Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990 TAG: 9003232491
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN H. SAUNDERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
I am a 1975 graduate of Patrick Henry who left Roanoke in 1979 to obtain an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and to pursue a career in international finance. After work in Boston, Dallas and London, I returned to Roanoke last June to start the Jefferson Business Group, an investment management and venture capital firm.
My partner, Tom Jones, grew up in Tulsa, Okla., and came here from New York where he had been practicing law. We chose Roanoke because of the opportunities available in the valley and because its environment for our young children could not be equaled in Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, New York or the other cities we considered.
Many young people leave the valley to pursue some combination of riches, adventure, and career opportunities. Today, it is difficult for recent graduates to see how they can earn incomes in Roanoke comparable to incomes in larger cities. Most recent graduates focus on finding jobs with large companies that pay attractive salaries.
Because they do not see many large companies in Roanoke, they assume either that jobs are not available, or that those available do not offer commensurate compensation. As a result, many young people overlook or do not know how to find opportunities.
There are opportunities in Roanoke to have exciting careers and to earn "big-city incomes." Individuals can start new companies in Roanoke that use technology to distribute their product or service to a national marketplace. They can join and revitalize many of our established businesses. They can also work to relocate established businesses from high-cost markets to the valley. Of course, these opportunities are hard to identify, and they are based on individual initiative, but they exist for those willing to seek them out.
Another reason young people leave is that they overlook or else do not know how to value the extraordinary quality of life in Roanoke. In time, separation will teach many about the importance of the valley's advantages. Many young people may return after they have developed a perspective on Roanoke's strengths and weaknesses relative to other communities. We should encourage these people because they will often bring back new skills and knowledge that can be applied to future growth.
Our challenge is to create an environment where Roanoke's many opportunities are recognized by all. To do this we will have to invest our time and momey behind new ideas and concepts. We will also have to leverage the resources available from Virginia Tech, the Chamber of Commerce and other local institutions.
We should promote Roanoke as an ideal place to start a new business. We will also need to focus on bringing young talent into our existing businesses and giving them the freedom to experiment with their ideas (within prescribed limits). And finally, we will all need to focus on marketing the valley's advantages and opportunities, not just to outsiders, but also to ourselves and our friends who have temporarily left the valley.
The Roanoke Times & World-News can and should play an important role in this process. It has a special responsibility to examine and communicate the valley's problems and opportunities to the public. I hope that in the future the paper devotes as much resources to exposing the valley's opportunities as were devoted to its problems in the article.
by CNB