Opinion: Reviving Flint’s economic engine

The ideas stated here are not mine. The credit goes to John Gallagher, author of Reimagining Detroit: Opportunities for Redefining an American City.

The opinions presented about Gallagher's ideas are mine.

Gallagher was in town Oct. 12 speaking at Kettering University. What better place because ideas spawn other ideas and Kettering's entrepreneurial one-of-a-kind program begins with ideas.

I was disappointed in the number of people who attended. Gallagher presented some explosive ideas in his book and Flint needs more innovative thinkers.

I bought a copy of his book which he autographed for me. I tore home and began reading. When I got to Chapter 7, "Revving the Urban Economic Engine," I was hooked. Gallagher ignited my passion for business development — something I did after my first retirement from corporate business.

Quoting Gallagher, "Detroit has plenty of smart engineers, but damn few entrepreneurs."

I thought — he understands Flint. Maybe our engineers are gone, but we've got a plethora of dedicated and educated people here.

"And by entrepreneurs I don't mean merely a few risk-taking owners. Our entire culture in Detroit needs to think more entrepreneurial, needs to value education and lifelong learning and the acquisition of new skills. We all need to think more about supporting local businesses — seeing the links between buying local products and service and prospering as a community," Gallagher wrote.

Amen to that Gallagher.

I was stunned when I learned that if every Michigan family purchased just $10 a week from their local farmers' market it would put $40 million weekly into the Michigan economy. We're not talking peanuts, but big potatoes.

Next Gallagher addressed Detroit's high-tech business incubator, TechTown, where ideas are hatched and businesses are born. Flint desperately needs one.

In a conversation with a professor at Kettering after the Gallagher presentation we discussed what Kettering students could do to rebuild this city.

"Start one new business here each year," I replied. "You've got the young people. One Kettering senior had an internet business going a couple of years ago with revenues of more than $1 million — before he graduated.

Gallagher advocates getting like-minded people together for a business incubator, which naturally fosters a mingling and cross-fertilization of ideas. It happened in Ann Arbor. It could happen in Flint.

Other ideas from his book that put my passion for business on the front burner again were employee-owned cooperatives.

"It makes sense that employee-owners work harder and track every dime more closely than employees at many other firms," Gallagher said. "If employees get to take over the firm, good things usually happen."

Then Gallagher proceeded to advocate not only employee-owned businesses, but bunching them together into cooperative arrangements that share production and buying power.

Gallagher has got something here.

Finally, Gallagher struck my heartstrings when he talked about social enterprise. That's where mission meets marketplace.

"Social enterprises achieve social ends through business means … The promoters of social enterprises help homeless, abused, addicted and otherwise troubled people by creating jobs for them when no one else will," Gallagher said.

He's got a great solution to Flint's social crisis.

A priest involved in social enterprise once told me a job will stop a bullet.

We've got plenty of bullets flying in Flint. Now let's get some jobs going.