Goal ED-2: Cultivate a culture of entrepreneurship to encourage and support local business start-ups.
Many cities focus their economic development efforts on recruiting existing businesses from other communities and trying to convince them to relocate to their city. This approach, known as “economic hunting”, can have limited results because over time, gains in employment by recruiting are off-set by local companies relocating to other locations. As a result, many communities are expanding their economic development efforts to include strategies to invest in local entrepreneurs and small businesses. This approach, known as “economic gardening”, recognizes that companies that start and expand locally generally create more jobs than “economic hunting.”
The City of Hayward recognizes the economic potential of supporting local entrepreneurship and the creation of new businesses. This goal and its supporting policies seek to create a culture of local entrepreneurship and to expand the local economy by supporting the establishment of home-grown businesses. Goal 3 and its supporting policies provide further strategies to help these businesses, as well as other Hayward businesses, expand and remain in Hayward.
The City shall support and assist local entrepreneurs who are starting businesses within the Hayward community.
The City shall coordinate with organizations that provide free or affordable services and resources to entrepreneurs and small businesses (such as East Bay SCORE, the Alameda County Small Business Development Center, and the US Small Business Administration).
The City shall coordinate with organizations that provide microloans, small business loans, and other financial resources to fund new businesses (such as Opportunity Fund, banks that provide SBA loans, and on-line crowdfunding services).
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large online community of volunteers. Entrepreneurs can use crowdsourcing techniques in place of hiring outside businesses or consultants.
The City shall encourage entrepreneurs to use crowdsourcing techniques to obtain needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from an interested on-line community.
The City shall encourage the development of, community-operated workspaces where people with common interests can meet, collaborate, and develop their business ideas and products (e.g. hacklabs, hackerspaces, or makerspaces).
The City shall encourage the establishment of local business incubators (programs designed to support the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services).
The City shall coordinate with local college, trade schools, and technical training institutes to promote programs that offer training and support to potential entrepreneurs.
The City shall encourage the formation and operation of home-based businesses that are compatible with the surrounding neighborhood.
