New partnership hopes to bring hundreds of jobs to southern MO

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - A new partnership in southern Missouri hopes to bring new companies and more jobs to the show-me state.

Friday, state and federal officials announced the launch of one of the largest regional workforce and economic development networks in state history.

“We truly believe southern Missouri is the best place to start and grow a business and are committed to making sure that’s possible,” Rachel Anderson said.

Rachel Anderson traveled from Springfield to Cape Girardeau to help announce a new partnership between the business resource innovation center at Missouri State University and Codefi.

She said the new Southern Missouri Innovation Network will start more companies and create high paying positions.

“No matter where you live, whether its a town of 50 or 500 thousand we want to make sure that you have the resources that you need to get started and grow your business,” Anderson said.

Shad Burner with the Missouri Department of Economic Development said he’s excited to see the growth.

“This is huge, this is the direction we need to be taking in the state of Missouri when we think about the future of our economy and ensuring that we’re driving toward where we need to go to be sustainable in the state of Missouri,” Burner said.

“We need to make sure we have all the resources in our communities to help people do that,” James Stapleton said.

Codefi Co-founder James Stapleton estimates the programs across this network will create more than 700 jobs, and more than 150 new businesses in its first three years.

“It’s fantastic at this point in my life to be able to find way to help others but also to be able to try to help the kinds of communities that I love living in, smaller communities not in big cities start to get a leg up a little bit on the new aspects of the economy and it’s a privilege to be a part of it,” Stapleton said.

Anderson tells us the next step is meeting face to face with job creators for the next few months to find out what kind of resources they need.

Copyright 2022 KFVS. All rights reserved.