The Greater Mankato CEO group visited Greater Mankato Growth today and sat down with President and CEO Della Schmidt and Executive Vice President Andy Wilke.

Greater Mankato Growth, Inc. creates an environment for businesses to prosper through four areas of focus: the Chamber of Commerce, Visit Mankato, Downtown Mankato/North Mankato, and GreenSeam. It was eye-opening for the CEO young professionals to learn about all the ways that GMG works to support business growth and development.

For example, one of the biggest annual events organized by Visit Mankato - the Mankato Marathon - is bringing in thousands of visitors from multiple countries and over 30 U.S. states to our community. A majority of these visitors will be staying in local hotels, eating at local restaurants, and shopping at local businesses. This one event is bringing in an estimated $3 million in economic impact. This is just one of many ways that GMG is focused on supporting the Mankato business community.

What sets Mankato apart? The Chamber of Commerce has been serving local businesses since 1868. GMG’s Young Professionals program is the largest in the state of Minnesota with about 180 members, and GMG’s 900 member businesses represent almost 40% of the market share.

GMG’s reach goes well beyond the Chamber. The Downtown Partnership of Mankato and North Mankato works to increase sales and awareness for downtown businesses, and this summer’s Burger Battle had 13 businesses participating and resulted in 2,000 burgers sold.

GreenSeam focuses on economic development for agribusiness, looking at the entire supply chain that supports local farms. Visit Mankato promotes the area’s amenities like the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center, Vetter Stone Amphitheater, and Mt. Kato.

As the Greater Mankato CEO young professionals become business owners and leaders, there will be many opportunities to get involved in GMG throughout their life.

We appreciated Della’s advice to the group: “It’s ok to try new things. It’s ok to experiment with your skill set and see what else you can do… It’s more about passion, commitment, drive, and street smarts. Results matter.”

Thank you, Greater Mankato Growth, for all your work bringing the Greater Mankato CEO program, which is an initiative of Transforming Tomorrow Together: Southern MN 2040, to the area and for welcoming us today!

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