The Louisiana Business and Technology Center has a new partner in its efforts to grow business across the Gulf South, and the federal government has taken notice.
The Enterprise for Innovative GeoSpatial Solutions, a program of the Magnolia Business Alliance, has been awarded one of 10 contracts worth $600,000 by the United States Small Business Administration, according to Magnolia president Craig Harvey.
The contracts were issued to encourage businesses in similar fields — in this case geospatial solutions — to form strong regional clusters and facilitate job growth in regions across the nation, according to an SBA news release.
Geospatial solutions are the people and technologies involved in mapping, remote sensing, location and geographic information systems.
“We will use some of the funding from the SBA to do joint programs with the LBTC,” Harvey said.
The EIGS, a business cluster and development group, was formerly a program of Ole Miss. But the Magnolia alliance took the EIGS private and is attempting to expand it from its Mississippi roots to the entire Gulf Coast region — from west Florida to Texas — according to Harvey.
The LBTC is working with the alliance to foster and unite businesses in Louisiana with their Mississippi counterparts, says LBTC Associate Director Roy Keller.
“Mainly what we’re going to do for them is outreach,” Keller said.
When LBTC officials give seminars and assistance to small businesses across the state, they will also operate on behalf of the Magnolia alliance for specific programs and events, Harvey said.
Harvey’s own geospatial business — NVision Solutions — is a founding member of the Magnolia alliance and a current tenant of the LBTC, so Keller says the partnership isn’t temporary.
“We’ve got a long-term relationship with NVision,” Keller said.
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Contact Frederick Holl at [email protected]