Gregg Robinson, Executive Director, Orangeburg County Development Commission

MidlandsBiz:
Where were you born and raised?

Gregg Robinson:
I was born in Williamsburg County (Kingstree), South Carolina.  My father worked for Greenwood Development Corporation and helped to develop Palmetto Dunes Plantation on Hilton Head Island in the late 60’s and 70’s before starting his own company.  I grew up on Carolina Sea Island, and compared to today,  there wasn’t a great deal of commercial development or things to do.  Consequently, my appreciation for sports and anything outdoors, especially in South Carolina, was born.  Our quality of life is second to none.  I hope to never leave.

I attended USC for undergraduate and subsequently was selected to be part of the Bryce Harlow Institute for Business and Government Affairs in Georgetown University.  There I realized that I wanted to return to USC, finish undergrad and  pursue my Master’s degree in Public Administration with a concentration in public finance and infrastructure.  As a result of that decision, I was offered my first real job in public economic development as  Administrator of the Town of Springdale (Lexington County).  What a great introduction into the world of local government and development.   

After six years as Administrator, I was offered a position in the Business Development Division for the South Carolina Department of Commerce just as Mr. Charlie Way, Jr. was coming on board as Secretary of Commerce.  I had the opportunity to work along side my brother Edward Robinson, in the International Division, while I was in the National Division.  What a great experience both professional and personally.  It made Thanksgiving and Christmas work too as we discussed how to win the next project.  Both of us still talk about those days.  We have such a great product to sell in South Carolina.  We both still have a high regard for our tenure and the employees at Commerce.

MidlandsBiz:
What did you learn about economic development from your time at Commerce? 

Gregg Robinson:
I worked there for 6 years, helped to locate over 45 companies and learned a great deal about the quality of our workforce.  I already knew about the quality of life part.  Frank Newman, the then Business Development Director, helped drill into my head the importance of infrastructure as a driver of economic development as well as anticipating the next steps of the prospect in the site or building selection process.  There I learned that if you’re not adding value to company during the assessment and analysis of the proposed location, you might as well be a glorified chauffer.  Trust me, the company will figure out very quickly the value you can add or don’t add during this sales cycle.  It’s amazing the level of competition between the states and communities throughout the Southeast. 

MidlandsBiz:
How do you approach economic development in Orangeburg?

Gregg Robinson:
In one word… cooperation.

Economic development is a team sport.  No one person recruits a company.  It’s a collaborative effort of both public and private sector leaders moving in the same direction.  The community that represents itself the best wins.  It’s all about educating the prospect that your community will make them the most successful or profitable. 

Economic development is done differently in each county, but regardless of your structure – commission, alliance or maybe a board, economic development is all about creating capital investment and enhancing the tax base.  Creating payroll is one of our main missions.  Quality payroll leads to quality retail and additional local development. All of this leads to better schools.

In a rural area such as ours, the government (county council) is the lead function on every deal, but we also have been blessed with tremendous support from the private sector.  The economic development team here is comprised of representatives from both the public and private sectors who recognize the need to have a balanced approach to promoting the local economy. The one solid message has always been:  I can make profit in Orangeburg and be successful here.  Our motto is Orangeburg County = Success.  You may have seen our billboards on I-26.  We have seven public and private industrial parks.  We have just about anything a company can need.

MidlandsBiz:
You have had a steady stream of announcements and now to top it all off you have a major announcement with Jafza.  What is the mood in Orangeburg County?

Gregg Robinson:
I recently had a woman come up to me and say that she used to tell people that Orangeburg was a great place to be from.  Now she tells people Orangeburg County is a great place to be.  It’s exciting to help change people’s perceptions about a region that has witnessed unemployment as high as 15%. We still have our challenges ahead.  However, the community is ready to take them head on. Orangeburg County is a community of character.

Our accomplishments as a community is the result of many organizations and people coming together (city and county) developing the attitude that Orangeburg is ready.  Jafza validates what we have been saying all along – that Orangeburg County and the Global Logistics Triangle (I-95 US301 – I-26) is a great place to do business.

MidlandsBiz:
Who are some local leaders and champions of the region?

Gregg Robinson:
I can’t say enough about the leadership of US Representative Jim Clyburn who has been our champion at the federal level for years and critical to our success.  It was Jim Clyburn who was instrumental in delivering a Regional Water System at Lake Marion.  Both Clyburn and Senator Matthews have been instrumental in the success of our Global Logistics Triangle.

However, this has not been an overnight transformation.  We are standing on the shoulders of many elected officials / administrators past and present.  Every economic developer that was fortunate enough to serve before me has a lot to do with the success of our industrial footprint.  My predecessor, Hal Johnson, was especially skilled at advancing the community in every capacity.  However, it is the leadership of our Federal Legislative Delegation, State Legislative Delegation, County Council, Development Commission and Central SC to deliver a solid mission.  I would also mention, that several private sector leaders made this happen too.  Like I said, economic development is a team sport.

MidlandsBiz:
Infrastructure costs money. How have you funded these projects?

Gregg Robinson:
The South Carolina Department of Commerce has been a major investor in Orangeburg County for years in infrastructure with each project that has selected our area.  The development of the Orangeburg County / City Industrial Park is because of a great working relationship with the SCDOC.

Locally, it was in 1998, when the local leadership saw an opportunity to improve infrastructure in our 17 different municipalities through a local options sales tax.  We bonded it, laid out the projects, and spent $54 million on new infrastructure – everything from water, sewer, gas, electricity, transportation, to a new town hall and a water tower.  We passed the local options sales tax again in 2004 and we are planning an additional 70M worth of new projects by 2012.  (This time with the designation of An All American County which we won in 2005.)

You have to take that risk as a community; you have to invest in
yourself, and be confident that if you don’t win the current project, you are putting in the ground the foundation for the next. You may lose the project, but don’t lose the lesson of being ready.  You have to be prepared in order to win the next big deal.

MidlandsBiz:
Describe Orangeburg County, its geography and its past and current strengths.

Gregg Robinson:
Our strengths in Orangeburg are our people, infrastructure, low cost utilities, availability of land, and a quality of life that is unparalleled.  We border beautiful Lake Marion (Santee), the largest body of water in South Carolina, which is virtually untapped.  Boaters can travel all the way to Charleston from Lake Marion, winding their way through Lake Moultrie and the Cooper River.  It’s a spectacular ride.

Orangeburg is a massive county and second in size only to Horry County in South Carolina.  We are 40 miles to Columbia, 60 miles to Charleston and located strategically on Interstates 95 and 26 with I-77 and I-20 within 30 minutes depending on where you are in the county. 

A giant aquifer runs under the county so we have always been blessed with a strong agriculture industry.  Today, we still have a vibrant base in agriculture and many companies have built on this area by providing enhanced technology to agribusiness.

MidlandsBiz:
Talk about Jafza and what they bring to Orangeburg County.

Gregg Robinson:
Jafza is not just a county success story; it’s a regional and statewide opportunity for all of us.  Jafza is a global player in logistics.  They create a connection for their 6,000+ customers (150 of whom are Fortune 500 companies) by helping them get their product to the end users, wherever they are around the world.

The defining and branding of our area, as well as the preparation of the infrastructure helped Jafza pick Orangeburg County.   They will be the eastern anchor of the  Global Logistics Triangle, which is the land framed by Highways 26 and 95 and also Highway 301.  By building this 1324 acre logistics park, we are able to capitalize on the flow of goods into North American via the port, help distribute them to market either truck to truck or rail to truck, and we have the opportunity to deliver full impact of what Jafza has to offer.

As for estimates of the economic impact of Jafza’s decision to locate here, economists use a conservative multiplier of 4:1 – for every one job you create in manufacturing an additional 4 jobs will be spun off in retail, services. Conservatively, within 5 years, we hope to see numerous companies come to the region as a result of Jafza’s presence here in the state creating thousands of jobs.  This November 12th Jafza will unveil their Master Plan for the region.  I will reserve comment for the company to let people know the potential financial  impact.  You may register online at www.ocdc.com for details related to the upcoming Economic Development Summit.

MidlandsBiz:
What are the challenges facing Orangeburg County and state as a whole?

Gregg Robinson:
Economic development is extremely competitive.  We have a group coming in this week that will visit 10-12 communities before choosing where to locate!  We want to be in the hunt every time so we have to continue to find areas where we can add value. 

Leadership at all levels has to come together to figure out how to solve the linkages related to the Port of Charleston so that it can compete against ports in Savannah and Jacksonville and beyond.  Our SC Railways and the two rail companies, CSX and Norfolk Southern, need to come together to resolve the issue of connectivity and dual access which will we also mitigate the traffic flow issues in and out of Charleston.  There isn’t one county in our state that doesn’t benefit from our State Ports Authority. 

How many Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in South Carolina?  One.  SCANA.  We have everybody beat for quality of life here in South Carolina, but we need to address why more companies don’t choose to locate their corporate headquarters.  We must have the financial infrastructure as well as the physical infrastructure in place to validate our state as a preferred corporate location.  We can do it.  We have the leadership and capability of delivering that message.

MidlandsBiz:

What do you have here in Orangeburg?

Gregg Robinson:
We have outstanding educational facilities: Claflin University, South Carolina State University, and Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College.  We also have one of the largest regional hospitals in the area (TRMC) our Medical Center is a top-notch, non-profit hospital.

We like to say that we have it from (A-Z).  That’s Albemarle to Zeus. 

We also have other quality manufacturing and distribution companies like Cox Industries, ECKA Granules North America, Mars Pet Care, Husqvarna, Mayer Industries, Federal Mogul, Food Lion Distribution, Allied Air, Sara Lee, Dana, Okonite, etc. – there are too many to mention and I would rather people just check out our website and see our quality industrial footprint of over 13Million sq ft representing 11 countries..  Also, check out the beautiful Edisto Rose Garden… or the Santee State Park.. It’s worth the drive..  The BBQ is top notch too.

MidlandsBiz:
What are the opportunities for Orangeburg and the state?

Gregg Robinson:
Southeastern states will experience 43% population growth over the next 20 years according to the US Division of Labor and Statistics.  We are really at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential of positioning this region and this state as a distribution / logistics cluster utilizing our ports.

Improvements made to both the Suez and the Panama Canals will create a new wave of port activity that will either go to Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville, or Norfolk.  We want to be ready so that this new activity comes to us.