“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
This is my favorite all time quote. It’s important to me because everything we do in our society involves people working together to achieve something, some goal, some dream and this morning’s Signature Event by GLI’s EnterpriseCORP was all about bringing people together to bind not only just the talent of Louisville, KY but the funding to spark the entrepreneurial fire that will illuminate our city as a vibrant sector for entrepreneurial development in our nation.
‘We’re currently a third tier city when it comes to entrepreneurial development,” Mayor Greg Fisher said, “I know people don’t like to hear that but we are, however, there is no reason why we can’t move into the second tier and be amongst the Minneapolises, Austins and Pittsburgs. If we can do that, then, and only then can we work to claim the first tier. If we focus on doing what we do best, then there is no reason why we can’t achieve this common goal.” Mayor Fisher unveiled his plans to create an Office of Innovation that will create an “Entrepreneurial explosion” for Louisville, KY. By creating an advisory board of innovators and well traveled citizens, the mayor will keep the pulse of what is happening nationally in other cities in terms of economic development. “These people are going to deliver me a reality check in terms of our true progress,” said the Mayor. The Office of Innovation is going to create the next generation of entrepreneurs and is going to provide the platform for truly bigger ideas to take flight in the city of Louisville, KY.
“It has been proven time and time again it’s not how much a city can produce in terms of manufacturing items that succeeds, it’s the city that can produce the most ideas that wins the race.” Mayor Fisher said to the crowd of about three hundred regional business owners and entrepreneurs. “What creates a great entrepreneur is Passion; at the core of Entrepreneurship is a great dream. We have to work together to support the ideas of our city, we have to help the next generation of entrepreneurs by increasing our capital to fuel the innovation clusters of our city,” emphasized the Mayor to the crowd. The Mayor urged that it’s not going to be just the ideas that create economic development that our city needs, it’s going to be the infrastructure, the support… the financial backers of the ideas to fuel the ideas that entrepreneurs have.
The organization that very well may succeed in sparking the flame to build the fire that Louisville needs is GLI’s EnterpriseCORP. The Signature Event was lead by Bobby Ferreri. “We’re wanting to connect the talent with the funding of Louisville, KY.” Through three main focus points: advancing the entrepreneurial culture of Louisville, advancing client services and building the infrastructure of Louisville’s economic development– EnterpriseCORP will feed the fire necessary to power the future generations of entrepreneurial development for Possibility City. “By building personal bridges with other organizations, we’re providing not only the resources in capital but also for education– that’s going to be key in changing the culture of our city.” Ferreri passionately stated.
2008 and 2009 have been some of the toughest years we have ever faced, but 2010 was a little better and 2011 can be great if we can build the community necessary to harbor a spirit of entrepreneurialism. Working together we can connect the passions and the dreams of our city’s entrepreneurs to the resources necessary to launch the future enterprises our city. It’s not going to be easy and it will involve risks for all parties involved but our country has overcome many hurdles before. I am not alone in thinking that the Americana Spirit can be revived once again and hopefully you will become involved in the entrepreneurial movement that is happening across our nation in some way… even if its only buying something Made in America or from your local merchant just once a week. It will make a difference.
