Charlotte leaders admire Nashville’s help for entrepreneurs

Charlotte leaders wrapped up a three-day fact-finding trip to Nashville impressed with that city’s efforts to boost entrepreneurship.

An estimated 130 business and political leaders participated in the visit organized by the Charlotte Chamber, which goes on a field trip to another city every year to glean economic development insights. The trip focused on a wide variety of topics, from Nashville’s health care industry to a Tennessee program that offers two years tuition-free at community or technical colleges in that state.

As they departed Friday, Charlotte leaders were talking about how to apply what Nashville has learned about helping entrepreneurs. Trip participants said they were impressed after touring the Entrepreneur Center, a Nashville facility that provides help to entrepreneurs.

The center, which grew out of efforts by the Nashville Chamber, has received support from the business community and state government, among others. A similar facility could help Charlotte spawn more small businesses, trip participants said.

“It just felt like the community was plugged in, in all areas – early stage entrepreneurs, start-up entrepreneurs, incubators – all in one place with middle-stage entrepreneurs,” Dale Gillmore, chamber member and chairman of Make an Impact Foundation, said after touring the center.

Charlotte already has some resources to support entrepreneurs, such as uptown’s Packard Place, a privately financed facility that focuses on energy and financial technology companies.

In contrast, the Entrepreneur Center is a nonprofit funded through sponsorships, partnerships, donations and grants. The center specializes in health care, technology, digital media and entertainment and “social enterprise” entrepreneurs.

“It feels cohesive,” Gillmore said. “Charlotte needs the E.C.”

Charlotte leaders said that while it’s important that Charlotte continue to try and lure companies to the city, it is also crucial that the city generate home-grown companies. Keva Walton, a senior vice president for the Charlotte Chamber, said Charlotte has a lot of high-growth entrepreneurs that are “sleeping giants.”

“Charlotte is an innovative place,” he said. “We don’t necessarily hang that shingle on it.”

“But if we more intentionally engage our entrepreneurial community to help (bigger companies) drive innovation, I’ve got to believe that’s going to be a huge explosion for Charlotte.”

The most pressing topic of the three days, some Charlotte leaders said, was the discussion about Nashville’s “Music City” brand – and how Charlotte should market itself.

Currently, Charlotte brands itself using various slogans that are generally vague. Those include the “Charlotte’s Got a Lot” campaign used by the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority. Compared with Nashville, Charlotte lacks a “clear” brand, participants said.

At the same time, some participants admitted it might be a struggle for Charlotte to find one aspect of itself on which to build a brand. Branding the city around banking or NASCAR, both aspects of Charlotte on which it is widely known nationwide, omits other important pieces of the city’s diverse economy, they said.

This was the chamber’s 60th intercity visit. The last time the chamber went to Nashville was 2004. Charlotte leaders say the city competes heavily with Nashville, including for major meetings.

The trip comes as the chamber and Charlotte Regional Partnership prepare to develop a regional strategic economic development plan. It’s unclear where the chamber will visit next year, but Kansas City, Toronto and Miami are being considered. An announcement could come this fall.

Incoming Chamber Chairman Ned Curran said the three were chosen in part because they have “robust” transportation systems.

Charlotte is grappling with major transportation issues, such as congestion along Interstate 77, thanks to rapid population growth.

“In two cases, they’re much larger metropolitan areas,” he said of the cities on the list. “There’s always lots of things we can learn in those.”

This story was originally published June 26, 2015 at 6:36 PM with the headline "Charlotte leaders admire Nashville’s help for entrepreneurs."