Valley development agencies made difference for this company

The recent investigative journalism disputing the job growth claims in the Valley reminded me that “Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.” Our company has grown from just an idea to having nine people working for it in less than a year. Who gets to count these jobs?

Getting to where we are has been through our own hard work as well as the aid of the Regional Chamber’s REACH program (Regional Entrepreneurial Assistance Channel of the Mahoning Valley), the Small Business Administration, SCORE (Service Corps Of Retired Executives), OneStop, CASTLO and the Business Resource Network among others.

However, in the end our continued growth and success is because of the value we add for our customers. We do this by concentrating on innovative products and technologies.

Your article was very negative about the development efforts, but it did not really go into issues of why there are continued problems or what else can be done. We should be thanking the hard work that the development agencies have done so far in trying to turn things around.

At least they have moved beyond just whining about the lack of jobs. Of course, there is still much more left to do. The area needs to fix the schools so people aren’t trained to be workers but rather to be entrepreneurial and create their own jobs. We need to apply political pressure to fix the utility rates so the area isn’t at a disadvantage. We need to be vigilant about government corruption. And, above all, we need to get away from the mentality of waiting for a knight in shining armor to bring in jobs.

MARK DeBRUIN

Aesir Metals, Struthers