Officials, leaders meeting to bridge gaps between Southern, Northern Nevada
About 300 business leaders, academics and government officials are meeting Tuesday through Thursday to make the 450 miles between Las Vegas and Reno feel shorter.
“We can break down those miles through collaboration,” said Matt Westfield, founder and director of Entrepreneurs Assembly, a not-for-profit business mentoring organization based at the University of Nevada, Reno Innevation Center.
The second annual Nevada Economic Development Conference, presented in part by UNR and UNLV, aims to create a new map for economic development.
“The key concept from this conference is integration, collaboration — don’t work in a silo anymore, you can’t afford to,” said Don Vetter, a spokesman for the conference.
Vetter added that there are more than 40 governmental entities within a 50-mile radius around the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center.
“We better work together, or nothing’s going to happen: schools, transportation, infrastructure, (nor) housing,” Vetter said.
In that same vein, Westfield said business leaders in the northern and southern ends of the state also need to work together.
“Las Vegas has infrastructure that Reno doesn’t have, and Reno has an entrepreneurial culture that Vegas doesn’t have,” Westfield. “If we could put to rest this thing about ‘us versus them’ (north versus south), then we could realize that, as a state, we have a lot to offer; and the north has a lot to offer the south and the south has a lot to offer the north.”
To begin bridging resources, Westfield is launching a statewide entrepreneurs mentors network, called NVmentors.org, within the next few weeks.
“We’re going to be creating a robust network of resources and mentors to engage and create the best chance for success (for entrepreneurs) in the state of Nevada,” Westfield said.
Partners will include Entrepreneurs Assembly Inc., the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, UNLV, the governor’s office of economic development and possibly others, he said.
The network will be in the form of a software platform, that will allow organizations, like the Entrepreneurs Assembly, the Summit Venture Mentoring Service and UNLV, to vet mentors and entrepreneurs interested in collaborating.
“Entrepreneurs will be able to get in touch with mentors, investors and resources,” he said, adding that entrepreneurs will be able to get feedback on things like their business model, pitching to investors and leadership.
More collaboration, he hopes through this statewide network, will lead to more successful Nevada-based startups, and a wider marketplace for businesses.
Contact Nicole Raz at nraz@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. Follow @JournalistNikki on Twitter.
