Greenville ranked as No. 1
'Micro' city

By Angelia Davis • Staff writer
Published: April 13. 2011

Greenville’s strong economic potential, cost effectiveness, business friendliness, and other qualities have helped it again earn the top spot in a global magazine’s annual ranking of North American cities.

Greenville ranked No. 1 among FDI Magazine’s Top 10 “Micro Cities of the Future,” (cities with population under 100,000) with the Canadian cities of Fredericton and Waterloo, Greenville (N.C.) and Bismarck-Mandan (North Dakota) completing the top five listing.

FDI, a product of The Financial Times Ltd, follows issues that concern foreign investors. Its “American Cities of the Future” 2011/12 listings use data and expert opinion to rank cities which have the best prospects for inward investment, economic development and business expansion.

Greenville was honored as the Micro City of the Future for 2009/2010. In addition to its current top Micro City ranking, Greenville gained high marks in a number of sub-categories also featured in the magazine.

The magazine said Greenville has the second best economic potential, behind Waterloo, Ontario. The city also ranked third in the FDI Promotion Strategy category with Fredericton, Canada and Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada first and second respectively.

The magazine said its judging criteria for economic development included population forecast, unemployment rate and foreign-direct investment, including projects within the high-tech service and manufacturing sectors. In the FDI promotion strategy category, cities were judged on such things as the number of staff dedicated to promoting and facilitating inward investment and systems/programmes in place to train, incentives available to inward investors, and information on high growth sectors. Greenville was ninth in the top 10 Micro Human Resources category, which considers a cities unemployment rate, as well as its number of ‘world top-500’ universities and top business schools, and other factors. An awards ceremony will be held on June 29 in Washington, DC to celebrate the success of cities across the Americas.

Staff writer Angelia Davis can be reached at 864- 298-4276.