"Our company opened an office in Pampa in 2009 and I cannot express how much I appreciate the ongoing support and the level of professionalism I have received from the Pampa EDC."
- Julie Ramsey Cross Texas Transmission, LLC
Contact Information
Pampa EDC 106 N. Cuyler P. O. Box 2398, Pampa, TX 79065 Office:(806)665-0800 E-mail: info@pampaedc.com
April marks the one-year anniversary of the Pampa Economic Development Corporation’s partnership with the Entrepreneur Alliance, and PEDC executive director Clay Rice wants to remind Gray County’s entrepreneurs that they have a handy business resource right here on their doorstep.
“It’s important that the businesspeople of Pampa and Gray County know that they’re here,” said Rice. “We want to make sure everyone out there is aware of a valuable asset that’s right here in town.”
That asset comes in the form of the EA’s Spencer McElhannon, the Pampa representative for its Pampa enterprise development program. A longtime entrepreneur with experience in oil, gas, light manufacturing, technology and agriculture, McElhannon provides consultations free of charge to the business owners of the community.
“I’m available to to speak with local entrepreneurs to help them solve problems in their business,” said McElhannon. “What they do is they give me a quick snapshot of what they want to accomplish business-wise and we’ll put together a plan to walk them forward.”
McElhannon’s program was created through a joint venture with a nearby economic development firm that was adapted to fit the particular demands of the Pampa business community.
“Our program was developed out of a need that was identified by the EDC developer in Borger,” explained Spencer. “He realized that he had a lot of people walking into his office from the community saying, ‘I want to start a business. What can you do for me?’
“He went to the Entrepreneur Alliance, and later Clay did as well, and we created this program that was born out of the need to address the community’s retail business operator’s issues and problems. This program is specifically tailored to the issues that businesses here in Pampa face.”
McElhannon said that the enterprise development program is available to all Pampa entrepreneurs, from those just looking for information on how to start to more experienced business operators who may have a more specific problem area.
“Many of the people who come to see me have no business background. They have an idea of what they want their business to do operationally, but they don’t understand the accounting aspect of things or the legal ramifications of a certain decision. Those are things that we can sit down and walk them through.
“On the other hand, some people who are very sophisticated business-wise may just need help identifying finance sources. I can help with that as well. My primary job is here to meet the need of any business in the area who might be having a problem, whether it’s from a financial standpoint, an organizational standpoint, or maybe to do industry research. We’ll do our best to formulate a plan to move past that problem.”
McElhannon encouraged Pampa business owners to speak to him in person to gain a better understanding of the various services that he and his organization can provide.
“Everyone is welcome,” he said. “Just because we speak, there’s no obligation to the business owner. I’m just here to be a benefit to them, and if there’s something I can do for them in one meeting, that’s great. If they want to discuss their long-term goals and work with us over a period of time, that’s wonderful, too.”
McElhannon praised the EDC for their foresight and commitment in providing Pampa businesses with assistance during an uncertain economic climate.
“The leadership here (at the EDC) has been great to work with and you can tell that they really care about this community,” he said. Clay and (EDC President) Gary (Sutherland) have been doing everything they can to promote business here in Pampa. In the year that we’ve been together, I think that we’ve been able to help the businesses that we’ve been working with, to the point that we could call them success stories, I think.”
Rice added that the EDC is continually looking to develop relationships with Pampa entrepreneurs and offer them services to help them thrive locally.
“Recruiting businesses outside your area is important, but the growth of a local community can sometimes be as much as 80 percent coming from within. We want our individual businesses here to do well, so we need to provide them with as many resources as we can.”
Consultations with McElhannon and the Entrepreneur Alliance are confidential. For more information or to set up an appointment with McElhannon and the Entrepreneur Alliance, contact the Pampa EDC at 665-0800.
