Calls for DC region to diversify to protect economy

Through constant discussions on how to grow the D.C. region’s economy, the answer may be directly in front of us, said Bob Sweeney, managing director of the Global Cities Initiative.

“Greater Washington is one of the largest and wealthiest regional economies in the world, but the region’s economic growth has been markedly slowed down in recent years,” Sweeney said, adding the solution is bolstering international trade.

“With a $400 billion economic footprint, the federal government accounts for 38 percent,” despite all the work thus far that has gone into diversifying the area, he said. “When sequestration hits, our economy needs to figure out how to pivot.”

International trade has potential for the region because “over the next five years, 86 percent of global economic growth is projected to occur outside of the United States,” Sweeney said. The area can stand to gain a lot from taking advantage of this growth.

“In the United States, we rank 95 out of the top 100 metro areas” in international trade, Sweeney said. “[We make] keyboards in Prince George’s County… we make beer in Frederick County, Maryland,” and product businesses like these have a huge potential for international export.

“We know that our marketplace has over 3,500 companies, small- to mid-size, that should be exporting, but are not… the federal government has been too fat, and too good of a customer, that you don’t really look beyond,” said Sweeney.

To spur this change, Sweeney said that a business culture change needs to occur, beyond institutions or legislation. “At the state level, and even the county level, many of the organizations are doing a pretty good job… but what we haven’t done is created this ecosystem
that supports the entrepreneurs in their efforts to export,” he told What’s Working in Washington.

Despite the area not yet being conducive to exports, “I did a market research study with over 30 CEOs of midsize companies that export in our region. Not one said they would ever go back,” Sweeney said.

“They’ve all grown their revenue, and they’ve created many more jobs. For every billion dollars in exports, 6,000 new jobs [come] to this region,” he said.

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