The Detroit Regional Chamber welcomed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to town on Friday, Oct. 2, as part of its Opportunity Tour, a national bus tour promoting free enterprise. As part of the stop in Detroit, the U.S. Chamber’s Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley and other senior staff toured Michigan Central, NewLab, and Ford Motor Co.’s River Rouge plant.
“This is a great example, both buildings, a great example of the power of free enterprise,” said the Chamber’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Sandy K. Baruah, discussing NewLab and Michigan Central.
Left to right: Lena Epstein, Sandy K. Baruah, Neil Bradley
Bradley agreed. “It’s inspiring. It’s a heck of an ecosystem that’s been created here. People learning from each other, building businesses together, and employing people.”
Bradley noted how Ford Motor Co., one of the original great innovators, could have just sat back, but instead, under the leadership of Bill Ford, created an environment for innovators and entrepreneurs.
“We may have met some of those folks today who 100 years from now will be the name brand known around the world,” he added.
Baruah was joined by Chamber Board Member Lena Epstein, General Manager and Co-Owner of Vesco Oil Corp., and Jim Holcomb, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, to host the U.S. Chamber.
“That’s the magic of free enterprise,” said Holcomb. “It is about people and possibilities, somebody having an idea and a dream and innovating and just changing lives of everybody, making it better for everyone across the state, across the country. We need more of that.”
The national Free Enterprise Express Opportunity Tour is a six-week trip through 20 states and more than 50 events to make the case for free enterprise in communities across America and push back against growing support for government-directed economic policies that threaten economic freedom, opportunity, innovation, and growth.
The Opportunity Tour is part of the U.S. Chamber’s New Fight for Free Enterprise initiative, a multiyear strategic effort to defend, protect, and promote free enterprise.
“It’s remarkable to me to see the American spirit, the ingenuity out of this space and what the possibilities are when people come together around an innovative, creative idea,” said Epstein.
“I can’t imagine how many people are going to be educated in this space to learn, to learn about the history of the region, and about Henry Ford, as we’ve discussed, but (also) how many young people will come through here and say: ‘Wow, maybe my idea could work here,’” she added.
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