As I shared in last month’s column, I think our team at the CEP is second to none. They work incredibly hard to insure we are the catalyst for a prosperous community for everyone who calls the Ocala Metro home. A big part of having a great team is hiring incredible people.

Beth McCall Joins CEP Team

If there is such a thing as a homerun hire, Beth is the very definition. She joined the CEP team on 1 September as the new Director of Talent Development. In this role she will lead the CEP’s effort to engage businesses in our partnership with our education providers.

Beth is no stranger to Marion County Public Schools. She was elected in August 2016 as a member of the School Board. She served in that position until she moved out of District 2 and resigned the seat in June 2021. Continue reading →

While summer is often a slower time for many businesses with people taking vacations and kids out of school, that is not the case at the CEP. If anything, this year the already crazy speed has gotten even faster. I would like to update you on a few recent awards and recognitions.

US News & World Reports Best Places List

The venerable US News & World Reports Annual “Best Places to Live” list was just released, and the Ocala Metro again placed very well. The list ranks the 150 largest metros in the nation on a series of data points and then provides ranking in several categories. For 2022, the Ocala Metro ranked: Continue reading →

While summer is often a slower time for many businesses with people taking vacations and kids out of school, that is not the case at the CEP. If anything, this year the already crazy speed has gotten even faster. This month I would like to update you on a few recent awards, recognitions, and goals.

US News & World Reports Best Places List

The venerable US News & World Reports Annual “Best Places to Live” list was just released, and the Ocala Metro again placed very well. The list ranks the 150 largest metros in the nation on a series of data points and then provides ranking in several categories. For 2022, the Ocala Metro ranked:

• #4 Safest Metro
• #6 Fastest Growing Metro
• #6 Best Place to Retire
• #16 Best Small Metro
• #58 Overall

Continue reading →

The purpose of the CEP is to be the One-Stop Shop and Voice of the Business Community. We are the designated economic development organization for all of the Ocala Metro. While many focus on our Business Attraction successes (bringing in new major employers like Amazon, Dollar Tree, and FedEx) or our Business Services programs (such as Business After Hours, TuesdayTalks, and Leadership Ocala Marion), it is our Business Retention and Business Creation efforts that really have the ability to impact the business community. This is especially true as we continue to go through a difficult crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Our Business Retention efforts are focused on assisting existing businesses throughout the community with a particular focus on primary employers (manufacturing, distribution, and large office). We work with approximately 200 businesses every year REGARDLESS of their partnership with the CEP. In other words, a business does not have to be a CEP partner to receive assistance. Much of this work is focused on removing barriers to their growth. Sometimes this means connecting them existing resources on the local, state, and federal level. Other times it means we are connecting them with other businesses to the benefit of both. Continue reading →

Here at the CEP we are big believers in Manufacturing. We believe that we you make stuff, you make wealth.

Manufacturing is an important component to our local economy. We have a strong, diverse manufacturing sector locally. Companies in the metro make everything from fire engines to missile control systems, cake sprinkles to hurricane impact windows and everything in between. With more than 9,000 employees, the Ocala Metro manufacturing sector is one of the largest in Florida.

AdvisorSmith, a business consultancy, ranked the Ocala Metro as a top mid-sized metro (250,000 to 750,000) for manufacturing. The area ranked in the Top 20 of ALL metros for manufacturing output growth and for manufacturing employment growth. Additionally, the Ocala Metro has been ranked #1 or 2 in the growth of our manufacturing employment throughout 2021. Continue reading →

In April of 2020, through the vision of the CEP Executive Board who identified a need for healthcare to be a focus of development, Erin A. Jones, joined our team with her 16+ years in healthcare, as the Director of Healthcare Development.  Creating Sphere, a healthcare initiative of the Ocala Metro Chamber and Economic Partnership.

The CEP wants to champion existing healthcare and stimulate a culture of growth.  Sphere’s Mission is to be a catalyst for innovation bringing more companies which brings more investment.  The goal is to lead, align, expand, and attract in key areas of healthcare such as logistics, manufacturing, delivery, and services.  “In the few other areas that have a healthcare lane in chambers across the county, the CEP is the only one that is looking at healthcare with economic development in mind” says CEO Kevin Sheilley. Continue reading →

This column was prepared by the CEP and recently ran in Expansion Solutions magazine. It describes why companies are considering relocating to the Ocala Metro.

If the Ocala Metro is not on your company’s search radar, it needs to be! Located at the crossroads of the Florida peninsula, the Ocala Metro is crossed by I-75 and is met by US Hwy 301 and just north of the Florida Turnpike. These intersections create the connectivity to service Florida’s 22 million and growing population as well as providing ease of access to the lower Southeast United States.

Is logistics important to your business? The all important one-days truck drive (6-hours each way) reaches 34 million people when centered on Ocala. This is a 39% premium over the I-4 corridor and connects Atlanta to Miami. This is key logistical fact is a primary reason companies like Amazon, AutoZone, Chewy, FedEx Ground, McLane, and Dollar Tree have opened new distribution facilities in the area in just the last few years.

Ocala prides itself on delivering facilities and permits almost as quickly as we can speed your logistics. Expediting permitting is not only a goal but a standard operating procedure with local governments committed to partnering to ensure your spending time and capital on actually constructing facilities and not battling city hall. Shovel ready sites in the Metro are truly that – shovel ready. With nearly 2000 acres of fully infrastructured, ready to develop industrial sites, your business can find the site it needs today. Continue reading →

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity recently released the December unemployment information for Florida communities. As a number of media outlets have reported, the Ocala Metro (Marion County) reported a December unemployment rate of 5.6%. This was down from the adjusted November rate of 5.7% and is below both the Florida (6.1%) and US (6.7%) averages. The Ocala Metro has reported an unemployment rate that is lower than the state and national rates for every month since the beginning of the pandemic.

While this is good news it only tells a portion of what is a much larger and better story. A community or state can report a lower unemployment rate without creating jobs. If the workforce and/or the number employed decreases from the previous period, then the unemployment rate may decrease especially if individuals have stopped looking for jobs. These discouraged workers stop showing up in the numbers and can give the illusion of shrinking unemployment when that is not actually occurring.

Job growth occurs when the area reports an increase in both the size of the workforce and in the number of those employed. In December, the Ocala Metro was one of three Florida metros (out of 24) to report positive year over year gains in both of these key categories. Additionally, the Ocala Metro reported more than triple the number of jobs created (1,900) than the other two positive metros combined. The Ocala Metro has led the state in these two critical areas for the last four months and is the only metro area to report positive growth in each of the last four months. One only has to drive briefly around town to see all of the Now Hiring signs and the consistently increasing wages to know that these numbers ring true. Continue reading →

The purpose of the CEP is to be the One-Stop Shop and Voice of the Business Community. We are the designated economic development organization for all of the Ocala Metro. While many focus on our Business Attraction successes (bringing in new major employers like Amazon, Dollar Tree, and FedEx) or our Business Services programs (such as Business After Hours, TuesdayTalks, and Leadership Ocala Marion), it is our Business Retention and Business Creation efforts that really have the ability to impact the business community. This is especially true as we continue to go through a difficult crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Our Business Retention efforts are focused on assisting existing businesses throughout the community with a particular focus on primary employers (manufacturing, distribution, and large office). We work with approximately 200 businesses every year REGARDLESS of their partnership with the CEP. In other words, a business does not have to be a CEP partner to receive assistance. Much of this work is focused on removing barriers to their growth. Sometimes this means connecting them existing resources on the local, state, and federal level. Other times it means we are connecting them with other businesses to the benefit of both. Continue reading →

The Ocala Chamber & Economic Partnership is pleased to welcome two new primary employers the local business community: ZT Polygel and Big Daddy Unlimited.

ZT Polygel

ZT Polygel LLC has signed a lease on a 55,000 sq. ft. facility in Ocala to allow the company to manufacture its industry leading algae-based organic polymers used in hand sanitizers and surface sprays which are the only polymers third party certified and FDA lab proven to sequester and kill COVID-19.

The Ocala facility located at 500 NW 27th Ave, will eventually employ 90 people and will begin limited operations before the end of the year. This is ZT Polymer’s second location in Florida and when fully operational will have the capacity to manufacture enough polymer to produce over 50 mm gallons per month of personal sanitizer products. ZT Polygel is used in its sister company’s line of sanitizer products under the VARIGARD™ name.

When ZT Polygel is used in any hand sanitizer formula, the patented polymers create a three-layer barrier of protection that lasts for more than two hours. Pathogens are sequestered in the middle layer, which does not allow the transfer of the germ to another individual or surface. ZT Polygel has been lab-proven at one of the country’s top COVID-19 testing labs.

To learn more about the unique attributes of ZT Polygel and its sister company VARIGARD™, visit them at www.varigard.com Continue reading →