It’s always enjoyable and rewarding to me to be surrounded by so much youth, not only the fresh young entrepreneurs’ faces, but also the youthful industry we are featuring this month:  the information technology—IT—industry.  It’s high tech, innovative, creative, constantly moving and adjusting to market needs.  This industry provides an invigorating environment for our Greater Lansing business community.

Our region has been, and will remain, a manufacturing center, especially with the commitment by GM as evidenced by the state-of-the-art facility recently opened here, and the many suppliers involved as a result.  Manufacturing as we’ve known it is becoming increasingly high tech and production methods are always evolving.

The increased presence of IT businesses also reminds us that continual change is a major part of today’s business climate.  IT, a comparatively young business group?  Sure, but we’re watching these people start their businesses and then grow and change by leaps as bounds, as the saying goes. All of this creates challenges for marketing and often challenges for employees.  More efficient?  Great.  More streamlined?  Good.  Except for the employees whose jobs are eliminated through such advances.

Who takes up this slack?  Who retrains and redirects our excellent area workforce?  Who encourages businesses to move to our area and helps develop new businesses, adding job opportunities?  Well,  I applaud many people and organizations working diligently in these areas: the governor and MEDC for putting together initiatives in the 21^st Century Jobs Fund, all the economic development corporations who are doing so much to bring businesses to our region and helping small businesses to continue to move forward, small business technology centers nurturing these ventures.  And I certainly include here the new umbrella organization for economic development, LEAP.

Fortunately, we have a wide, diverse group, and these I’ve mentioned are representative of the dynamic, positive variety of individuals and organizations involved every day.

The Greater Lansing area is changing and growing in exciting new ways, and the IT industry developing here is an example of the promise of a vital and varied future for our business community.

All of us here at The Greater Lansing Business Monthly wish you a prosperous month in this ever-changing business environment.

		Chris Holman Publisher