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State officials pitch opportunities to venture capital managers Wednesday, Sep 19, 2007 By Jason Wiest Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - In an attempt to attract investment to the state, Gov. Mike Beebe pitched opportunities to a group of national and international investment leaders here Tuesday for a conference. In a luncheon speech to members of the National Association of Seed and Venture Capital Funds, Beebe expressed gratitude for their presence and invited them to invest in alternative fuels, among other opportunities. Representatives of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, knowledge-based start-up companies in the state and the Arkansas Development Finance Authority, which hosted the event, also attended the conference to network. Areas of the state are replete with the raw materials needed to create alternative fuels, Beebe told the group of more than 200. "We have the infrastructure available to be able to transport and transmit that, we have the science," he said. "What we need is you all, what we need is capital, what we need is investment." Arkansans have a history of an entrepreneurial spirit, making the state prime for investment, Beebe said, mentioning Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods, Acxiom Corp. and others. Beebe also plugged the state's universities, as well as the National Center for Toxicological Research in Jefferson, for their research, which he said lends itself to ideas and spin-offs attractive to venture capitalists. "You all make decisions daily on who invests where and what companies are going to be able to spray up and grow," he said, adding that the country's economic vitality and quality of life depended on their success. AEDC Director Maria Haley said the conference provided a tremendous networking opportunity for state government, business and academic leaders and that AEDC would send the participants marketing materials. Researchers will exchange contact information with attendees with the hope of having future discussions. "One of the things that we need to do in order to grow our knowledge-based industries is to connect our knowledge-based industries, our small entrepreneurial industries, with the funders because obviously the state cannot fund these ventures," she said. Both Beebe and Haley said it was too early to tell if any participants were interested in making investments in Arkansas, but both said the group was pleasantly surprised with the state. "Most of the delegates or participants I talked to said, 'Oh gosh, this is so beautiful here, this is wonderful,'" Haley said. "So there is a surprise element there." Beebe said it went beyond physical attributes, as he heard positive comments about the state's people, the amenities and "certainly some of the economic opportunities that exist here." Beebe was not scheduled to speak to the group again but said afterwards that he may talk to some of the participants individually. The conference runs through Wednesday. "If we can just turn a few of their heads about rethinking what their preconceived notions were about Arkansas and turning it into something very positive, that may cause them to invest here, may cause them to be able to bring some capital or a company or something in here that they otherwise may not have even had us on the radar screen for," the governor said. A similar scenario played out favorably recently when LM Glasfiber, a Danish manufacturer of windmill blades, decided to locate more than 1,000 jobs in Little Rock after the state did not initially make the company's short-list of locations. "We got a couple companies in here that weren't even looking at us once we brought them down and gave them some Arkansas barbecue at the (Governor's) Mansion," Beebe said. |
