The Greater Fayetteville Business Journal team extends a warm invitation to our dear readers for the upcoming Power Breakfast on Feb. 29. This Power

Breakfast, themed “Leaping Forward,” will be held at the Cape Fear Botanical Gardens where guests will hear from Economist Gerald Cohen about what to expect in 2024 from a national, state and local perspective.

Cohen is the Chief Economist at UNC’s Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and has worked in a range of business and government roles, giving him unique insights into the direction of our economy. 

“It’s exciting for us to collaborate once again this year with the Fayetteville Cumberland County Economic Development Corporation to bring an economic and financial outlook for our region. Gerald Cohen with the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise is someone who is well respected in the industry and we expect a good turnout because of that. We’re thankful for our relationship with the FCEDC,” remarked Greater Fayetteville Business Journal Publisher Marty Cayton. 

Cohen is prepared to speak on a few hot topics before fielding questions from attendees. These topics include things such as the intersection of politics and economics and the impact of our macroeconomy on Extended Metropolitan Areas or microeconomies, such as Fayetteville. 

“Our baseline forecast is that the economy is going to slow and potentially decline in the second half of 2024…Interestingly, the smaller cities like Fayetteville or kind of what we call our mid-sized cities are less impacted by national goings on than larger cities,” remarked Cohen. 

Navigating uncertainty tends to be a difficult task. As individuals and organizations prepare for an election year there is a heightened sense of variability which may lead to increased stress regarding business decisions. Cohen is keenly aware of how political factors affect economic outcomes and is eager to provide insights to our greater Fayetteville business community. 

“Our goal [at the Kenan Institute] is to help businesses and policymakers make better decisions through an understanding of economic activity and business research. And so we are very focused on saying, ‘How is this relevant to a business person?’” shared Cohen. 

Cohen is prepared to break down how concerns and trends on the national level are affecting our local economy. 

“Many people have views on the national economy, but what we particularly have, and this is pretty new and we’re very excited about this, is we also have our research on the microeconomies and our understanding of the modeling of the 150 largest microeconomies in the United States, or Extended Metro Areas…what I hope to do [at the Power Breakfast] is illustrate the data that is driving our understanding of the Fayetteville economy and put that in the context of the United States, other cities in North Carolina and other cities that Fayetteville thinks of as competitor cities,” stated Cohen. 

Additionally, this Power Breakfast will mark the unveiling of our annual Book on Business, a resource for our readers that showcases the Fayetteville region as a center of business and serves as an update to business and community leaders on initiatives to boost economic development. Don’t miss this chance to be one of the first people to take home our 2024 Book on Business!

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TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW

Reserve your seat by going to fayettevillepowerbreakfast.com.