Thursday, April 24, 2008
The educator said there are local business opportunities.
LISBON — Columbiana County Commissioner Penny Traina will act as a contact for people willing to invest a little money in local businesses.
The decision came Wednesday as the commissioners recognized East Palestine China Decorating.
The company was recently given the Eastern Ohio Development Alliance’s excellence award. About 80 companies were considered.
Owners Patrick Gaughan and investor Walter D. O’Malley turned the defunct business into a success. And Gaughan wants to do it again with other businesses.
The decision is noteworthy because it’s the first time in years that private money has been mentioned in local economic development circles. Since the steel mills closed, most projects have depended on government grants or tax breaks and some infrastructure assistance from subdivisions.
Gaughan is an instructor at the Williamson College of Business Administration at Youngstown State University. He took over the business in 2006.
The china company had been producing inexpensive china products. It is now decorating expensive china for other companies, such as Royal Doulton in the United Kingdom.
The plates the company decorates are used at the Beverly Hills Hilton, he said.
Gaughan said of the company, “I saw it as a diamond in the rough.”
Mismanagement hurt the company, he said. The company once had more than 200 workers but now has 17 employees.
The educator applied his knowledge to make the facility at 870 W. Main St. profitable.
Costs were cut in many ways, including firing the high-voltage kilns at off-hours to save electricity and money.
The educator said he sees sustainable growth for the future.
He said he is looking for “angel investors” to get involved in other local businesses that have potential. He did not give specifics.
But when large manufacturers run by one or two families were sold or folded, Gaughan said, “That left a dead space in entrepreneurship.”
He’s not looking for big money.
“The investor doesn’t have to be independently wealthy,” he said.
Individual investments would be about $2,000.
The china company may create a tax-free zone at the East Palestine plant through the county’s port authority to help its business.
Traina said, “We just need small businesses.”
When the idea was raised of local investors working locally, Traina said she sent out a massive e-mail. “I didn’t get any hits,” she said.
But she said that through networking and education, “the county could have a success story.”
wilkinson@vindy.com