The role James Smith played in Bull Street success story

You’ve probably read the great news about a tech consulting company bringing 200 high-paying jobs to Columbia’s Bull Street development. But you may not know about the role James Smith played in helping to make that happen.

Capgemini, the Paris-based multinational that is expanding at Bull Street, first came to Columbia in 2017 when it bought TCube Solutions, an insurance technology firm that was founded in Columbia by Sam McGuckin through the USC-Columbia Technology Incubator program.

“James was instrumental in helping negotiate the sale to Capgemini,” said McGuckin. And before that, he helped Sam and wife Sandy McGuckin get TCube going.

He helped TCube get the incentive funding, through Central SC Alliance, that enabled it to make the move from USC’s incubator to the new Bull Street campus, which will now become Capgemini’s new Advanced Technology Development Center.

“James recognized the opportunity,” said Sandy McGuckin. “He said, ‘Let me set up meetings for you.’” And he did so, with Mayor Steve Benjamin, with USC President Harris Pastides, with the S.C. Commerce Department and Central SC Alliance.

And once Capgemini was settled into Bull Street, “James saw the opportunity to embrace the bigger Cap,” said Sam. He means the parent company, which saw how well its financial services division was doing in Columbia, tossed out its short list of other American cities it was considering expanding into, and decided to grow its presence at Bull Street.

James did legal work for these deals, but he did much more, showing the Capgemini folks what a great place Columbia is to live, work, play and raise a family. He took them, for instance, to the annual Gervais Street Bridge Dinner. “They had a blast,” said James, “They just fell in love with the place.”

Capgemini’s expansion at Bull Street is the realization of several local dreams: That of the city of Columbia for Bull Street, that of the university for creating opportunities that grow South Carolina’s economy and prepare great jobs for its graduates right here at home.

These are jobs that pay 50 percent more than the Columbia average, and nearly double the average manufacturing wage in South Carolina.

“These are really good jobs, the types of jobs that every city in the world wants to attract,” Mayor Benjamin told The State newspaper. “The best way to keep talent here in the Midlands is, obviously, to have the types of jobs that people want to have here.”

“This is the knowledge economy,” says Sam McGuckin. “This is what we need to be doing.”

And it’s a great illustration of the positive future that James Smith and Mandy Powers Norrell have in mind for South Carolina.

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