User:Alias7467/Main Street Gardening

“Main Street Gardening” is a term coined by Jerry Ross of the Disney Entrepreneur Center in Orlando, Florida to describe specific economic development efforts to support the growth and development of the small and start up businesses within a community. The vast majority of all businesses in a community have less than 10 employees and they require specific support services such as coaching, easy access to resources, and ongoing education to move from inception, to growth, and then to a mature organization. “Main street businesses” (less than 10 employees) provide the fertile ground for an innovative and entrepreneurial economy. By identifying, assisting, and accelerating the growth and development of “main street businesses,”  through existing business support organizations like SCORE, Small Business Development  Centers, or local Chambers of Commerce, a region can produce a significant increase in jobs from accelerating the growth of these main street businesses. A rapidly accelerating, high growth company is referred to as a Stage Two Companies (10-100 employees) by the Edward Lowe Foundation, who is developing resources to specifically serve these Stage Two companies through a program called “Economic Gardening”. “Main Street Gardening” tills the creative soil, plants the entrepreneurial seeds, and tends the garden of growth for a small business community by providing coaching, resources, and education, so that one day they might join the other Stage 2 companies who produces high job growth for a regional economy to harvest.

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