About the Entrepreneurship Summit
About
The 2011 Governor’s Entrepreneurship Summit is a gathering of entrepreneurs and leaders from across our diverse state on a mission to break the mold by developing innovative products and services, create jobs and help NC grow. At the Summit you’ll be able to:
- Hear NC entrepreneurs share their experiences with reinventing traditional industries, green technology, local food, health care, money, marketing and more
- Meet GenY entrepreneurs
- Find out how communities are fostering entrepreneurship
- Learn how social entrepreneurship is making a difference
- Share your opinions via interactive polling technology
- Celebrate and learn from successful NC entrepreneurs
- Discuss how to make NC the best state for entrepreneurs
Brief History
The initial idea for a statewide entrepreneurship summit came in a 2004 white paper from the North Carolina Business Resource Alliance, a virtual organization of business resource providers working to develop a comprehensive network of business services for the state. Alliance members contributing to the Entrepreneurship Summit include the NC Rural Center, the SBTDC, the Small Business Center Network, NC Department of Commerce, NC REAL, Good Work and many others. This year Durham is proud to be hosting the summit through the active participation of the Durham Chamber of Commerce, Bull City Forward, and the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The North Carolina Entrepreneurship Summit was initiated by the NC Rural Center and Alliance partners through a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and held in the Triangle in 2006 and 2007. Subsequent Summits were held in Greensboro in 2008 and Wilmington in 2010. While the Rural Center was an initiating partner of the summit , it was and is always intended as a statewide event with strong urban participation.
The themes of the summits to date have been:
2006: Building the Foundation
2007: Framing our Economic Future
2008: Doorways to Entrepreneurial Communities
2010: Keys to NC’s Economic Future
Summit activities were organized around five key imperatives, which are still important today.
- Foster entrepreneurship education at all levels.
- Broaden financial options for start-ups, research and development, and business growth.
- Invest in a high-quality, integrated system of support services.
- Strengthen business-to-business networking opportunities.
- Enhance the environment for entrepreneurship. Provide leadership through both policy and community support.
