He’s got a business that can’t expand or a proposition that can’t be realized without certain key elements: fresh water, access to power and outbound transportation, a labor pool skilled enough to turn his ideas into reality.

Maybe he’s from water-starved California. Hidebound, Germany. Underdeveloped Russia. Where doesn’t matter, just that he’s got something we want.

And we’ve got everything he needs.

All we have to do is get him here, show him the possibilities and let a partnership bloom.

That’s the idea behind Explore Buffalo Niagara 2007, a pioneer business recruitment effort launched by a local labor think tank and backed by entrepreneurial giant Warren Buffett.

From a volunteer group of local labor, business, economic development and academic leaders, invitations to a September forum in the two counties have gone out to about 1,000 businesses worldwide. The invitation is personalized by Buffett, who on a DVD tells businesspeople about the investments he’s made in the region and why they should come see for themselves what he knows to be Erie-Niagara’s bragging points:

“I’m a longtime fan of the area,” Buffett says. Of the Geico regional customer service center in Amherst, which employs 1,150 people and is expected to double the number in three years, he adds, “We could have located anywhere in the northeastern United States — but we chose Buffalo.”

The forum is the genius of David Roll, western New York chapter manager of National Electrical Contractors Association and a member of the Economic Development Group, a not-for-profit effort by organized labor leaders to help create and retain local jobs through various enterprises.

Roll’s vision, having people in the community roll out the red carpet for visitors and show them up-close why Erie-Niagara is the place to invest, is an expression of love for, and worry over, his home turf.

“This is the greatest place to work and live and we’re falling apart. We’re losing our best and brightest,” Roll said. “We’ve got to combat the negativity with some education, some promotion of our positives.”



Not your typical conference

Explore Buffalo-Niagara 2007 isn’t just another occasion for officials to recite tired spiels in antiseptic conference rooms, according to coordinator Janice Barrett. The Sept. 12-14 forum agenda is light on officialdom, heavy with hands-on activities designed to show businesspeople Erie-Niagara’s assets in real time.

The early three-day agenda includes a few traditional conference activities such as a keynote chat by CNBC senior analyst Ron Insana and panel discussions with business, labor and economic development leaders including forum co-chairman Sam Ferraro, director of Niagara County Center for Economic Development. There also are a couple “regional asset showcases,” presentations by Roll about commerce and state Regent Bob Bennett about education in the region.

None of those activities will last more than two hours, however.

The rest of the visitors’ days and evenings are to be filled with field trips — to the Buffalo waterfront, to Curtain Up! and a show in the Theater District, to dinner and fireworks at the Falls and to business and site tours. The novelty of the Explore effort is its’ pairing up of individual visitors with locals who’ll take them wherever they want to go.

An example from Barrett: A visitor has a business that requires proximity to an airport for shipping product. That visitor will be taken to construction-ready sites in either county that meet his needs, to Niagara Falls airport for an intimate view of cargo transport and introduced to local leaders in his industry. If that visitor mentions a hobby like fishing, a side visit to local fishing waters will be arranged too. Ditto for entrepreneurs who might like a little arts and culture to go along with their visit to the bioinformatics center at University of Buffalo.

“We’re lining people up to call (the visitors, once they’re admitted to the forum) and ask them what they want to see and do professionally and personally while they’re here — and we will make it happen,” Barrett said. “There will be no sitting around in meeting rooms. We will match (visitors) to their interests and maximize those hours that they’re here.”



Grassroots campaign developing

The effort will require dozens of volunteers — local businesspeople, civic activists, students, even homemakers — to buddy up with visitors and give insight into what makes Erie-Niagara desirable. Landing the volunteers has so far been effortless, Barrett said. As Roll and Ferraro visit with local business and civic groups, play the Buffett DVD and brief audiences on the bigger picture, the offers from everyday citizens keep multiplying.

“Typically the welcoming is always done behind closed doors by politicians, so this is a real opportunity. People are excited,” Barrett said. “There’s just a groundswell of interest and people asking, ‘what can I do to help?’”

“Schools seem especially interested in having us show the DVD to students. There is a movement on to do something so (young people) don’t have to move,” Roll added. “It’s overwhelming, the support we’re getting.”

Volunteering for the cause is a no-brainer, says Jim Gugliuzza of Lockport, a recent Delphi retiree and longtime labor activist. Gugliuzza is putting himself at the disposal of forum organizers throughout the event and said whatever they need him to do — play chauffeur, make phone calls and introductions, run errands — he’ll do.

“When I see the decline here over the years ... I feel like this finally is something that could create a turning point for us economically,” he said. “Every generation has left it better and my generation is coming to the end. We need to do something. Maybe this is it.”



Taking the bull by the horns

Also striking about the Explore effort is the virtual absence of government from planning and execution. From start to finish, the private sector is taking the lead and the public sector is playing a supporting role. That’s a reflection of who’s better placed to sell visitors on the region, Roll said.

“Labor and academia deal with business nationwide every day. We can do things that government can’t. We have more access to resources,” he said.

Members of the Explore committee including co-chairmen Roll and Kevin Donovan, United Auto Workers assistant regional director, are networkers. They belong to the business groups and roundtables where there’s always talk about business needs, Roll said, so they have a good understanding what CEOs and entrepreneurs will be most interested in knowing about the region. Through labor and academia they also has a list of every company chief financial officer and chief executive officer in the United States, with home addresses and phone numbers — something no government agency has.

Government is not shut out of the effort, however, despite one committee member’s retelling of a sobering experience in which Roll pitched the forum idea to a politician and was told dismissively, “that’s economic development’s job.” Where public agencies and offices can be of help to the private effort, they are, Roll said. The public sector’s job, offering incentives and other assistance to incoming businesses, should come after the private pitch.

“Sen. Maziarz, Assemblyman Hoyt and others have helped open doors in the places where they have influence. Each side is doing what it does best. We’re not battling one another, we’re all working together to improve western New York,” Roll said. “In the end, what sells western New York is the way people have such pride in it. That can’t be replicated by government, it has to come from people.”



Welcome mat woven from all walks

The forum is largely free to committee-approved CEOs and entrepreneurs, since the only cost they’ll bear to participate is transportation here. Once they are, the committee is footing the tab for lodging, meals and amenities, complements of sponsors who’ve kicked in about $600,000 to host up to 50 visitors. Sponsors include interests as varied (and sometimes disparate) as M&T; Bank Foundation, New York State United Teachers Association, International Brotherhood of Electronic Workers, New York Power Authority and Empire State Development Corporation.

Volunteer “partners,” from the Buffalo AFL-CIO Labor Council and Buffalo Niagara Enterprise to Niagara University, UB and Buffalo Niagara Sister-City Coalition, are signed on to handle certain aspects of organization. Deborah Curtis, director of the hospitality training and research center at Niagara University, is in charge of coordinating volunteers.

“Every part of the community, from business leaders to students, everybody wants to help counteract the negativity and change the region’s image,” Curtis said. “We want other people to see the area as we see it: A great place to work, live and raise family. It encompasses a huge number of people from all sectors.”



Shooting to score

The forum guest list is still being compiled, according to Barrett, so there’s no saying at this point how many entrepreneurs will be coming in or who they are. From the original invitation list of 1,000, she said, “Fifty (in attendance) would make us joyful, but we’d be happy with 25. ... We’ll be really happy if one company relocates here.”

Confirmations have been received from several Chinese, Russian and German interests and several larger U.S. corporations, according to Rick Updegrove, a Niagara County legislator involved with economic development.

“Once we get these CEOs here, they’re going to see what we already know. ... By taking them to the industrial parks, the airports and the other places they want to see, they’ll get a real feel for our proximity to the border and transportation infrastructure,” he said. “It’s one thing to read about it, another to really see it.”

A community effort like Explore has never been undertaken anywhere in the United States, Roll said. The U.S. Department of Commerce is “shadowing” the process and, if it’s dubbed successful, will write it up as a national model.

Contact reporter Joyce Miles at 439-9222, ext. 6245.