Mike Tarantino was optimistic about business development going into 2019. His expectations did not disappoint. 

The director of the Iberia Industrial Development Foundation, whose mission is to serve as the primary facilitator of economic, industrial and community development activities for Iberia Parish, said there were a number of wins for business in Iberia Parish in 2019. 

Tarantino said he expects that trend to continue in 2020 and more opportunities to arrive for the men and women who want to work in Iberia Parish. 

How would characterize the business climate this past year in Iberia Parish?

I think 2019 has shown much improvement when compared to 2018, certainly some of the highlights of the year had to do with retail wins that the city of New Iberia and Iberia Parish have had. That shows a lot of consumer confidence in the things that are happening here. 

From an industrial perspective I think we’re improving as well. There’s a lot of improvement that has to happen in oil and gas around the world but I think we’re holding our own from the industrial side as well. 

Unemployment rates continue to remain low, so I was very optimistic coming into 2019 and I’m even more optimistic going into 2020. 

Were there any highlights that stood out as unique this year?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention all of the retail wins that happened in our community. It’s just showing that there are a lot of people that are looking for a good investment and see Iberia Parish and New Iberia as a good investment. That’s certainly something that I think is worth noting. 

Secondly, we’ve got a lot of businesses across Iberia Parish that are expanding. People are looking for skilled workers, looking for folks with industrial skills. There are a number of jobs available right now. I think looking forward to 2020 and 2021, you’ll see a lot of focus coming from our office on workforce development, workforce training and skills training so we can match folks with the jobs that are available out there. 

What are your predictions going into 2020?

I think you’re going to continue to see oil and gas improve, maybe slowly and incrementally, but I think you’ll see improvement there. When you look at aviation there are a lot of great things happening in our airport, a lot of promise. There are a lot of people that have expressed interest in not only relocating but developing our airport. 

I think when you look at non-oil and gas manufacturing like metal works, boat building and other equipment manufacturing, I think you can expect to see a lot of good there as well. All of those things fit the skill set of Iberia Parish workers so I think there will be a lot of opportunities for that in the upcoming year.