Solon Expands Efforts to Recruit International Businesses

wants to get global to attract new businesses and jobs to the city.

City officials recently created the Get Global Program to recruit international and out-of-state businesses to Solon. The program targets businesses who are interested in locating in Northeast Ohio.

The city will tap the experience and resources of SGI Global Business Advisors LLC, whose two prinicipals live in Solon. The company will provide the city with leads on businesses interested in opening a location in the area and also relocation assistance.

SGI will be paid $500 for each qualified lead, and another $500 if the business actually locates in Solon.

The city would also pay $500 per prospective business for SGI to provide relocation assistance to interested companies.

While Solon already has strategies it uses to attract international businesses, SGI can help Solon provide services to prospective businesses that are "outside the scope" of the city's economic development staff.

In a memo, Economic Development Director Peggy Weil Dorfman said she expects one to five leads per year. The program will likely target small office space, in part because Solon's vacancy rate is highest for those types of offices.

"While it's not a panacea, it's certainly an opportunity to look at the global market," Vice Mayor Ed Kraus. "As we all know, in business today, it's all about global."

SGI's partners are Howard Allen Gudell and David P.N. Silk. Both are Solon residents. SGI is located in Cleveland.