If you want to be serious about supporting economic growth then you need to get serious about supporting entrepreneurs, concludes this Manhattan Institute report titled Entrepreneur-Led Economic Development: A New Strategy for Generating Local Growth and Productivity.
Easier said than done, perhaps. After all, as the report begins: “Economic development is stuck in the past.” Merely throwing subsidies at the problem of slow growth is no longer enough.
But authors Ian Hathaway and Rhett Morris offer a comprehensive approach to working with the important, growth-oriented companies who act as engines of exponential vitality crucial to spurring broader vibrance and innovation in the local ecosystem. Integrating entrepreneurs with decision makers in three distinct areas — policymakers, funders, and service providers — is key, they explain.
“The goal is to create feedback loops between entrepreneurial leaders and other local decision makers and to cultivate networks that connect successful entrepreneurial leaders with future growth-oriented founders who can use their guidance to grow.”
They outline a four-step process to enact this ongoing, mutually-enhancing practice:
- Identify the successful entrepreneurial businesses in the region.
- Build networks around successful local entrepreneurs.
- Partner with entrepreneurial leaders to address the most important needs of growing local businesses and their entrepreneurs.
- Collect data on growing entrepreneurial businesses to track results and share findings with the community.
