Southeast Kentucky Chamber Holds Lunch & Learn With One East Kentucky President & CEO Colby Kirk

PIKEVILLE, KY (April 11, 2024) – The Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce held a Lunch & Learn on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, featuring guest speaker, Colby Kirk, President & CEO of One East Kentucky.

There were networking opportunities over lunch catered by Moe’s and the meeting was well attended by several members of the Chamber’s Board of Directors, as well as representatives of Big Sandy Area Development District and Eastern Telephone & Technologies. WYMT was also present.

Colby began his presentation by explaining the origins of One East Kentucky, how it was established under the Southeast Kentucky Chamber, later growing into its own entity. He outlined the three main strategic initiatives of One East Kentucky, which are Industry Recruitment and Retention, Capacity Building, and Strategy Development.

In terms of Industry Recruitment, Colby says that One East Kentucky is engaging with international investors and businesses that are seeking to expand into the US market. One East Kentucky seeks to market the region’s industrial sites to foreign investors in countries like South Korea and Japan to encourage investment in Eastern Kentucky.

One East Kentucky is working on a cutting-edge software that will be hosted on their website later this year that will be able to show on an interactive map all the industrial sites in our region. Colby says that this software will be able to create custom listings for each site, and can even show a virtual building, demonstrating to investors what the site could potentially look like. Colby also showed in his presentation the potential in Martin County for an incubator for foreign direct investment, where several businesses that are gaining their foothold in the US can share office space and warehousing facilities. One East Kentucky sees downtown revitalization as important as industry recruitment to economic development.  Recently, 6 cities in Eastern Kentucky have been approved for funding to receive strategic planning for downtown revitalization: Inez, Prestonsburg, Hazard, Pikeville, Whitesburg, and Jenkins.

Colby explained that One East Kentucky’s work is vital to this region by highlighting the fact that since the COVID-19 pandemic, 95% of all jobs that are incentivized in Kentucky are outside of Eastern Kentucky. He noted that the communities where the least number of jobs are being announced are those with the highest levels of unemployment and persistent poverty. Colby proposed a solution by allowing for increased tax incentives for investing in our region, and lowering the incentive in areas where there is already an abundance of jobs.

“We’re so grateful to Colby for taking the time to speak for us today,” said Katie Belt, Programs & Media Manager for the Chamber. “His commitment to the betterment of Eastern Kentucky is inspiring and the work he and One East Kentucky does is vital to this region. The Chamber is excited to continue to support these efforts.”

Southeast Kentucky Chamber members can view a recording of the presentation, and a selection of past presentations, by logging into the Member Information Center at: business.sekchamber.com/login.

The Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce is located at 178 College Street in Pikeville and serves more than 500 businesses in eight Eastern Kentucky Counties: Floyd, Johnson, Knott, Lawrence, Letcher, Magoffin, Martin, and Pike. The Chamber’s mission is to serve the businesses of Southeastern Kentucky through a commitment to networking, advocacy, education, and collaboration as we partner together to enhance the business climate in our region.