Jim Blair About Preparing for Foreign Direct Investment

Our Managing Director, Jim Blair, who had been invited to speak at the Economic Development Summit organized by Electric Cities of Georgia (ECG) in April 2017, was recently featured in ECG’s second quarter newsletter “fyi – GA’s Energy Cities at Work“.

In the article, Jim Blair was asked for ways to reduce risks associated with attracting foreign direct investment. Overall, a successful strategy for recruiting foreign investment needed to be embedded in and aligned with the region’s overall strategic planning. He encouraged economic developers to have an honest conversation about their region’s strengths and weaknesses, including the industrial asset base and overall position of the region – and how that might be perceived by a foreign investor. Among other factors, he highlighted the importance of strong local leadership, governance stability, and advanced workforce training programmes.