Interesting conversation

I was invited to a business roundtable last week by Mainebiz. Mainebiz is a bi weekly paper that covers business in our state. They were interested in learning how they are doing in covering business in general and our area specifically. I appreciate any business that takes the time to ask customers questions. In fact I do an annual client survey, the results of last year’s are here. Asking a number of us to a meeting with a local reporter, the editor and the publisher was an excellent way to do this.
 
The group was small which sort of surprised me. A couple of local economic development folks, a local chamber executive director, two bankers and two business owners. There was considerable agreement about most issues and overall praise for the publication which I hope that they noted.
 
One thing surprised me and that was when the other business owner mentioned that the local banks would not invest in her business and that she had gone out of state for capital. She leads a firm that does cutting edge information technology work. One of the industries everyone identifies as the future of our state and the creative economy. I have whined about the lack of support from my bank for years and always assumed that it was because my business was small and doing something they did not understand. So I was stunned to learn that a recognized leader in an industry that everyone promotes has the same problem that I do.
 
I work with a bank that has only a few employees that respond to e-mail which I find amazing. Unfortunately none of their competitors are any better when I have approached them about moving my business over the years. One has never responded to an e-mail request and I have been waiting two years for an e-mail follow up to a meeting with a branch manager from another.
 
All of this got me to wondering. Is one of the problems with the Maine economy a lack of banks that are willing to support the future of our local economy? Indeed most of them have spent the last ten years using the profits made in our towns to buy their competitors. Maybe I should  suggest a story idea to Mainebiz.