Meet the people and businesses most invested in our community, and make sure your business is on that list. ✅
The Power Breakfast series is a quarterly gathering of the business community and other community leaders to talk about issues of interest to our region. Each breakfast features a panel discussion or individual speaker focusing on topics of interest to local companies!
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WilmingtonBiz Talk with NH Community Endowment head
In a special BizTalk at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday hear from New Hanover Community Endowment President and CEO William Buster on the heels of the fund’s announcement of $53 million in upcoming grants.
BizTalk with William Buster
In a special BizTalk at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday hear from New Hanover Community Endowment President and CEO William Buster on the heels of the fund’s announcement of $53 million in upcoming grants.
WilmingtonBiz Talk with Novant
Today marks two years since the sale of the county-owned New Hanover Regional Medical Center to Novant Health.
Joining today’s BizTalk are two local officials to answer questions about how it’s gone and what’s coming next for the health system.
WilmingtonBiz Talk: Checking in with state lawmakers
North Carolina’s short legislative session ended recently and lawmakers finalized a nearly $28 billion budget.
On today’s WilmingtonBiz Talk, we talk with our local legislators about the budget and other important issues that impact the Cape Fear region.
WilmingtonBiz Talk on transportation sales tax
This November, New Hanover County voters will see a question about transportation funding on their ballots.
They’ll weigh in on a proposed quarter-cent sales tax to raise funds for areas such as public transportation and rail realignment. If the referendum is approved, the county estimates that $144 million would be raised from goods sold in the county over the next decade. It would raise the county’s sales tax rate from 7% to 7.25%, equaling an additional 25 cents for every $100 spent on eligible purchases.
Joining us on this week’s BizTalk to talk about the referendum is New Hanover County Commissioner Jonathan Barfield Jr.
WilmingtonBiz Talk about Apiture's growth
This week we check in with growing fintech company Apiture about its expansion.
The Wilmington-based company, founded in 2017, formed as a joint venture between Live Oak Bank and Atlanta-based First Data Corp. (First Data later merged with Fiserv.) It provides financial institutions with a platform to support the many services they offer their customers.
Apiture has grown to more than 300 employees and was named this year’s Coastal Entrepreneur of the Year last month.
CEO Chris Babcock joins BizTalk to discuss Apiture’s role in the banking industry and what’s next for the homegrown company.
WilmingtonBiz Talk on the manufacturing workforce
The cover story for the next Greater Wilmington Business Journal issue, out Friday, focuses on training and the workforce pipeline for the area’s manufacturing sector.
North Carolina, like many other states, faces a severe shortage of manufacturing workers as companies bring their operations back to the United States. The N.C. Department of Commerce estimates that the state will need nearly 500,000 more manufacturing workers by 2028 – almost 7,500 in the Wilmington area alone.
Ahead of this week’s cover story, officials working on that topic join us for this week’s BizTalk. We’ll speak with Cape Fear Community College officials on training initiatives as well as local manufacturers about what they’re seeing in the market and how they’re planning for future needs.
WilmingtonBiz Talk previewing summer tourism season
Memorial Day weekend has historically marked the unofficial start of summer tourism season for Southeastern North Carolina.
But like many things, the pandemic has changed business as usual.
On today’s BizTalk, the head of the area’s tourism efforts talks about what’s changed for the “on-season” and previews what to expect for this summer. Challenges remain from available labor to higher gas prices. What will that mean for the businesses that are prepping for a new wave of travelers?
Kim Hufham, president and CEO of the Wilmington and Beaches CVB, joins BizTalk to go over some of those topics as well as other hospitality trends heading into the summer.
WilmingtonBiz Talk on Project Indigo
The developers of a long-discussed mixed-use project in Southport join BizTalk this week to give an update on their plans.
In 2020, Bald Head Island Limited and East West Partners proposed a nearly 400-acre, $565-million development dubbed Project Indigo. Plans call for single-family homes, apartments, townhomes, duplexes and commercial space.
It would add onto the existing Indigo Plantation neighborhood and marina in Southport.
Earlier this year, the developers submitted a master plan and rezoning request to the city’s planning board, which is slated to meet June 16 to make its recommendation about the project. The board’s recommendation then goes to the city’s board of aldermen to weigh in on the plans, which also call for the city to annex the property that’s currently outside city lines.
WilmingtonBiz Talk is a weekly interview program on Facebook Live, which is rebroadcast on YouTube and numerous podcasting platforms. The Business Journal newsroom selects guests based on current events so our community can hear directly from newsmakers.
Never miss an episode by subscribing to WilmingtonBiz Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and more.
WilmingtonBiz Talk on offshore wind leasing
A federal agency this week provisionally awarded the rights to plan two wind farms off Southeastern North Carolina’s coast to two companies that offered $315 million.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)’s auction happened Wednesday for two lease areas in the Wilmington East Wind Energy Area, totaling nearly 110,100 acres. One lease provisionally sold for $160 million to TotalEnergies Renewables USA, and the other lease went for $155 million to Duke Energy Renewables Wind.
If developed, the areas could generate up to 1.3 gigawatts, enough to power half a million homes, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
In February, BOEM tentatively awarded six leases at New York Bight, luring the highest offshore lease bids on record, with the companies bidding a combined $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres, or roughly $8,900 an acre.
Joining this week’s BizTalk to discuss the leases and what happens next is Katharine Kollins, president of the Southeastern Wind Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates for renewable wind energy.
WilmingtonBiz Talk about hurricane season
Hurricane season officially starts June 1 (and runs through Nov. 30), and emergency officials are preparing in Southeastern North Carolina.
Joining BizTalk this week is Anna McRay, assistant emergency management director for New Hanover County. McRay will talk about looking ahead for this year’s season as well as issues area residents and businesses should be thinking about before a major storm arrives.
WilmingtonBiz Talk about NHC's new economic development report
New Hanover County recently released a review of the county’s economic development climate. The analysis by Greenfield Development Co. is the first formal look for the county since the Garner report in 2014.
To talk about what the review focused on and what county officials took away from it for future goals, Jennifer Rigby, the county’s chief strategy officer, joins this week’s BizTalk.
WilmingtonBiz Talk about Battleship Point reaction
Following up on last week’s BizTalk with developers of the proposed Battleship Point project across from downtown Wilmington, two groups weigh in about their thoughts on developing the waterfront property.
Kemp Burdette, of Cape Fear River Watch, and Travis Gilbert, of Historic Wilmington Foundation, have raised concerns about the project ranging from questions of environmental impacts to potential damage to the area’s cultural, historical and archeological legacy.
While planners and elected officials from both Leland and New Hanover County sort out who will take up the property – an attempt to ask Leland to annex the land is on pause, developers said on last week’s BizTalk – more discussions are expected about the future for the river’s west bank.
WilmingtonBiz Talk: The latest on riverfront development
This year, residents and officials have been focusing on the future of former industrial land along the Cape Fear and Northeast Cape Fear rivers.
On Point Peter, a jut of land across from downtown Wilmington, the partners in KJF Development Group hope to build tall towers with condos, apartments and commercial space, aiming to create an iconic project called Battleship Point. Their plans have met with opposition by some who fear environmental and cultural impacts.
Meanwhile, KFJ is pursuing a possible annexation by the town of Leland.
On today’s BizTalk, KFJ partners James Lea III and Kirk Pugh discuss the status of the project and address some of the questions and concerns they’ve been hearing over the past several months.
