PSL), an Oklahoma City-based firm that links communities with National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) members, to assist qualified Entergy Arkansas communities in getting substantioal leads. PSL provides free site-search services to association members.

Introducing the new service, Mike Maulden, Entergy Arkansas director of economic development, said, "We see this new agreement as yet another excellent service that Entergy provides to its communities. The communities could have contractd with PSL on their own, but it would have cost each community $1,000 per year."

Often communities have relied primarily on advertising to attract business. According to Craig Throckmorton, PSL president, "Traditional advertising is one part design and four parts luck on its best day. You are hoping that the CEO of a company `happens' to pick up the magazine in which you advertised, `happens' to find your ad, and `happens' to be considering a possible plan to relocate or expand at that moment.

"With PSL, we maintain considerable more information on your community than you could ever put in an ad, and make it available for a full year," Throckmorton continued. "Much like a traditional site-search consultant, PSL works only with companies that are in the process of expanding or relocating. We don't receive inquiries about a service unless a business is planning a move."

The NAM is the nation's oldest and largest broad-based industrial trade association with more than 18,000 member companies and subsidiaries. Its membership includes approximatly 10,000 small manufacturers in every state, and produces about 85 percent of manufactured goods in the United States.

Entergy Arkansas communities wishing to use this service should contact Mike Geels, Teamwork Arkansas account executive, at (501) 377-4089.

Teamwork Arkansas, sponsored by Entergy since 1987, seeks to bring together business, government and local communities to make a lasting impact on the state's economy. Teamwork Arkansas focuses on two major areas: recruiting national and international companies to the state, and preparing Arkansas communities to attract new investment and jobs.

In its first 10 years, Teamwork Arkansas helped create 62,000 jobs through new and expanding industries. It attracted more than $5 billion in new investment to the state. Teamwork Arkansas invested $20 million in economic development programs and Entergy contributed an additional $18 million to education and community enhancement.