Mayors Focusing on Entrepreneurial Growth in their Cities

Todd Crosland US EntreprenerushipWhat are the public policies needed for a city to increase their entrepreneurship growth? In a recent article done by Entrepreneruship.com, they discuss actions taken by different mayors from their respective cities, and the policies and actions that they are taken to improve local economic growth.

In Raleigh, North Carolina, Mayor Nancy McFarlane has started an initiative to increase the city’s public partnerships with local entrepreneurs. She recently hired an Entrepreneurship Manager to follow up with local businesses and business owners. The Mayor also injected $100,000 into Citrix’ new accelerator program to aid local businesses with capital connections and local resources.

In Cincinnati, Ohio, Mayor John Cranley is funding a 30,000 square foot building that will house a large percentage of the city’s startup ecosystem. Cincinnati’s startup ecosystem includes Cintrifuse, a mentoring organization, Brandery, a startup accelerator, and CincyTech, a seed stage venture capital firm.

Mayor Andy Berke from Chattanooga, Tennessee is taking the route of offering direct incentives to startup companies. The incentives for these small businesses come as a $500 credit for each employee that they hire. Mayor Berke is also pushing an Open Data Policy, which will create a more transparent startup community in the hopes of more innovation based on statistics and big data. The city is also in the early development stages of building an Innovation District.

Next we have Mayor Mike Duggan from Detroit, Michigan. Detroit’s startup environment is on the rise as Microsoft Ventures recently announced their plans to build an office in downtown Detroit to perpetuate their increasing startup interests. Mayor Duggan also hired an entrepreneurship manager for the city as well as injecting $3 million into an accelerator program for entrepreneurs.