Archive for the ‘Economy’ Category

Last night, I had a chance to attend an Open House at the Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster, which is a business incubator. It was a great event and a chance to see old friends and meet new ones.

The business cluster is a great concept and is located at Sonoma Mountain Village. Their mission is to stimulate regional economic development through entrepreneurship and business development. In addition to providing physical offices and other infrastructure for start-ups, it offers many other resources and services as well, among them:

1. Management support in the way of in-house staff and a distinguished board of mentors, who are volunteer staff and leaders from the local business community.
2. Access to venture capital and other financial resources.
3. Support networks and networking opportunities.

In addition, having several start-ups housed under the same roof creates a unique bond and sense of camaraderie that’s out of the ordinary and not typical of the environment that most start-ups find themselves in.

There are a few things I find really are ground-breaking in the approach taken here. The most obvious is that this is the first business incubator in the North Bay, which is significant in itself. Being housed in Sonoma Mountain Village, an innovative local leader in developing and promoting sustainability, the Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster (SMDC) also prides itself in supporting sustainable and “socially relevant” technologies in its tenants. They also are taking the initiative to reinvigorate Sonoma County’s technology industry, which sorely needs all the leaders it can get.

Although this was my first formal encounter with this group, it won’t be my last. They have some tenants that no doubt will be bringing great products to market and will have a positive impact on the local economy as well in the way of new jobs and other opportunities.

It seems as though consumers and businesses have gone on a tear according to an article I saw today. It seems as though national July sales of homes, cars, and capital equipment all spiked, showing their largest increase since 2005. Home sales increased by 10%, and durable goods by 5% and transportation equipment is up 18% over June.

This is yet another sign that the economy continues to improve. There is caution that some of this improvement was fueled by Cash for Clunkers (now over) and tax credits for home sales, but it’s yet another sign of hope and should have a positive impact on business morale and the accompanying psyche.

There’s no question that concerns remain as to whether improvements like this are sustainable, but the more nuggets of positive news we see like this can only serve to feed an increasingly positive environment, especially looking forward.

I saw an article in yesterday’s Press Democrat about signs of local improvement in business activity and a general sense of economic improvement after the depths to which we sank this past winter and is welcome news after all the gloom & doom we’ve heard for all too long.

The article cites specific examples of local companies and a recent report by the Sonoma County Economic Development Board, comparing the level of business confidence in August as compared to February, at which point it had fallen to 3.62 (on a 10-point scale). Surprisingly, the sectors showing the highest level of confidence were manufacturing (5.8) and retail (5.0).

We have a ways to go but as more stories like this appear, it’s a great sign that the worst is over and that the economy on a local and national level are on the way back. As more people and businesses see these types of success stories, it should also add to and become self-fulfilling to an extent. Either way, it’s great news that we’re on the rebound.