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Reporter's
Notebook
Notes and thoughts from the travels
of Virginia Business writers and editors
June 2005 Talk about carrying coals to Newcastle.
Virginia Business brought several boxes of
its May issue featuring members of the Fantastic 50
to the program's awards dinner in Chantilly.
The magazines were to be distributed at end of the ceremony
when the fastest-growing company in the group was revealed.
However, at least one box contained not the magazine
but the Guide to Doing Business in Virginia,
which is also produced by Virginia Business.
You could argue that, given the success of this group,
a guide to doing business is the last thing they need.
In fact, they could write the book.
Real estate appears to be hot throughout
the Eastern Shore. One house in Onacock
recently sold for $1.5 million. The sales activity has
been reflected in the performance of the Shore
Bank. Lynn Badger, the bank's special projects
manager, says it made $97 million in loans last year.
Many of those loans were mortgages but the amount included
commercial loans, too. The bank built a 19,000-square-foot
headquarters last year in Onley and
saw its deposits rise 17.3 percent.
During the recent Virginia Business
Opportunity Fair in Richmond (sponsored by the Virginia
Minority Supplier Development Council), Virginia
Business had the good fortune of dining with Takhirzhan
B. Kadyrbekov, chairman of the board of Amanat
Insurance in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
This was his first trip to the U.S. Kadyrbekov was visiting
Richmond, Washington, D.C., and New
York in hopes of landing an internship with an American
insurance firm. "I want to learn all I can,"
he said. In Kadyrbekov's country oil is the biggest
industry, he says, but the insurance industry is growing.
Some of his observations about the U.S so far: Washington
is a pretty city, but not as big as he thought. Richmond
is friendly and easy to get around.
Few realize the impact that Virginia's
equestrian industry has on the state economy, contributing
more than $1.46 billion in revenue. In fact, Virginia
is the fifth-largest equine state, only surpassed by
Texas, California, Missouri and Tennessee. The 600-acre
Virginia Horse Center near Lexington
attracts 400,000 visitors a year (60 percent from out
of state). The state's investment in the Horse Center
has paid off. According to a 2004 Weldon Copper study,
for every dollar the state has invested, nearly $5 in
sales tax are returned to state and local governments.
The Horse Center has also generated local economic growth,
with eight hotels being built within a mile of the property.
The Greater Richmond Technology
Council recently presented its 2005 Technology
Awards. The winners are:
• Emerging Company Award: CyMed Inc.
• Technology Innovation Award: The Computer
Solution Co. (TCSC)
• Technology SkillBuilder Award: Mathematics
& Science Center
• Community Support Award: CapTech Foundation
Inc.
• IT Builders Award: Computer Resource
Team Inc.
• Leadership Award: Lemuel C. Stewart
Jr., chief information officer, Commonwealth
of Virginia |
