Darrell Cobbins (center), president and CEO of Universal Commercial, speaks with Startup Tennessee representatives David Warren (right) and Eddie Solis before the Minority Business Enterprise Regional Power Breakfast at the University Club. Warren and his Nashville-based team spoke at the monthly gathering as part of a tour of entrepreneurial hot-spots in the region.
FROM THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL
Fresh on the heels of Thursday's announcement that Memphis Bioworks was selected as site of one of nine regional entrepreneurial accelerators in Tennessee, leaders with Gov. Bill Haslam's Startup Tennessee initiative were in Memphis touting the Bluff City's support of entrepreneurship.
Speaking to more than 100 minority and female business leaders at Friday's MBE Regional Power Breakfast at the University Club, Startup Tennessee official David Warren urged the attendees to change the community, the state and the nation.
"You can see the seeds of entrepreneurial growth here, right before your very eyes," said Warren, director of operations at Startup Tennessee. "With organizations such as Memphis Bioworks and EmergeMemphis leading the way, your city is part of something very new. You're a trailblazer."
That's because Memphis has more than a decade's worth of experience supporting and nurturing startups with high growth potential through business incubators and accelerators such as Bioworks, Emerge and the Mid-South Minority Business Council Continuum.
And the news that Bioworks will act as the fiscal agent for the new regional accelerator -- in conjunction with about two dozen partner organizations -- is a model for entrepreneurial collaborations statewide.
"Tennessee is leading the nation in developing entrepreneurial ecosystems and Memphis is leading this movement," Warren said. "There's a new paradigm of job creation and growth and it begins with startups and entrepreneurial activity. Our goal is to connect leaders across the state and merge best practices in cities and rural areas to strengthen our entrepreneurial community."
Startup Tennessee is a public/private sector program launched by Haslam earlier this year that is designed to link business incubators and accelerators across Tennessee and include information on programming, mentoring and funding.
Heading up the state network is Michael Burcham, CEO of The Entrepreneur Center in Nashville. Funding -- projected to be $250,000 per year for three years -- is from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. The funds will be used to develop and implement programming for Startup Tennessee, including creating a website, offering training opportunities and connecting entrepreneurs to mentors and investors.
And that deserves support from business communities across Tennessee, said Donnell Cobbins Jr., vice president of Universal Commercial and one of the hosts of Friday's forum.
"Building up these accelerators will generate jobs for the community and create a positive economic impact," Cobbins said.
Megan Jones, an entrepreneur and mentor-in-residence at Emerge, agreed.
"It's important to cultivate more self-reliance and more risk tolerance here," Jones said. "What we have here are a lot of good ideas, but what we don't have are a lot of people trained to take risks in the right way. I hope that this program will offer education for the community at large and help us start to think differently to help mitigate the risk for startups."
For more information on the Startup Tennessee program, visit online at tennessee.startupamerica partnership.org
-- James Dowd: (901) 529-2737
Regional MBE Power Breakfast
What: Holiday networking mixer and "Dr. J.E. Walker and A. Maceo Walker Entrepreneurial Medal of Honor" presentation
When: 7:30-9 a.m., Dec. 2
Where: University Club, 1346 Central
Cost: $15
Details: Call (901) 414-3315, ext. 2
"You can see the seeds of entrepreneurial growth here, right before your very eyes."
David Warren, MBE Regional Power Breakfast at the University Club, Startup Tennessee official
