One Acadiana CEO touts benefits of multi-parish effort

Members of the St. Mary Parish Chamber of Commerce and guests gathered Wednesday at The Forest Restaurant in Franklin to hear what one leader in the regional effort to expand the stagnated economy is doing to help alleviate financial hardships in the parish.
Before the presentation by the President and CEO of One Acadiana, an organization dedicated to reviving the economy in the region, two local businesses were honored for their contributions to keeping the local economic outlook afloat.
Recognized at the St. Mary Parish Chamber of Commerce luncheon Wednesday were representatives from Sterling Sugar for over 200 years of business and Franklin Supply for 70 years of service to the local community.
After the recognition ceremony, One Acadiana President and CEO Jason El Koubi took to the podium to address the audience about the organization’s efforts to bring about change in the region’s economic situation. According to their website and Koubi, One Acadiana’s stated goal is to develop economic growth through cooperation between a nine-parish area including St. Mary Parish.
Koubi said in his presentation that it is through cooperation and coordination that the region will recover from the economic downturn and thrive in the future.
“This is a region that has strong rural and agricultural traditions,” Koubi said. “We are deeply connected. We are deeply connected socially and we are deeply connected economically. We are so much more than just a collection of great communities. With our size and significance comes a complex set of challenges and new opportunities.”
Koubi also addressed specifically what St. Mary Parish has going for it when it comes to contributing to the economic revival of southern Louisiana. He did, however, stress the need to look at the region as a whole and what nine parishes can accomplish as opposed to one.
“There are significant assets in St. Mary Parish,” Koubi said. “But by pooling together with strength in numbers as One Acadiana, we are going to have a message more significant and have more firepower to get that message out if we tell it regionally. There is strength in numbers.”
Koubi continued to outline what the One Acadiana organization is doing and what St. Mary and other parishes need to do to try and stem the tide of the current economic issues of the region.
“We need to manage our current growth and position our region and its communities for longer term sustainable growth,” Koubi said. “We want to help retain and grow the businesses we have but we also need to diversify our economic base by going after, proactively, a new set of target industry sectors.”