Saturday, February 20, 2010
The idea is to have people who are successful help newcomers in business.
SALEM — A former Air Force lieutenant colonel is trying to make the city’s economy fly.
Larry Koseba, who spent 27 years in that branch of the military, is working with local business leaders through the Salem Area Industrial Development Corp., which was created in 1959.
Private capital is being used to help jump-start the local economy, and
Koseba said, “That’s where I came in.”
He began working for the development corporation Nov. 1.
Much of economic development now is tied to public grants or loans.
But SAIDC is a group of local business people with experience who can put private capital into a company.
Jock Buta, SAIDC’s president and a Butech Bliss Co. executive vice president, said he has seen local people have dreams of starting a business that unfortunately failed.
But having local business people involved who are successful may be able to help people get their business off the ground.
Butech Bliss, which makes advanced designed metal processing equipment, for example, has a 150-year history.
Koseba can quote chapter and verse about military flights lasting 22 hours from the United States to the Middle East.
But while he was in the service, he became involved in testing new digital screens that were designed to guide pilots on important figures such as air speed and altitude.
The screens, he said, “had seven colors and 27 hues of colors.”
Pilots in simulated flights couldn’t read them and, electronically, crashed.
Koseba said while in the service, he became the head of a forensic research laboratory. That led to work with cooperative research and development agreements. He said that work often involved getting the right people in touch with one another.
Buta said making the right connections with a business idea and financing is the core of the idea.
The Sustainable Opportunity Development Center is to be SAIDC’s vehicle for growth.
Audrey Null, the executive director of the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, said much of the groundwork for sustainable growth in the city came from the chamber’s citywide plan. The city, however, did not adopt the study.
The officials said they plan to have an economic summit next spring.
wilkinson@vindy.com