Organizations ban together to launch website to support local businesses

The Amarillo Economic Development Corporation (Amarillo EDC) in partnership with the Northwest Texas Small Business Development Center (SBDC), the WT Enterprise Center, and Workforce Solutions Panhandle, launched a website of business and employee resources specific to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in an effort to help citizens stay informed and make appropriate business decisions.

Scott Bentley, the Amarillo market President and current Board of Directors members of First United Bank, is the newest member of the Amarillo EDC's Board of Directors. Scott is very active in the community having served on numerous civic boards including Golden Spread Council of Boy Scouts, Amarillo/Canyon United Way, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Community Advisory Board, and the Amarillo Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone.

The Amarillo Economic Development Corporation (EDC) today announced the reinvestment of funding originally awarded to the Fairly Group in an agreement reached in 2017. The agreement provided Fairly Group funds to allow for the expansion of high-quality jobs at its Amarillo headquarters. In the past year, the agreement has produced $27,000 for the company.

During the 2008 recession, small business owners had to become extremely savvy in their cash management, accounting for each dollar going in and coming out of their organization. New entrepreneurs hanging their shingle for the first time shared the same anxiety that long-term business owners had as they considered the future of their companies.

Growth doesn't just happen. It requires a careful balance of factors within the market. When these factors come together, they create an engine that drives the economy forward.

The stronger the factors, the greater the forward momentum an economy will experience. Some of these factors are permanently fixed, while others remain fluid throughout the economic cycle. Here are a five factors that are fueling Amarillo's economic growth.

Ask any small business owner what one of their primary hurdles was in the early days of their business and they will likely respond that securing funding for major assets was perhaps one of the most intimidating tasks. Entrepreneurs typically have the idea, they have the passion, but they often don’t know where to look for access to affordable methods of financing to propel their product or service off the ground.