It’s Not Bragging If It’s True (Lance Turner Editor’s Note)

The Conway Area Chamber of Commerce partners with other organizations to improve the lives of local residents. (Conway Area Chamber of Commerce)

Central Arkansas has been a great place to live and do business for the young leaders of four of the state’s most important companies, but the region lacks a coherent message about itself — its economic advantages and amenities — that could help grow the workforce and local economy.

That was my big takeaway from a panel discussion on the central Arkansas economy at the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce annual meeting on March 16. The panel gave the 1,000 or so meeting attendees a rare chance to hear from Bill Dillard III, senior vice president of Dillard’s Inc. of Little Rock; Will Ford, the group president of operations of Westrock Coffee Co. of Little Rock; Jake Nabholz, CEO of Nabholz Construction Corp. of Conway; and John Rutledge, the central Arkansas market president of First Security Bancorp of Searcy.

Each of their companies has deep roots in central Arkansas, and in talking about the region with the panel’s moderator, chamber President and CEO Brad Lacy, they discussed what’s great about doing business here from a regional and, in some cases, statewide perspective.

Central Arkansas, Dillard said, is affordable, “business friendly” with not a lot of regulations, and marked by great natural beauty. Nabholz said the region’s people are welcoming. And Rutledge said people in central Arkansas have great choices in where to live and do business, with low commute times. “The fact that you can be anywhere in central Arkansas in 30 minutes is great,” he said.

As a state, Nabholz said, Arkansas is a place where people work hard and want you to succeed. Dillard said the latter sets Arkansas apart from other places his department store chain operates, where others “want to win and we want you to lose. And we just have not encountered that here,” he said.

But central Arkansas falls short in communicating these assets to the outside world, the four agreed. In fact, when Lacy asked whether the region has a clear, coherent regional message, the reply was an emphatic, near simultaneous, “No.”

Ford, whose coffee company envisions eventually employing more than 1,000 people in central Arkansas, said he spends much of his employee recruitment time on Google Maps, explaining the region to prospects, showing them the diversity of the area. They need to see where they’re living, Ford said, and there’s no link to send them to.

Nabholz cited the work of the Northwest Arkansas Council, whose website provides the kind of succinct, easy-to-access information Ford was talking about, and whose leaders drive the initiatives that clearly define and build northwest Arkansas — and then broadcast what’s great about it to the world.

Central Arkansas is long overdue for a similar initiative, one that brings local business and regional government leaders together to craft a singular vision about the area’s advantages, assess its shortfalls, and then act upon both.

Listening to those four leaders, it’s clear that central Arkansas, like other areas of the state, has a compelling message that will help grow business. Let’s get serious about sharing it. 

Lance Turner is the editor of Arkansas Business.