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<\/p>\nA local leader says Toledo isn\u2019t lacking effort \u2014 it\u2019s focused on the wrong industries. New data and global interest could change the region\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
TOLEDO, Ohio \u2014 For decades, people in northwest Ohio have asked the same question: Why does it feel like Toledo is falling behind?<\/p>\n
On this week\u2019s\u00a0Leading Edge, a new answer emerged \u2014 and it may change how the region thinks about its future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not effort. It\u2019s structure,\u201d said Darren Moore, a global logistics CEO and Ottawa Hills Village Council member.<\/p>\n
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That idea \u2014 simple but striking \u2014 is at the center of a new push to rethink how Toledo grows its economy.<\/p>\n
\nA region losing ground <\/p>\n
Host Jeff Smith opened the conversation with a stark reality.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I started back here in my hometown, Toledo had a Nielsen market number of 68,\u201d Smith said. \u201cDo you know what we were last year? We were 81st.\u201d<\/p>\n
That drop reflects a loss of as many as 130,000 households \u2014 nearly half the region\u2019s reach. Some of that can be attributed to Monroe County no longer being included in the Toledo market; it now belongs to Detroit.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo are we dealing with a multi-decade ebb and flow,\u201d Smith asked during this week’s taping, \u201cor are we at the precipice of a major course correction?\u201d<\/p>\n
Moore says it\u2019s the latter \u2014 and time is running out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s not liftoff in multiples\u2026 we\u2019re simply just going to continue to fall behind to a point we can\u2019t recover,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\nThe real problem: where the economy is focused <\/p>\n
Moore says the issue isn\u2019t a lack of talent or effort.<\/p>\n
Instead, it\u2019s where the region\u2019s economy is concentrated.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeventy-five percent of our economy\u2026 is in sectors that are either shrinking, quite literally, or flat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Even the strongest sector \u2014 healthcare \u2014 is barely growing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you adjust for inflation\u2026 it\u2019s only growing 1% per year, and everything goes down from there,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n
That means most of the region\u2019s economic activity is not building long-term growth.<\/p>\n
\nA surprising twist: Toledo is still competitive <\/p>\n
Despite that, new details revealed on the show suggest Toledo may be more competitive than many think.<\/p>\n
Moore said his team compared northwest Ohio to major growth markets across the country \u2014 including Texas and Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe outperformed on 24 of 26,\u201d he said, citing factors like labor costs, talent, and infrastructure.<\/p>\n
That raises a key question:<\/p>\n
If Toledo is competitive, why isn\u2019t it growing faster?<\/p>\n
New opportunity: global companies looking at Toledo<\/p>\n
One answer may lie in industries the region has not fully embraced yet.<\/p>\n
During the interview, Moore revealed new details about international companies \u2014 including some from Ukraine \u2014 exploring northwest Ohio.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese companies\u2026 are proven technology,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have dual use applications.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed to one example that highlights the scale of opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do 5,000 drones a day,\u201d Moore said. \u201cThe entire United States does 50,000 in a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those companies are now considering U.S. expansion \u2014 and Toledo is on their list.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have other companies lined up from Europe, from Ukraine, from Israel\u2026 that are going to look at Northwest Ohio,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\nA pivot \u2014 not a restart <\/p>\n
Moore says the solution is not to rebuild the region\u2019s economy from scratch. Instead, it\u2019s about shifting what already exists.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur manufacturing can start doing soft pivots into these high-growth sectors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That includes industries like:<\/p>\n
\u201cIf our manufacturing base can serve that infrastructure, we get the profit off that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\nThe warning: time is limited <\/p>\n
The stakes, Moore says, are clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we keep doing what we\u2019re doing\u2026 you simply can\u2019t hit these numbers,\u201d he said, referencing population growth goals. During Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz’s most recent State of the City<\/a> address, he set a goal of 300,000 in Toledo by the year 2045 (a benchmark linked to Toledo hosting the Men’s US Open at Inverness<\/a>) \u00a0<\/p>\n But if the region pivots?<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re going to have that multiple growth,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like your bank account \u2014 compounding interest is much better than simple interest.\u201d<\/p>\n Moore says this moment is not about another study or plan.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to aggressively target these industries,\u201d he said. \u201cAll things are not equal\u2026 some things grow faster than others.\u201d<\/p>\n He also called for faster approvals and incentives tied to high-growth sectors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should use speed as a weapon,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Leading Edge airs Sundays at 8:30 a.m. on WTOL 11. You can find this episode and others on WTOL 11+ and the WTOL YouTube page. You can also find and follow the Leading Edge podcast on Apple and Spotify.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A local leader says Toledo isn\u2019t lacking effort \u2014 it\u2019s focused on the wrong industries. New data and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-594947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}