Ready to Grow: Hants RDA spearheads investment readiness plan for Hants West

An investment readiness project spearheaded by the Hants Regional Development Authority is making Hants West more attractive to potential employers looking to set up shop in the area.

“We know that the communities of Hants West offer businesses a powerful competitive advantage,” says Hants RDA Executive Director Paul McGinn. “This project is helping us to build a rock solid case for why businesses in expansion mode should locate here.”

Attracting new businesses to the area helps the local economy by creating employment and spin off benefits, as well as attracting newcomers to the region and growing the tax base, says Investment Readiness Officer Emilie de Ronsenroll, who assumed her position last year after living and working overseas with her partner, who is originally from the area. “It’s an important area of focus within business development for the Hants RDA.”

But business attraction is a competitive market, with many regions from around the world vying for a piece of the action. To compete for investment, and to ensure the businesses that set up in Hants West are truly compatible with what the region has to offer, Hants West required an overall strategy, says McGinn. “It’s not just about winning business – it’s about finding the right business.”  

The Investment Readiness Project was launched in 2009, with support from the Towns of Windsor and Hantsport, the Municipality of West Hants and the Nova Scotia Department of Economic and Rural Development.

The objectives of the project are to gather and present data that business decision-makers require when selecting a location, address obstacles that might prevent a business from choosing Hants West, develop a strategy to coordinate stakeholder efforts, and to prepare marketing materials to support business attraction efforts.

So far, community profiles have been prepared for various communities within Hants. The profiles include the type of information investors are looking for: labour market and demographic data, as well as information on available real estate, infrastructure and municipal services. “This information has never been gathered and housed in a central location,” says de Rosenroll. “Investors want a one-stop shop for intelligence. We’re filling that need.”

One obstacle to investment is a lack of serviced commercial real estate, she says. To this end, the Hants RDA has commissioned and received a Business Park Feasibility Study. Moving forward, the Authority will be developing a number of communications and tools to assist in marketing the region to potential employers. An upgraded website, a Regional Investment Intelligence Profile as well as other marketing collateral should be ready by the end of the year.

Another important element: creating a strategy – with input from the town, municipal and provincial government partners – to coordinate investment attraction efforts and guide how Hants West is marketed to the world.

“Ultimately, our goal is to target our marketing efforts to companies and sectors that represent the greatest opportunity for future investment in Hants County,” says De Rosenroll.