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By Hannah Ross | Solving Sacramento | Special to Observers
The Greater Sacramento Economic Council has launched a new partnership with the Sacramento Entrepreneurial Growth Alliance, which works to strengthen the local region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“[We are interested in] “How can we support entrepreneurs not just to start an organization, but to get the resources they need, access markets and succeed?” said Rachel Gilner, chair and co-founder of consulting firm Clutch. .
GSEC is a public-private partnership working on economic development projects across key sectors including regional food and agriculture, health and life sciences, and clean technology. The new partnership effectively brings SEGA, a three-year collaboration with Sacramento State’s Carlsen Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Rocklin-based Growth Factory and Startup Sac, under the larger GSEC umbrella. will be transferred.
network required
SEGA, as an alliance, was established in 2021 to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing across local entrepreneurial organizations. SEGA built the NorCal Entrepreneur Hub as a free resource for entrepreneurs to access organizations, resources, and events. He was recently awarded a $250,000 award from the California Small Business Advocacy Bureau (CalOSBA) for his Hub for Inclusive Innovation. The hub is an angel conference that brings together new sources of funding for up-and-coming entrepreneurs.
With this new partnership, SEGA will benefit from GSEC’s active oversight, Zillner said. This will include leadership, access to a network of funders, and collaborative education and support programs that support Sacramento entrepreneurs through all stages of cross-sector business development.
“Historically, SEGA has been great, but they haven’t had as many resources as we would like,” Zillner said. “It’s like going to the major leagues.”
Cameron Roe, executive director of Sacramento State’s Carlsen Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and co-chair of the initiative, said SEGA will benefit from GSEC’s extensive regional network and increase visibility for entrepreneurs. , we believe we can provide potential investors, guidance and access to the subject matter. Expertise.
“often, [organizations will] Focused on business retention, expansion, and attracting new companies to the area, but not much [emphasis] It’s about promoting new entrepreneurial activities and their growth,” said Lo. “We need to plant the seeds for the future as a long-term strategy to create quality jobs that will help our region thrive and ultimately prosper.”
Supporting the sustainability of new businesses and increasing the connectivity of Sacramento’s entrepreneurial network are two important goals of the GSEC-SEGA collaboration. Centralizing financial resources, promoting marketing and investor opportunities for SEGA members, developing more educational programs, and establishing an Angel Council are some of the ways we are strengthening this bond.
“We are in a dream world, and we need to define what it means to have an inclusive and supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem,” Gilner said.
Fair opportunity assessment
The first phase of this effort will involve a full evaluation. We examine the current resources available to entrepreneurs and analyze how they can be augmented to better support new businesses in the region. SEGA will continue to use metrics set by Forward Cities, a North Carolina business strategy group committed to building and sustaining an equitable and racially diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“We know that there are communities that are viewed unfairly and receive unfair opportunities,” Gilner said, adding that the amount of venture capital funding that all-female startups have received It added that it received only 2% of its total capital investment from venture-backed ventures, the lowest since 2016. American startup company. “And it’s not just women. We know that people of color also generally don’t enjoy the same opportunities.”
In October 2023, CalOSBA released the State of California’s Diverse Small Business report, led by the California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce, the California African American Chamber of Commerce, and the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The announcement highlighted the huge potential of minority-owned businesses. California.
However, in SEGA’s first assessment of Sacramento’s entrepreneurial ecosystem using Forward Cities’ 2021 Index, the local ecosystem had the lowest score in the narratives and networks category. This meant that entrepreneurs lacked visibility, both in terms of visibility and in gaining access to capital, programs, education, and events.
“This was the foundation of our early alliance efforts,” Lo said, pointing to the NorCal Entrepreneur Hub as an example of a successful strategy in the past. The second round of data collection, completed on January 26th, will directly impact goal setting for the new HIS GSEC-SEGA initiative.
Gilner said this effort will be done first by comprehensively assessing Sacramento’s gaps and second by bringing together regional experts from the GSEC network, including the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Black Star Fund, Valley Vision, and Valley Vision. He said it works to address inequities within the system by connecting new entrepreneurs with new entrepreneurs. others.
“We can’t win as a local economy if our founders and entrepreneurs don’t look like the communities we serve,” Gilner said.
This story is part of solve sacramento Journalism cooperation. Sacramento Solutions is supported by funding from the James Irvine Foundation and the Solutions Journalism Network. Our partners include California Groundbreakers, Capital Public Radio, Outword, Russian America Media, Sacramento Business Journal, Sacramento News & Review, Sacramento Observer and Univision 19.
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