May 28 - June 10, 2012
www.columbiabusinessreport.com
Free clinics seen as good for business By James T. Hammond jhammond@scbiznews.com
Skills Gap
Education struggles to prepare workers. Page 2
Defensive Moves Banks seek to shed Treasury-held shares. Page 3
In Focus
Assembly Street overhaul to reduce on-street parking. Page 9
Volume 5, No. 11 • $2.00
W
hen Leadership Columbia’s current class looked around for a project, they settled upon a major upgrade of facilities at Columbia’s Free Medical Clinic on Harden Street. These mid-career business people didn’t
just see it as charity for people with no health insurance; keeping the Free Medical Clinic viable diverts people from the region’s trauma centers, where episodic care can be expensive. That translates into higher health care costs in hospital rates and health insurance premiums for employers and employees. The Leadership Columbia class built a cover for the walkway leading to the front door of the
THE RIGHT
MOVE Last June, Accuride paid $22 million for the assets of Forgitron Technologies in Camden. Today, the company is riding surging demand for its large vehicle wheels. Page 6
At Work
Social networking, blogging is Shop Tart’s business. Page 19
clinic, to protect clients of the clinic who often line up for services before it opens for business. They built a bench on the walkway so that sick or elderly people can sit while they wait. They renovated the four toilets in the clinic, replaced the waiting room furniture, and solicited a trove of supplies for the facility from area business See clinics, Page 8
Congress approves Ex-Im Bank reauthorization By James T. Hammond
S
jhammond@scbiznews.com
ince 2007, the Export-Import Bank has assisted exports sales valued at $533 million from South Carolina companies. A total of 43 South Carolina-based exporters benefited from the Export-Import Bank’s financing, according to Executive the bank’s data. summary Those figures likely will soar as Boeing Co. The Export-Import begins exporting passen- Bank provided $32 ger jets from its North billion in financing Charleston assembly last year — all at plant. Some $30 billion no cost to the taxin loans have been made payer. since 2007 to assist Boeing’s sales to overseas buyers. In Columbia, Avantech exported $6.6 million worth of high-tech equipment to Japan to remove radioactive contaminates from trapped seawater in the nuclear reactors destroyed in the Fukushima tsunami. Export-Import Bank financing helped make those sales possible, according to the bank’s data. But, U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., tried to See CONGReSS, Page 5
INSIDE CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
Upfront..............................2 In Focus: Architecture, Engineering, Construction....................9 List: Architecture firms.........16
SIOR................................17 At Work...........................19 Economics Column .........20 People in the News..........21 Business Digest...............22 Calendar..........................23 Viewpoint.........................23
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