Georgia Grown Innovation Center Brings Entrepreneurial Opportunity to Metter and Beyond

“This week, we highlight the Georgia Grown Innovation Center (GGIC), an agricultural-focused business incubator in Metter, GA that has brought growth, tourism, and prosperity to the region. The center is the first “Georgia Grown Community” in the state.

Heidi Jeffers is the Director of Economic Development for the City of Metter and has worked with the Georgia Grown Innovation Center since 2017. In a recent conversation with The Creative Coast, Jeffers described how the GGIC first got its start and how the organization has helped the City of Metter expand its agricultural sector.

““We started with our tourism side of the house. We started carrying Georgia-grown products and local Metter-made products in our welcome center,” explains Jeffers. Georgia Grown is a division of the Georgia Department of Agriculture that provides branding and marketing as well as programming, partnerships, research, and technical expertise to foster economic development in the sector. Sales of locally-sourced products were a success, and the City of Metter eventually set its sights on enriching the city’s industry and empowering business owners through a physical space in partnership with the globally-recognized Georgia Grown…”

To read the full article by Nicole Rivas, please visit TheCreativeCoast.org.