A little more than a year after Natchez-Adams County’s economic development entity was on its deathbed, today the area’s future looks brighter than ever.

When Adams County Supervisors initially pulled their funding on the former EDA entity, that set into motion a panic of sorts in the business community.

Led by the fear that our elected officials actually considered operating without a formal, professional economic development effort, that panic eventually turned into action on the part of the area’s business leaders.

Those leaders had long operated under the impression that government was taking care of the area’s development efforts.

The sudden realization that the city, county and former EDA were not, in fact, working well together, prompted business leaders to take charge. In mere weeks businesses raised nearly $500,000 in private funding to be collected during the next three years, to help fund a new EDA entity.

Legislation was passed and a temporary board elected. Now, the search for Natchez, Inc.’s first executive director is under way.

Finding the right person is vital to the group’s long-term success. However, the group’s communication efforts will ultimately be much more important. Keeping city, county, civic and business leaders all focused on the common goal will make or break the effort.

From our perspective, Natchez, Inc. is only a little over one month old, but it seems it is well on the way to a successful first year.