Oconee County is an Easy Sell

Oconee County is known as the Golden Corner of South Carolina not only for its location as the northwestern-most county, but also for its beautiful mountains and lakes. Oconee Economic Alliance (OEA) Interim Executive Director Janet Hartman says those are just two of the things that make Oconee County an easy sell to prospective industries looking to locate here. “It is easy to sell the county from the standpoint of if we have a prospect that wants to fly into Oconee County they can do it at our Oconee Regional Airport. They don’t have to drive from Atlanta, but if they are coming internationally, we are fortunate to be very close to Atlanta. We are the county in South Carolina that is the closest to Atlanta, so that gives us a leg up. The fact that we are on the I-85 corridor, so all of the those things, but once they get here, they meet some of the folks here, it’s just really a godo place to raise a family, start a business and there are opportunities and if this is what you are looking forward we can help you seal the deal. As far as getting people on the ground, once they’re here, yes. We drive them through the areas. Housing is a question a lot of times. What kind of housing is available? So, we will take the time to drive them through housing developments or out into the areas where it might not be real visible when you first come through Seneca or Walhalla, but we take them out into the neighborhoods os that they can see what is available. I feel we go that extra mile to make sure people know what is available here because not all of it meets the eye. We have great exposure with our www.visitoconeesc.com website through the CVB, but we want folks to know that there is more than just waterfalls, hiking trails and the beautiful scenery. We want them to know that we do have a nucleus with our downtowns and that is why it is important to continue to strengthen those downtowns. That quality of life factor is a huge decision maker. It is not always will the county offer financial incentives, its what is available for my workforce. If I’m going to move a group of folks into Oconee County what is there for them? So, we want to make sure that we can tell the story and make sure that it is comprehensive to them.” Oconee County is home to over 60 industrial related companies and boasts a labor force of over 640,000 people. Learn more about the OEA by visiting www.investoconeesc.com.