News and Media

Benton Economic Partnership, Inc. (BEP) is pleased to announce the onboarding of Michelo Muleya as an intern for the remainder of 2021. Michelo is double majoring in Planning and Community Development and Real Estate at St. Cloud State University and expects to graduate in Spring 2022. Michelo is a membe...Continue Reading

Project to create 22 jobs and attract more than $12 million in capital investment Foley – Today, the Benton Economic Partnership, Inc., in cooperation with Benton County and the City of Rice, announced the decision by Performance Food Group (PFG) to expand its Performance Foodservice – Minnesota/Northland Cheese manufacturing operation. Th...Continue Reading

AD: What are the most important soft skills needed for leadership today? Kerber: There are many important soft skills, but the three I have found most important are communication, giving effective feedback, and empathy. Good communication skills are essential for conveying information, decisions, and your thought processes to your team. Giving effective feedbac...Continue Reading

In a time of widespread economic upheaval, the life sciences industry is one of the few whose prospects have changed for the better. Called upon to rapidly develop and distribute an all-important COVID-19 vaccine without sacrificing the research and production of existing drugs, the biotech industry is expanding at breaknec...Continue Reading

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected every facet of our economy, increasing a cultural reliance on e-commerce that is here to stay. Retailers have responded by minimizing square footage of brick-and-mortar store fronts, keeping less inventory on site, and focusing more on entertainment and experiential retail to keep shoppers engaged. A...Continue Reading

After eight years of negotiations, 15 Asian countries signed the world’s largest free trade agreement — the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) — on November 15, 2020. Consisting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) 10 member states, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, RCEP aims to establis...Continue Reading

The St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce is recognizing four local business owners as part of its 2021 Central Minnesota Business Awards. Honorees include: Joe Francis, Central McGowan: Small Business Owner of the Year Donella Westphal, Jules' Bistro: Business Central Mark of Excellence - Woman in Business Champion Joe Sexton and Gary Posch, Brandl Motors: 202...Continue Reading

FOLEY, MN -- Benton Economic Partnership recently launched a newly redesigned website, created by Golden Shovel Agency. The new site has a clean, modern design that is easily navigable and simple to digest. One of the main goals of the website redesign project was to speak to different audiences in way...Continue Reading

Recently, the Minnesota Chamber held its annual Workforce Solutions Forum to talk about a fundamental challenge that faced employers for years before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and is likely to continue long after: workforce. The Minnesota Chamber Foundation’s Center for Workforce Solutions is a business-led initiative to ensure employers an...Continue Reading

Minnesota added 11,300 new jobs in April, the fourth straight month that the state has posted job gains. Data from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) shows that the state has now added 95,700 jobs over the last four months. More than half of those jobs wer...Continue Reading

St. Paul – Sales of agriculture, mining and manufacturing exports from Minnesota dipped 4% between the first quarters of 2020 and 2021, falling to $5.4 billion, according to a report released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). U.S. exports rose year over year by 2% durin...Continue Reading

Without a doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic put a strain on small businesses; and the performance of small businesses is crucial not just to business owners but to the American economy as well. In fact, small businesses account for two-thirds of net job growth and 44 percent of U.S. economic activity.  Bento...Continue Reading

Chipotle can TikTok with the best of them, by corporate standards anyway.  It’s amassed 1.8 million followers—almost as many as rivals McDonald’s (1.1 million) and Taco Bell (861,700) combined—by embracing the kind of snappy, freewheeling content the platform’s young users crave. But between posting videos of teens dancing to song...Continue Reading

Steve and Kathleen Nagel had two special requirements as they searched for a retirement locale last fall: plentiful medical specialists (Kathy, 64, has health issues) and no risk of hurricanes, a perpetual threat to their old home in Lake Charles, 30 miles off the Gulf of Mexico. “We went throug...Continue Reading

For many of us, we’re serial goal-setters. We find it easy to set goals and love to dream big. When it comes to reaching those goals, though, that’s another matter. The problem isn’t your goal-setting ability. Instead, our inability to reach those goals often comes down to our modus operandi, ou...Continue Reading

When I was young, I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. Most of my school friends wanted to be doctors, lawyers or firefighters. Not me: I was driven from childhood toward entrepreneurship. I sold lollipops from my backpack when I was in grade school; being a serial entrepreneur was ...Continue Reading

The Center for Workforce Solutions is the first-of-its kind in Minnesota, a business-led initiative to ensure employers and employees possess the necessary tools for jobs of the future. One of three priority areas for the Minnesota Chamber Foundation, it is complimented by our leadership programs, and the Center for Economi...Continue Reading

Starting a business can cost tens of thousands of dollars, even if you’re working with something small and lean. If you’re trying to launch a business that requires heavy equipment, or if you’re looking to expand quickly, you might need millions.  It’s likely that you will face a financial burden upon enterin...Continue Reading

Covid-19 has accelerated the digital transformation of industries across the board, and economic development is no exception. We're all doing things we never thought we could do only 14 months ago. Virtual events? Virtual tours? Interactive online walkthroughs? These are our new normal. The economic developers that weathered these challenge...Continue Reading

What could be more analogous to Spring than the economic awakening of local communities recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic? This May is an excellent time to recognize Benton Economic Partnership’s promotion and support of business growth in its Minnesota community because the month includes two recognition weeks: Small Business Wee...Continue Reading

Seven must-do tasks before creating an Opportunity Zone strategy include assessing housing needs; gauging commercial market conditions in your community; identifying key economic drivers; analyzing your community workforce; seeking available tools for economic growth; collaborating with existing partners; and finding the right experts to help guide you through this process. Let'...Continue Reading

The challenges faced in 2020 were unlike any other confronted in our lifetime. The global pandemic wreaked havoc on our personal and professional lives and the U.S. and global economies. The Commerce Department reports that U.S. GDP declined 3.5 percent in 2020, with the economy falling into recession in February 202...Continue Reading

Judging by the number of e-commerce and health-related facility investments all around us in this pandemic year, you’d expect those categories to vault to the top of any global ranking by industry sector. They didn’t quite reach the summit, but logistics (+19.3%) and life sciences (+12%) show the biggest — an...Continue Reading

Jonathan Webb’s quixotic dream is coming true. AppHarvest, the ag-tech venture he founded four years ago in Kentucky coal country, went public in February after shipping its first consignment of beefsteak tomatoes weeks earlier from what is North America’s biggest greenhouse. AppHarvest tomatoes now are available in chains such a...Continue Reading