Norfolk County encouraged more business development locally by holding Speed Networking for locals at their economic development conference. Photo courtesy of Norfolk County, Ontario.
What supports can a municipality provide to encourage innovation and business start-ups?
That was one of the listener questions when I was a guest recently on the Orton Family Foundation’s Heart and Soul Talks.
Municipalities and local officials feel responsible for developing their local economy. Too often, economic development takes the same old form of recruiting outside companies or chains, and giving them incentives to drain money and resources out of the local community. So if you need a good first step to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship inside your town, stop spending your money developing someone else’s businesses.
Use the Idea Friendly Framework to develop your local businesses:
1) Take Small Steps: cut down barriers to entry. Make it easier to get through the town-imposed process to get into business. Eliminate permits, requirements and licenses as much as possible. Declare a bureaucracy-free zone downtown for three months and just see what happens.
2) Build Connections: local officials build large networks across the state. Use your network to support your local businesses by bringing in your connections and resources from outside the community. Facilitate local connections through networking events for locals and across different groups in town.
3) Gather Your Crowd: be an advocate for local business. Promote the actions you’ve taken to be more open and supportive to new businesses. Issue awards and proclamations to draw public attention to local businesses. Share information freely about local business-development events no matter who puts them on. Use utility bills to get the word out.
Do you have an example of a municipality that has been active in supporting innovation and startups? Tell us about it in the comments, or if you’re reading by email, hit reply and tell me.
New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
- Seasonal business: How to beat the annual “no bookings!” panic - August 8, 2022
- Recession? Practical steps from 3 international peers - August 3, 2022
- Reaching “at risk” kids for local jobs - July 15, 2022
- 3 Major factors in rural remote work: incentives, flexible workspaces, and a sense of community - June 6, 2022
- How to recruit new residents, remote workers, or remote entrepreneurs - June 2, 2022
- How cooperatives improve small town economies - May 8, 2022
- Metaverse business idea: virtual world tour guide - April 15, 2022
- Make extra money from extra workspace: co-working and 3rd workplaces in small towns - March 28, 2022
- Trade show booth design trend: hand drawn visuals - March 21, 2022
- New business sign design? Don’t use cursive script - February 14, 2022
