INDIANOLA, Miss. — Governor Tate Reeves alongside Parmida LED Technologies (Parmida), Sunflower County, the City of Indianola, and Delta Council/Delta Strong leaders marked the opening of the already announced location of this e-commerce business with the official “cutting of the ribbon” ceremony today.

Parmida, with its headquarters in Southern California, is strategically placing its new operations in the heart of the Delta at 624 2nd St. to serve its growing customer base in the Midwestern and East Coast markets.  The company is expected to create 20 new jobs in this Delta community.

“Creating jobs in the Delta will continue to be one of my top priorities,” said Governor Tate Reeves. “I’m excited to welcome Parmida to Mississippi, and I look forward to seeing the positive economic contribution the company will have on Indianola and Sunflower County.”

Parmida, once a traditional lighting company, in 2015 pivoted their model to become an e-commerce business after identifying the growth B2B sales potential within emerging internet marketplaces.  Today, Parmida is known for conducting business-to-business and business-to-customer transactions across many product lines including LED lighting applications and home goods.

“We’d like to thank Delta Strong, the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) and Sunflower County for exposing us to the strong business opportunities here and the Governor and State of Mississippi for supporting our new distribution center in Indianola,” said Peyman Mahrou, Vice President of Parmida LED Technologies.  “We believe the strong relationships we’ve built in Mississippi will be fundamental to our pursuit of growth and expansion into the future.”

In 2017, after successfully deploying the knowledge and tools to build and successfully manage their online presence, Parmida gained the distinction as one of Amazon’s 10 fastest growing companies.  Parmida’s growth trajectory compelled them to investigate expanding their operations to another location as their Southern California location was too far from growing markets. The timing was fortuitous as Delta Strong’s business attraction program contacted Matt Mahrou, the company’s CEO, in 2018 and invited him to consider expanding operations to the Delta.

“We are fortunate to have Parmida call the Delta home for its new operations,” said Wade Litton, Chairman of Delta Strong.  “I have learned that Matt, Peyman, and Parm are kind, gracious business owners that exhibit a corporate spirit that fits Indianola and the Delta very well”, says Wade Litton.  “We should all embrace Parmida and welcome them.  They had many options to call home and they chose us.  I look forward to seeing what is on the horizon from this entrepreneurial family and how we can help them gown even more in the future.”

Parmida officials attribute the decision to relocate to Indianola to many factors.  First is Mississippi’s business friendly environment and cost efficiency that would allow Parmida to operate at a lower cost structure than its competition elsewhere.  Distribution and logistics advantages in the Delta are unparalleled as evidenced by major distribution companies conducting business here.  The Delta proved to be well-suited for this e-commerce business whose products can be purchased in several on-line marketplaces.  The second factor is how a team effort developed to bring forth passionate, intelligent and dependable people who had a vested interest in shaping the local economy and making it easy for Parmida to say that Indianola was their next home.

The expansion of Parmida is a case study in how organizations and communities’ band together to successfully recruit a new business.  Delta Strong and the Sunflower Economic Development District worked hand-in-glove to shepherd this project to successfully land in Indianola. The Sunflower County Board of Supervisors agreed to offer approximately 100,000 square feet of the former Modern Line building to Parmida.  The Mississippi Development Authority provided a Capital Improvement Loan in the amount of $1,500,000 and Community Development Block Grant funds in the amount of $400,000 were used to provide the capital to make the necessary improvements to the facility so operations could begin this past September (2021).  Even the City of Greenwood played an important role in the recruitment of this California headquartered business as they temporarily hosted Parmida operations, while renovations occurred in Indianola, for nearly two years.

“The new offices and a new store front are noticeable improvements while newly erected brick walls and new lighting has been installed in the interior,” said Sunflower County Economic Development District Chairman Richard Noble.  “With the successful recruitment of Parmida and two other companies over the last few years, the former Modern Line Manufacturing Building is well suited as a location to conduct distribution operations.  We expect that Parmida will be joined in the future by similar businesses.”