Posted on May 5th, 2021
Below is a complete transcript of this video.
Speaker 1: (00:00)
So thanks. First of all, for your time, we’re, we’re figuring we’ll kind of make this informal and I know you only got an hour, you’ve got to reelection that you’re working on. So I think probably the easiest thing is just to go around and introduce everyone. And then if everyone would just give like a quick blurb about what their company is and what their interest is, is in San Antonio. And then, , and then we can have a conversation with mayor Ron and, and he can describe what’s happening in San Antonio, at least from the policy perspective and why you guys shouldn’t be doing business in San Antonio. And, , so some of the folks here, even though they’re from LA are already doing business in San Antonio.
Speaker 1: (00:55)
So it’s just a matter of, , then getting them to expand and do things. So I’ll just start what’s on my screen. , Nope, , you know, the order on my screen. So I dunno if it will be the order on your screen. So, , Ron, this is Andrew, Andrew runs, , , factory key. He just moved over to Tonio. They have, , , manufacturing facilities that they’ve purchased. , and they are, , looking to do some additional things with the, with the city. And we met through David Robinson. I met him in San Antonio, not really in, in LA, but, but he’s from LA. So go ahead, Andrew.
Speaker 2: (01:34)
Hi there. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet everyone else. , thank you, , Marilyn for the time with us today, but basically, yeah, we came to San Antonio, , kind of August last year, , exploring, , for over 35 years, our company has been growing and growing, growing one, one of the very few USA manufacturers out there that does some amazing products, simple products like, , hotel items, , shampoos, lotions, t-shirts, everything that runs a hotel, even down to the private label waters. So example here, we’re moving the factory here. It’s a biodegradable bottle. We’re one of the only manufacturers that does not use a label. We print directly on the bottle. So it’s more biobank friendly and we’re moving the biodegradable factory here. That same bottle of biodegradability goes into our shampoos for the hotels. So we found that a couple of good reasons here to come to town as obviously the trucking routes across United States, but there’s some amazing minerals in the water.
Speaker 2: (02:26)
So if we build a water factories here, , there’s already some great components for having good products for the body and from other nature and being a biodegradable bottle, it can put a good, , definition here for San Antonio, having some great, , , footprint from something from an environmental standpoint for 35 years, we focus on a hundred percent being biodegradable plant-based and not leaving a bad footprint in the world. , we operate in ship to 175 countries around the world every day. , but the core of our businesses making the products that someone else’s name on it. So the bars downtown, the spurs, whoever it is can actually get their own products with their own name.
And we’re the smallest minims in the industry and the case of shirts you can buy one and the case of water, it’s only 18 cases. So you can drink that in an afternoon and an office.
Speaker 1: (03:15)
, the important thing to the city is one of the important things is, is bringing jobs. , you guys are intending on bringing quite a few manufacturing jobs, right? Do, do you know the nber, right?
Speaker 2: (03:26)
So we’re looking at five to seven factories. If we can get things moving correctly here. , the goal with 52,000 businesses that conse water in San Antonio, that would be five to seven factories with our goal of 300 employees per factory. If we can do that, , based on just the sheer footprint in bear County of 52,000 businesses by water every day, we think that’s a very obtainable number. Now we’re going to need some help to market more and do other stuff to get the goal sales first, then build the factories, everything else. But we have started and found a 20,000 square foot facility here in town to start with and looking for a hundred thousand, 200,000 and so forth from that being water, being renewable, sustainable, environmentally friendly and consed San Antonio gets hot. , the river district, everything else. John has been a great intrical part with some of these conversations to help, , plan out water kiosks downtown.
Speaker 2: (04:18)
We obviously need some help here to see how we do permits to put those water kiosks downtown. But our goal is on this bottle of water being a one leader, we will donate a dollar back of the kiosk sales to the city and the nonprofits around the town to build parks or other stuff. So the dollar is chopped up into 25 cents for a non-profit 25 cents and another 25 cents to a park 25 cents to the city Centro, whoever it is, , that dollars up for grabs. And we’re willing to done it for every bottle of water sold in those kiosks, , downtown back to the city.
Speaker 1: (04:49)
Thanks Andrew. Appreciate it. The next person on my screen is Justin. Justin is, , started to, , FinTech companies, one out of LA, one out of Malaysia. He’s now a Mexico city added w it’s not a FinTech. It’s something, , I don’t know, I’m not a tech guy it’s called something else. , and he is looking at San Antonio as maybe potentially something that he’s gonna move, , some business into here in the near future. He’s out of Mexico city now. And I didn’t realize this till, , till Justin told me, but I guess, , , San Antonio is like a hotspot for the, for the rich and Mexico city to come to. So I didn’t, I didn’t know that, but that’s so he’s well-connected to Mexico city. Go ahead, Justin.
Speaker 2: (05:38)
Well, I appreciate that, John. Yeah, I didn’t bring a demo for today, but, , well basically what we’re doing is, , I think the easiest way to explain it is think, , LinkedIn 5.0, but instead of focusing on, , , networking, we’re focusing on automating the process of recruiting, using data. So yeah, even though we don’t a physical presence
Speaker 3: (05:58)
In Texas, there is we’re working with quite a few companies in Texas that are looking to add talent, mainly tech talent, I will say at least for now to, , to their teams. So definitely some, one way or another have a presence in Texas, we sure can next. , I have Jennifer, Jennifer runs, , given sure, , she’s starting a new company called Yuna world and she’s already started employing people in San Antonio. So, , even though I’ve been talking to Jennifer about San Antonio for, for a little while, she kind of came to the conclusion of hiring out of San Antonio because, , she liked the workforce out there for what she’s doing. So go ahead, Jennifer, Jennifer,
Speaker 4: (06:54)
I should know better. , so yes. Hi everyone. Nice to meet everybody. I hope you’re having a wonderful Monday. , so what we might, the company that does, , employ team members right now, it’s give Sheeran’s and we focus on, , commercial insurance and transportation insurance, particularly. , we’ve been doing business in Texas for about six years, at least, and San Antonio, , is definitely a space, , that we want to employ more people in. , I’ve already got like indeed ads running for San Antonio and it’s because we were really, , well, we do a lot of trucking insurance there, so we, we, you know, so it just makes sense to have some local people there, , and build a team, , in San Antonio, , Uniworld as well. , we’ll be focusing on just specifically commercial trucking insurance, , building some, , cool automation around that.
Speaker 4: (08:01)
And so, , yeah, so I mean, that’s essentially what we’re doing. And, , , one of the things that I was really interested in, , with San Antonio and especially in Texas, , the amount of claims that’s happening and the kind of coverages it’s needed to protect the state, even from having a lot of losses that are not covered. And then it just goes into like the expense that the state has to cover, like transportation, pollution, liability, and all this other stuff that’s happening lately. , with the increase in transportation, with like the Amazons, , and many other, , , commercial, , , logistics, , , you know, businesses that are starting up, , there’s also more claims that’s happening. So that’s what we’re doing. And we’re kind of excited to see what we can, , get set up in San Antonio.
Speaker 3: (09:02)
Jennifer, how many are you implying there now? And what do you expect in the next year?
Speaker 4: (09:07)
We we’ve got just one person there right now. And, and how it came about was after the pandemic, , hit. I was like, so not for, you know, , cause it being insurance, I was like, Oh, I don’t want to have like fragmented team members, like all over the world and all over the country. , although that’s a way better and Justin can, you know, touch on this. There’s a way better talent pool out there.
Like trying to get them from like LA, I mean, your money goes way further. , and, and there’s many other things that I really like about, , trying to focus on, you know, places like San Antonio and like, , West Virginia, cause you could really like launch, , programs that can really make an impact as well, a positive impact just by simply, you know, creating good employment. So that’s something I’m very passionate about.
Speaker 4: (09:59)
So right now only one, but we’ve got ads already running and indeed for, for us to recruit more people and these are not like we don’t do like commission-based stuff. Everything is like hourly or salary. , so it’s something that, yeah, so we’re definitely looking into expanding, especially in San Antonio. , but we’re getting a lot of people applying from other States and they were like, Oh, we do like this person. So we’ll hire this person, but they’re not, you know, , some of them are not from San Antonio, but, but it’s yeah. So our goal is to set up a division up there. Yeah.
Speaker 3: (10:39)
Thanks Jennifer. Next I have, , Josh, Josh is, , out of Austin, not out of LA and I actually met him through Justin. So Josh formerly owned, , art.com and sold it for a bunch of money. He still won’t tell me how much to the Walmart. And now he started a, , a company called fundify. Go ahead, Josh. Thanks John. Thanks. , shin. Hello Ron. And everybody else. I it’s, , it’s going to be here. Yeah. I started our.com. We, we bootstrapped that business with $35,000.
We had, , like 1200 people working there and , here, and then also in Europe we did just shy of, , we’re the second fastest growing company, according to Inc the Inc 5,000 and , in the year that, that we were there and we had, , , I think we did just shy of just shy of 3 billion in sales there. And so yeah, it was a great business. It was a great success. And now we’re where we are with fundify, as I’m really trying to democratize, , fundraising and helping really bringing technology into fundraising, the way startups raise money, the way companies raise today
Speaker 2: (11:54)
Is much the same as it was 50 and a hundred years ago. And it’s interesting because venture firms, it’s not necessarily in their benefit to change the way money is being moved. And so we built a platform@fundify.com that will help companies all over the country, raise money.
We already have just over 20 companies in San Antonio alone that have reached out to us to raise money. And we are looking to bring money from both from San Antonio into them, but also from outside of San Antonio. And to them, we have a few thousand investors that have already signed up on fund to buy that are looking to deploy money into the best companies that are out there. And so, , that’s what we aim to do. And we’re looking for ways that we can connect, , with the resources that are already available in San Antonio to, for, we find that many of the startups and companies don’t really know what San Antonio already has to offer.
There’s so much there. , and we’d love to kind of connect that piece and actually make San Antonio a partner of ours, to the extent that we can make that happen on our website, kind of talking about what San Antonio brings to, , the startup ecosystem and helping people understand why they should be there. So that’s kind of a, that’s what we’re doing.
Speaker 3: (13:05)
Thanks. Thanks Josh. Next. I have Britain Britain, , runs, , well develops healthcare, mental health care facilities. She’s developed one in, , orange County and then she’s got a new one in Dallas. , and she does a lot with military and PTSD. So I was telling her that she should be in San Antonio since this military town. Go ahead, Britton.
Speaker 4: (13:34)
Yeah, we work with a lot of, , military VA. , and then we have many commercial insurance contracts as well. , right now with the two entities that we serve and then our plan for San Antonio, we would like to provide acute care as well as subacute care.
So that would include, , crisis stabilization, intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization. , really this idea of giving people back their, their decision-making skills after treating mental illness, perhaps co-occurring with substance use disorder or co-occurring comorbid medical needs. So the idea is to launch there in 20, , late 20, 21, early 2022. , but the, the demand right now, we can’t even keep up with it in our facilities in California. , so it’s an honor to do this work, but the harder part is establishing the location to make sure we’re, we’re responding in triaged mindset because you could, you could do this work pretty much everywhere right now and still not meet the needs. So we look forward to meeting you may it run and working with all of you. Nice to meet you all.
Speaker 3: (14:44)
Yeah. Thank you, Britton. So next I have my long-time client and longtime friend, Jerry Jerry’s real estate guy, an expert in, , and development and building and reconstructing and selling. And I called him just to say hi, told them I was in San Antonio, , about a month ago. And he went crazy on the phone and said what that’s, where I’m going to start developing some stuff. So it’s interesting that you’re there. Go ahead. Go ahead, Jerry.
Speaker 5: (15:15)
How you doing, John? How you doing everybody? Yeah. , I’m out of beautiful sunny Southern California. Yeah, we did have that talk. I’ve been buying and selling real estate in California for over 20 years. And, , I actually used to be in the music business several years ago and some of my main artists are from San Antonio. They told me 15 years ago I should start developing and building and San Antonio.
And one of them told me 15 years ago if I don’t, I’m going to regret it. And I wish I’d listened to them John 15 years ago. So yeah, so we did have that conversation. So what I do is I look for undervalued properties or ran down homes in different areas, and there’s a lot of those in San Antonio.
And I go in there and I reconstruct and let, sometimes I build onto my optica two bedroom, make it a four bedroom. I’m also going to be buying multi-units. I think John’s out there buying like a hundred plus doors. So I’m going to be doing things like that to create positive cashflow, but I love single family residence, anything, four units and under, so that’s my plan is to come to San Antonio and buy a lot of those properties and reconstruct them and, you know, get some good people there to rent, rent them and whatnot. So that’s the plan.
Speaker 3: (16:25)
Great. Thanks Jerry. Thank you. Next on my screen is Solona. Selonas already in San Antonio. He’s already done some projects with the city and he was the first guy we brought in there. And the first time I met Ron is Solanas company is the one that I mentioned as a great tech company to, to launch everything off. Go ahead, Sloan. Yeah. So hi everyone. No, I think you’re double, double screen or something. I hear an echo second.
How’s that? Perfect and excellent. Yeah. I had to dial in twice because, , I’m currently down in key West because COVID but no, we actually were working with, , David Robinson Jr. On the park. They have a on Friday to help promote it with the Navy, with the us Navy. But , yeah, long story short. John has been my friend and God, I don’t know, mentor slash lawyer for probably almost a decade now.
Speaker 3: (17:21)
And when he pitched me on San Antonio, not only am I married to a daughter of Texas, , I’m married to a Texan originally, but , I love what, what they represent. And honestly, from my perspective, San Antonio is not only an underserved city, but it’s a city that has the most upside, right. It’s genetically just a beautiful cornucopia of where the country’s headed. It’s got a cool sports team that obviously thanks to John and such.
We’re talking to, and obviously Dave Robinson, but what is all about in essence, we found a way to not only simplify and monetize volunteerism, but, , we raised a pretty large seed round, , in a pandemic from a spectacular family office. We’ve obviously launched in San Antonio and now we’re actually starting to work with not just some amazing brands, but you know, we’ve partnered with Sesame street. We’re finally coming out to market. But the goal is about inclusion goal is about like looking at places where people can actually help use their digital footprints to not only make money, but like bring our country back together. And, , we’re really excited to kind of re-engage with San Antonio. And obviously we’re working on Friday with our, with our second little program with David and family, but we look on doing quite a bit more. So thank you for the time. Thanks.
Speaker 1: (18:34)
Thanks so much. All right. And last but not least my very good childhood friend, Don, , he has an, , a very large installation company. , and I called them just to catch up and he was in Texas. That happened when I, when I called him. And so he drove down from Austin and, , , came to visit me in San Antonio. , after being in Austin, he was saying he wants to expand into Texas. So I was saying, all right, San Antonio, not Austin. And, , , he’s, he’s, , , intending on doing solar. Go ahead, Don.
Speaker 3: (19:12)
Yeah. How are you guys doing? Thanks. Thanks, Jen. Well, you know, basically, , you know, I, I, I named my company as a tech center because the idea is to not limited to the things that I do right now, , what, what, , majority of our business is, , low, , basically low voltage. What we do with the structured cabling. We do TV installation, , you know, mainly hospitality healthcare. We do a lot of TV installs in hotels. , and you know, we, you know, I basically travel all over, , nationwide, so it will be great for me to also set up a team that will be in, in, you know, in, in this area. So, so I could, , not be so spread thin. , , another thing that I, you know, we’re really looking into is solar and HVAC. , so I have some partners in Washington that they do HVAC, and I’m basically going to be trying to, you know, bring that to the table because those are what people need. , you know, so I really look forward to doing some business there. That’ll be amazing.
Speaker 1: (20:18)
Thanks, Don. All right, mayor Ron, that’s, , that’s everybody on here, you kind of get a gist of who they are and what they’re intending to do potentially in San Antonio. So I’ll let you say a few words and then maybe they can ask
Speaker 3: (20:33)
Or something. Yeah, sure. Well, , greetings everybody. Thank you very much for spending a little time with me and Victoria, , who works in my office is one of our senior policy analysts in particular on economic development. , it’s very to hear about your companies,
Speaker 6: (20:48)
, for, for a lot of reasons. , and thank you also shin, , and John for, for connecting me. , and everyone it’s very exciting to hear about your companies because they all, all of them represent our emerging industries here. , we have a regional economic development strategy, , that really kind of ties in the entire 35 corridor, which we know from essentially Dallas, , to San Antonio, which, , if you listen to the economist, is the, is the next big thing, , in terms of American economic development and the next specifically in the next megalopolis in the country, , Austin, San Antonio. So it’s very exciting because we have been working with the Brookings Institute now for just about a decade to understand our strengths and weaknesses, and also identify where our emerging industries are. , and you represent them to a T , everything from, , technology in particular, cyber and FinTech, , to, , bio-sciences and healthcare, , to real estate and construction.
Speaker 6: (21:55)
So, , this is where our GDP is and is going. And I love what you said. Solona I agree. , San Antonio is an underserved market, has been for a long time, but San Antonio to me, and I’m not just speaking as a mayor and a resident, , San Antonio to me by far has the biggest upside, even when it comes to our local region here. , I often talk to, , businesses and, and, you know, , CEOs about, you know, they’re interested in and investing in San Antonio or, or interest in investing in Texas. And, and there’s no doubt. , historically San Antonio has had some weaknesses. , we have to acknowledge those. , and perhaps if your company is looking for a two or a five-year ROI, there may be better spots for you. , but if you’re looking to grow a business, , and to have a long-term and sustained return on investment, I’m convinced, and I can explain to you why, , there’s probably not a better, there’s not a better city in America than San Antonio.
Speaker 6: (23:03)
, we are consistently ranked among the top fastest growing cities in the country. We are still that way, , demographically. I said, I think somebody said it, we are the future of what America will look like. , and we are currently, , today in 2021, , the demographic that of American in roughly 2040, , it’s one of, one of our former state demographers are called the city of America’s future. It was because of our demographic and that’s good. And that also means that we have the challenges that America will face, , in 20 and 30 years from now, but that has given us an advantage of tackling those challenges and investing in, , the remedy for, , the solutions to America’s economic strategy, , well in advance.
So if you look at San Antonio in terms of our key strengths, I think every city in the country right now is, is learning that companies, , businesses are not choosing their locations and their investment strategy based on the incentives that are brought by public sector.
Speaker 6: (24:04)
It’s about the fundamentals of the community that you’re investing in. And on that we went in spades, , you know, San Antonio is not a landlock city. So if you’re looking for room to grow, we have places to develop North South East, West infill, you name it. We have space here. , we also have the backbone of, , of, , a strong and rival energy system here in San Antonio, the largest municipal energy utility in the country. So our rates are affordable and we direct them through public policy priority. We also have figured out what I think the rest of the state of Texas has not, and probably will not because of the lack of an actual state water plan, long-term water security in the state of Texas. , , so we have our own municipal water utility, and we have, , established several different partnerships and technology-based solutions to a 100 year water supply, which is, , now operating here in San Antonio, , not just for population growth, but all for, also for industry growth.
Speaker 6: (25:07)
, and then you look at, , some of the things that perhaps we weren’t doing very well, , earlier, which now we’re, we’re investing all in on. , we have a long range, , airport master development plan that will make us become, , not just what we already are, which is a gateway to Latin America. And I’m excited about the connections Justin to Mexico that we already have, and that are growing, , but also, , domestic international airfare air service. , we have a developed master plan that we are already putting the financial strategy together that will within the next seven years fly San Antonio to Asia. , and we have a couple of new terminals, , in development as well as potentially a ground transportation hub to be co located on site. So, , all that to say, we have our airport, our international airport in the heart of the seventh largest city in the United States, which to me is a strategic, competitive advantage and becomes a strength rather than a weakness that we’ve known it for for so many years.
Speaker 6: (26:09)
And then I’d finally say that the most exciting thing for me is that, , amidst, , you know, the great demographic change that’s happening in America, San Antonio, , has cracked the code on education and workforce. , we started a pre-K for essay initiative, , several years ago, under several years ago, under former mayor Castro. , this past November, we just reauthorize it for an additional eight years. We have tremendous partnership now aligned with our K through 12 education system. And then most importantly, , voters approved, , in November in the midst of a pandemic, a historic scaled up version, or scaled up workforce development strategy, , in which we are taking sales tax dollars, , without a sales tax increase, but just, , just current sales tax revenues and reapplying them to train existing workforce for the jobs that are available that are growing in our community right now.
Speaker 6: (27:11)
So, , 10,000 folks per year, , for the next five years will be trained for a high demand career fields in healthcare technology, construction manufacturing, , and, and these are workers who are already out there, either looking for new careers are underemployed or unemployed because of the pandemic. And we are wrapping them with services, , to ensure that they complete their training, and we’re linking with them, them with the employers, , that are already existing in and want to establish themselves here in San Antonio.
So, , I’m very excited about that. We, we devoted, , it’s, it’s roughly $150 million investment over the next five years, , for workforce training. , and it is, it is by far the largest workforce development program in the country, probably in history at the local level. , it was recently noted by, , an MIT professor is as being probably the most ambitious workforce development training program that’s existed at the local level.
Speaker 6: (28:12)
So I’m really excited by that and all that to say again, , what we’re doing here in San Antonio to fortify the fundamentals of a community that you would want to invest in makes this to me the best ROI, , that you can find in a city. And we’re delighted to partner with you. I’m really looking forward to meeting you in person for those of you who are already investing in and establishing yourselves in San Antonio.I grew up in Austin. I love Austin. Austin is no San Antonio. I will say, , you know, fortunately, , one of our advantages right now is that you can still afford to live here and we intend to protect that. So, , , anyway, that’s all, , , partly in jest, but, , no, it’s, it’s great to talk with you. I’m happy to answer any questions that we would look forward to partnering with you and, and, , again, thanks for making time to, to visit.
Speaker 3: (29:07)
Thanks, Ron. I appreciate you educating everybody. There’s things I didn’t even know. And I’ve been researching San Antonio since I got interested in it. So it looks like Solona raised his hand, I guess that’s a good way as any to ask questions.
Go ahead, Solano. No, I, , well one, obviously John, I, , I don’t where he keeping this guy this whole time. My God, this is wonderful.
Speaker 3: (29:42)
We need to tell our story better. Yeah, you haven’t met me yet. I’m very good at self promotion. Look at that picture. It’s my beautiful wife. She’s smarter than I am, but I’m not. I’m just, I joke, but no, I, , do so much of what you said was it, it’s correct for the times. I think, , looking at education and, and having a workforce that can afford to live and work in the same city is such a competitive advantage. And for us, like, look where ironically, we’re actually backed by the, , one of the largest family offices out of Mexico city.
They’re actually a top global retailer, right. Apart from the rest of our investment portfolio, which we’ll, we’ll talk about when we maybe chat in that in the weeks to come. But I, , what a, what a cool opportunity San Antonio is.
Speaker 3: (30:23)
And as I think, not only is it have most potential of any Texas city, , I think you guys have a chance to self-define and that’s really unique in today’s marketplace because so many countries and you made it just about being from Austin and Austin, right. , has this kind of a lore of being this tech hub, but like, again, I think the future of the country is in community and it’s in the ability for communities to live, to work and to thrive together.
So if what you’re saying is true, I’m excited to open up not only an office there, but potentially move the headquarters there. So we’ll talk about that offline then. Yes. I’m ready. Anybody else, anyone else want to talk about their business? And I think, you know what, I’ll, I’ll, I’ll call on someone because I know, , Andrew’s, , needs some things. Go ahead, Andrew.
Speaker 2: (31:12)
Kind of hitting on the point on what your goal is as a, , city, but also your personal goals of the workforce development. , I think that’s something that’s really integral to, , most companies look for anymore. I mean, I’ll give you an example as a, as a manufacturer, from the simple standpoint, we’re not just talking about one job. One thing to give you an example, you’re talking about technology, you talked about health, you talked about construction. You talk about everything, right. To make a biodegradable bottle. It takes forward-thinking. It takes engineers. It takes the person who forms a bottle, the scientist who does the studies.
So when you look at workforce development, , we need a lot of people. We need every department. When you think about it’s like 47 departments, it’s craft it’s it’s technology, it’s everything. To run that down to the salespeople, to the marketers, to the construction, people, to people, wiring, , the technology in the building to individuals who need to help charities to everything else because we custom manufacturer every product.
Speaker 2: (32:06)
But the goal here, what San Antonio gives us is the ability to train in a new way. , you being honest, other States like California, Florida, people have bad habits. They don’t know much, but when you look at the workforce here, building a new workforce development program, we’d love to spearhead and help as much as we can, because if someone loves the job for us, they’ll have it forever because of hospitality, products, water, shampoos, towels, linens, umbrellas, everything that runs a business, plus a nonprofit plus the city we manufacturer and it’s USA made.
But the biggest thing is someone can take those skills. They learned from us and apply them anywhere in the world. If you’re a computer animator, you can tell the story about a small business who wants to promote their business and grow their business. So someone here on the phone like Justin might want to take a product to someone out there, right?
Speaker 2: (32:53)
At the same time frame, that skill that someone learns together is going to change their life. And that’s something that we believe in from a biodegradable, a han being, but also workforce. Because if you have a happy workforce, a developed workforce, you’re going to make better products. You’re going to stand out. , do you have an example like this didn’t come from a disgruntled employee. This looks like a wine bottle, but it’s water and painting directly on the bottle. It wasn’t because it was disgruntled because we let people innovate. And that comes down to the core part of who we are as a company is actually building their skills. So if your dream is to build a better workforce, that’s exactly what we’re looking for. We’re looking for massive amounts of factories to build built here. Everything from weaving factories, from the shirt I’m wearing, being USA cotton.
Speaker 2: (33:34)
We didn’t do a shirt, too many other things. So it’s not just 300 jobs per factory. It could be a lot more, but it’s basically to the point, you said, bringing everyone together on this common community to develop that workforce. And how do we do that better is what we’re really interested in. And that’s what we talked about a lot with John is not only being able to help the small businesses buy one item at a time or one case at a time, keep their cash flow. But how do we make better products to put the USA, put Texas on the map and change the way that consers buy and make an impact environmentally, personally, and developmentally for people’s skills. So, , we really want to learn more about this from everyone, but also from the developmental side, we really want to hit that home.
Speaker 6: (34:16)
Let, let me, , John, if I may, , also, , I don’t know how many of you have spent any time in Israel before. , but it’s very interesting. , there, , they have in Israel, the highest number of, , , patents per capita, they have the highest amount of, , , , , investment capital per capita, things like that, that are our highest nber of startups per capita. It’s really incredible. The type of, , the amount of innovation that’s occurring in Israel. And we’ve had many conversations about why, why is that? What’s the secret sauce in Israel? And a lot of people will point to, , nber one, the, the, the sheer amount of diversity that’s that’s in Israel, which is, you know, belies some of the things you might read about the country, but also about the compulsory service that every citizen of Israel has to go through for, I think it’s four years of compulsory military service.
Speaker 6: (35:19)
Obviously we don’t have that here, but what I will say is that there have often been the same kinds of comments made about the San Antonio worker. Why is it that Toyota has the most productive automotive manufacturing plant in the entire worldwide fleet? , that Dr. Toyota comes down here and says, , you know, it was spends time with our workers in San Antonio, just in awe about the type of work ethic these San Antonio kids have.
And I have them to think that it has a lot to do with the fact that we have 250,000 active duty and veterans in our community, San Antonio is actually legally is military city USA. It’s part of the fabric of who we are. , and it’s, and there are qualities that go along with that kind of, , , community that, , I think translate into the business environment, , from entrepreneurs, , to the, you know, respect for, , the diversity in the workplace, , to the kind of innovation that I think is necessary in this kind of economic environment that you can’t replace, or you can’t replicate in other places. It also, it also re , manifests in volunteerism by the way, and the fact that so many of our, our, , businesses are driven, , community-based organizations like HEB, , that happened to be here in San Antonio. And I think it has a lot to do with that.
That is another interesting feature of the San Antonio workforce it’s, which if we invest in that becomes a, you know, a world beater
Speaker 2: (36:58)
And how do we, how do we learn more about that? Because I know it’s still, you know, and obviously we can talk offline or whatever, but, you know, how do we create more synergy? Because the big thing is, is it’s, it’s a little challenging sometimes when you first come in and you’re trying to get through all that. And we obviously grow with that, learn more, cause a better skilled employee for us produces more for Texas produces more, and we shipped 175 countries. So the GDP will go through the roof for Texas when you look.
Speaker 6: (37:24)
Yeah. What I would say is that San Antonio, , , values community, it’s just what you said. , San Antonio embraces community. When we work with the corporations and companies that thrive in San Antonio are the ones that throw themselves into community, then invest back into the community, just like you’ve said, , that hire local, , that become part of, , again, the social fabric. I mean, it’s, it’s really incredible.
Just how much cache, , a sports franchise, like the spurs have here in San Antonio, or just how much cache, I mean, HEB grocery is a fortune 50 company and their entire market is here in Texas. All of their stores and warehouses and distribution centers are centered right here in Texas. So yeah, they’re top 50, they’re the top grocery chain in the country and their entire strength is here in Texas and, and people know them.
Speaker 6: (38:19)
And, and, , so I think, I think that’s probably, it’s a little bit of a culture shift for some, , corporations and, and, , big companies, but once they crack the code, , you know, I think it’s, it’s really incredible. And, you know, it kind of goes back what Mark Twain said about San Antonio. You know, he called ’em. He said there were four unique cities in the country, , San Francisco, Boston, , new Orleans and San Antonio. And, , and it’s, he’s speaking to culture, you’re speaking to the, the, , you know, the, the, the fabric of the community that you can’t replicate. And, and, and it takes a little bit of time to understand it and to know it, but once you, once you do, you can’t let go. Our, our biggest challenge, , in terms of landing economic development is for, is to get people to book the first flight. That’s it.
Speaker 6: (39:14)
Okay. Anybody else have a specific question for the mayor, or want to talk specifically about some project they’re interested in? So when it comes to partnering with the actual workforce that you were describing, you can imagine having services is particularly important to us when it comes to customer service and mental health. So partnering with academic institutions or some of the programs that you just described to us with the workforce development, what’s the next step?
Is that something that I would connect with Victoria on? Or what would that look like? Yeah. In terms of the workforce development program itself, that’s, that’s the mode that we’re in right now is that we’re trying to connect, , the actual pipeline with the employers, because, you know, it’s one thing to provide the training, but we’re also providing job placement services and intake services to identify the career fields for, , these participants.
Speaker 6: (40:14)
So we absolutely, , , a big, , a big effort that’s underway right now is to sign up more employers to the workforce development program. So I’m happy to get with you and Victoria can kind of talk a little bit more, talk through that a little bit more with you, for sure. That would, that would be great. Yeah.
We want employees that we can train and develop in our philosophy. It’s a philosophy and a system that works and that they can retire with us. So that’d be great. Excellent. So, Victoria, I met you when we, when you first, when we first got on and you tell me what you did, but maybe everyone else wants to hear sort of what your position is and who you are and what you’re doing.
Speaker 4: (40:56)
Hi everyone. Yes. I joined the mayor’s team back in July. I was formally with the Hispanic chamber of commerce here in San Antonio. So on his policy team now working on issues of education, workforce development, small business, transportation, and water, the main issues that I handle,
Speaker 6: (41:16)
Victoria was, , integral in the formation of our workforce development program that ultimately went to the ballot. And, and by the way, he got 77% voter approval. So, you know, our city’s all in on this. , we also have a phase, one of the workforce development program. , that’s part of our, , recovery recovery, , program that is in part funded federally. So, , it’s already underway and it’s really phenomenal. , you know, we, we again, , have, , made potentially 10,000 slots available, , in this first phase.
And, , we already have, I think over 6,000 people who have started the intake process, we already have, , 4,000 people who’ve completed it 2000 plus seven rolled. , and what’s really interesting is that 64% of the participants in our workforce development program were previously living, , below the poverty line. So, , we are reaching the folks that need to be reached with workforce development opportunity.
This is not about just, , you know, upskilling people. This is about creating a new economic development, , potential, a new, , basically generating a new workforce for San Antonio. And I happen to believe in talking with my peers across a hundred. I’m sorry, it’s not, I love this stuff.
So let me just add this one thing. I talk with my peers across the country on a daily basis. Every major city in the country has a poverty problem. , and, and we’ve got to figure that out as a country. , and I’m happy to, I’m happy to say that. I think San Antonio has figured it out and I’m looking forward to, , my colleagues, , replicating it at some point.
Speaker 4: (43:04)
That’s great, Ron. , anyone else have a question?
Speaker 6: (43:10)
Hey, it’s Sloan again, Ron. I’m very excited to have a jam session. I would love nothing more than just to like talk through some of these ideas, because if you saw the way, some of these brands are thinking about this, every brand, publisher and partner we’re talking to, and, and there’s quite a few now, , it feels the same way. So if you guys have built a model again, in terms of thought leadership, again, back to San Antonio, like the, the blue ocean opportunity, that is your city. I think that there’s something real here.
That could be a cool story that we start to tell Nash. If you’re interested, I’m absolutely interested. , let’s do it, , in a slow, and if we can connect you and Victoria, what we can, , you know, get, get a jam session scheduled. I’d love that. Yeah, of course. Again, everything with John and Shane, I moderately taller than myself. Shadows
Speaker 4: (44:02)
We’ll connect to everybody that wants to be connected with whoever they want to be connected with and including the city. So don’t worry about it. I saw Jennifer try to jp in with a question and then she missed it. Go ahead, Jen. Thank you, John. , so I have a question cause we’re already doing business in Texas, right? So for us, I mean, we work with hundreds of insurance companies and we’re in 38 States. So for, for me, , or for our company, , we seek out licensed agents and it’s, it’s, especially in the commercial space, it’s kind of like a dying breed with the fact that there’s, you know, so much of AI automation, you know, they feel, but in the commercial insurance space, when it comes to the integral side of things, you do need licensed agents. You need a consultant to tell you what you should have shouldn’t have. And so, , my question would be in, I I’d be happy to discuss this further, but like, do you guys have, do you have a program in place where you’ll work with insurance brokers, like us and insurance companies to, you know, identify, , various, , , you know, angles of like launching an educational program around it, getting them licensed and then we would employ them. That would be something that I would really love to do. It’s something we can do. Yeah.
Speaker 6: (45:33)
Yeah. So, , are the tracks that we train for, or that our providers train for this part of this program are all linked to our economic development foundation jobs report. So wherever there are emerging, , wherever there is job growth happening, we’re trying to link up the workforce pipeline training component. And what’s great is that we have multiple providers that provide the training, , some of it’s happening at our community college district, which happens to be empirically by the way, again, I’m going to tell you everything because we don’t promote enough. It’s the, it’s the best college district in the country, according to two presidential administrations. , so, , we link up to the community college district.
We also have some training happening with, , Texas a and M I believe, , in, in Utah TSA. , but we’re also working with small businesses and, , trade organizations that provide, , credentials that travel with the employee, the participant with the worker. So if you are, if you are a business that has a training track that provides the employee on the job training that, , results in a credential, we can work with you on that if it’s one of the emerging industries. , so we just need to link you up with the, with the workforce program and get in their way. And, and, and the training that a business provides in that circstance, if it results in a credential for the employee is also reimbursed by the program.
Speaker 4: (47:07)
Okay. Okay. Yeah. I mean, you know, it’s, it’s, I started off doing something like that. I went into a recruitment center to go, so that’s how I started, , in my field. And then, , you had mentioned that you’re focusing also, , so we’re in InsureTech FinTech, we fall into finance, but, , you also mentioned that, you know, there’s, , there’s a driving force in the transportation segment too. Is that like simply working with truckers or,
Speaker 6: (47:42)
Well, so, , and I’m, I’m not recalling the, the, the, the, the comments in this conversation, but there’s a, there’s several things happening in the transportation space. First, , automotive and aerospace manufacturing are two of our highest growth industries. So we have, , clusters, , and suppliers and the actual assembly makers or assembly plants that are part of our major employers here in San Antonio. , Toyota being one, Navistar, being another, , several different other supplying companies that are part of chains that go all the way up to Austin now and, and down into Mexico. So automotive, , transportation manufacturing is absolutely part of our, our economic development spectr. , we are doing, , significant investments in the transportation space with regard to, , services, we’re investing in public transportation.
We’re, we’re obviously building out, , multimodal transportation for our community. I didn’t know if that’s what you were referring to though.
Speaker 4: (48:49)
Yeah. I mean, we do a lot in the trucking space, so we insure a lot of trekkers. And what we’ve been finding is they don’t always have a huge amount of money for the down payment that’s required. So we help them with that, , as well. So not only do we provide the insurance, but we also help them with like funding as well.
Speaker 6: (49:11)
Yeah. Well, certainly we have, , services. , I mean, if you’re looking for B2B opportunities with, , with insurance are absolutely here because we, , through port San Antonio, , in SA, , which is a former air force base, it’s a major logistics hub. And so there are several different trucking, , , companies that, that use San Antonio as, as their basis for operations. Some of them are locally owned that we can introduce you to.
Speaker 4: (49:40)
Okay. Wonderful. Thank you. And
Speaker 1: (49:45)
I think Jerry had a, had a question next, and then right after Jerry, if, if, , if I could just ask a blockchain question, because I know Justin, , has educated me on what Texas is doing in blockchain. So I want to make sure that we get to that, but go ahead, Jerry, what were you going to say? You’re on mute, Jerry and why they’re now. Okay. Sorry about that. I want to mention to the mayor of something that we’re doing in California is also have an educational platform, and we’re putting some into place right now where we teach a lot of the youth, especially underprivileged youth financial literacy through real estate, because there’s, there’s things
Speaker 5: (50:28)
It’s not taught where those things are not taught in school, high school. And a lot of times kids, you know, if they had a more clear direction about financial literacy, it could avoid a lot of the pitfalls that they would get into. Like, you know, a lot of kids think either they’re gonna have to bounce a ball. Like you guys have the best sports team in history with the spurs and I am a spurs fan, you know? So what do you think about that marijuana? What was your, what is your thought on that? As far as like financial literacy, like teaching a lot of the underprivileged, you, things like that, as far as real estate, the building of real estate and things like that, it’ll kind of give them a way out if for the ones that’s not just thinking about sports and things like that. What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 6: (51:08)
Well, we we’ve found actually that, , financial literacy training, , is one of the biggest areas of need, , and, and provision of those wraparound services that I mentioned, , in terms of the workforce development program, providing the financial literacy, , for the participants. , we also found the same thing to be true in our Alamo promise program. , this is a similar to Dallas, but it’s, it’s, , County wide and it’s now sustained. We’re going to be doing this ad infinit like forever, , that every single high school graduate in the city of San Antonio now can attend community college for free. , and, and they will also be wrapped around by services to make sure that, that we anticipate any obstacles that they might accomplish that might encounter real life, that would prevent them from completing, , their, their degree. And one of those areas is financial literacy.
Speaker 6: (52:04)
, we’re also finding childcare, obviously transportation services, , healthcare access, believe it or not, , as some of those areas where they need assistance and we provide that assistance for them. So if you are a provider of financial literacy training, , that happens to be a career field that we wanted to develop. It, it would be interesting to see how we might connect to one of these, , opportunities, whether it’s the workforce program itself, or it’s a, you know, it’s a program like Alamo promise that is more geared towards the younger, , graduate. Who’s just beginning to enter the workforce.
Speaker 5: (52:40)
You know, when you, in California, when I bring some youth out to some actual job sites, it’s like their, their eyes light up like a Christmas tree when they can see a house being rehabbed and rebuild, you know, you’d be surprised how many kids have such interest in real estate, but they have no way of doing it. I have a thing where I say real estate is an outdoor sport. So when you bring, bring them to an actual job site, it just changes everything. But I’ll speak to John about that and, you know,
Speaker 6: (53:07)
Thanks Jerry, appreciate it. So, , mayor Ron, , Justin a few weeks ago, , you know, enlightened me about what’s happening in Texas with blockchain, because that’s the next big thing. That’s the internet 3.0, and apparently Texas is the big hub for what’s happening
Speaker 1: (53:26)
In blockchain, but the mayor of Miami is trying to take that away. So what, ,
Speaker 6: (53:33)
I know Francis, I know Francis,
Speaker 1: (53:37)
What are your thoughts on, on, on how, , because obviously San Antonio is not the hub of blockchain, right? So, so what are your thoughts on ways to bring that sort of a new world to, , , to San Antonio?
Speaker 6: (53:51)
So we haven’t talked too much other than the workforce, , intangible qualities of what the defense department partnership in San Antonio means to our community, but this is another one, including the healthcare space, by the way, in which, , San Antonio’s partnership with DOD brings a special advantage. , we are, , we have the largest collection of cyber security assets, , of any place in the country, outside of the Washington national region. , San Antonio is cyber city USA for all practical purposes. We are the center of the cyber defense of the country. , and, and it’s not just DOD, but in partnership with, , DOD, , the air force 16th wing, , we have, , the national security agency. We have, , several different other, , security agencies of the United States government. And we now have clusters of private sector, cyber companies that are realizing the benefit of being in that ecosystem.
Speaker 6: (54:54)
But most importantly, in my mind, we also have the other end of the pipeline. We have the worlds while the world, the country’s foremost education department in cybersecurity, which happens to be at UTS, , UT San Antonio. , and we have, I think at this point over 30 different accredited, , higher education institutions, all of which are training and higher in cyber, , cyber fields. So, , we’re developing a workforce to, , continue to grow the cyber, , community, , and we have, you know, assets in public, private and defense, , to basically, , , grow the ecosystem and take it wherever it goes. I know that doesn’t speak directly to blockchain and I, and I’ll, I’ll be honest with you. I don’t quite understand blockchain enough to speak directly to it, but I do know that the environment that you need to sustain blockchain, blockchain development, , is ever-present here in San Antonio. And that’s, , that’s why I’m confident that we’re going to continue to have an edge. , I know Francis, , Miami is a beautiful city in every way. , it has a unique qualities as well, but, , I think what’s happening economically here in San Antonio and really on the 35 corridor itself is, , makes us a pretty unique place, , for long-term investment. , you know, as opposed to, you know, grabbing the, grabbing the nearest Chinese store. Hey, John, and Ron,
Speaker 3: (56:24)
A question for you just to just a thought regarding blockchain. , the, , I’ve been in it for a long time, as John knows, I’ve worked both on the VC side and the more of the academia, I think a great opportunity for San Antonio would be to create like a, like a limited council or a group of people that know the space and are willing to kind of like give free insight to kind of get you guys up to speed because you guys have the infrastructure and the staff most importantly, and talent to turn into a real kind of competitive. , you have a real competitive advantage to make this thing a reality, because most people don’t even understand how blockchain or more simply put the ledger system works. So anything I can do or my network, cause we’re all crazy nerd fans about this stuff because of the transparency, it would honestly be our pleasure that would be outside of cluster. But, but again, I’m, I’m, I’m all about a rising tide raises all boats as John. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 6: (57:20)
I would love to take you up on that. So that’s a couple of things now on our to do list, but I also want to say what great respect I do have for mayor Suarez as well in Miami. I mean, truth be told all of this is coopertition. , you know, we’re we have in our developing a regional economic strategy of the 35 corridor when cities, , in our country begins to measure, , economic impact rather than tax revenue generation, then we all win. And that’s not true just on the 35 port or it’s all us also about American cities working together, , because that’s eventually where we, we, we are going to have to be, , our intellectual capital here in San Antonio is only going to benefit Miami and Boston and Chicago and vice versa at the end of the day, the country, , needs to advance these initiatives in cooperation. , but certainly we, we, we do want to see the best for San Antonio as well. Right.
Speaker 3: (58:15)
And marijuana just hit two Oh one. How much time do we have with you?
Speaker 6: (58:19)
, negative one, but, ,
Speaker 3: (58:22)
Okay. So we appreciate that. Any final words from you and then, , we’ll, we’ll, , we’ll all sign off. We want to be respond. Okay.
Speaker 6: (58:30)
Sure. No, no, no, no. This is great. And I would love to continue the conversation, I will say. , I want to welcome you all to San Antonio. If you can make a trip down here, do it, do it now, do it whenever I would love to tour you around the city. I’m very happy to say our community is also one of cooperation and teamwork across sectors and everywhere else. , San Antonio, , just like every other city has had its challenges with COVID. I’m happy to say for the last month we’ve had the lowest positivity rate of any state, any city in the state. , and, , we have now over 800,000 people that have been vaccinated. So we’ve been really kicking Covitz, but frankly, , despite all the challenges, so please, please come visit us. , we’re going to get back to, to, , full speed life here really quickly, and we’d love to see you in San Antonio. Great. Thank you.
Speaker 3: (59:22)
Appreciate it, Victoria. Appreciate everything. , Shannon, I’ll send you a separate email. Thanks, Ron. I really appreciate it. And I’ll see you in a few weeks when I’m back. Sounds good. Thank you guys. Thanks everybody. All right, everybody. Thank you. Really appreciate it. And just reach out to shin or I, and we’ll figure out the rest. Thanks John. Thank you, John and Shane
