Entrepreneurs are 'The Right Fit' for Greensboro's Growth

Greensboro creates new downtown workspace for entrepreneurs.

Greensboro city leaders say they have made progress in terms of creating a diverse business infrastructure. Wednesday afternoon in the Sheraton Hotel across from the Four Seasons Mall, the Chamber of Commerce delivered the State of Our Community report to business and social leaders. Dr. Keith Debbage analyzed the 2013 Workforce Study of Greensboro and Guilford County. He says more than 60% of area companies complain they still can't find candidates for high-skilled jobs. "The kinds of jobs we're talking about are in advanced manufacturing, aviation and a whole host of specialized services,” explains Debbage. He says this translates into 1,561 positions, down from 1,750 in 2011.

Debbage is a professor of Geography at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Some of these companies  are located in Southeast Greensboro while others sit between Greensboro and High Point. According to Debbage, it's taking them three to six months to find qualified candidates because many potential workers don't have the hard and soft skills they need. “Soft skills include communication, problem solving, leadership," says Debbage." "Hard skills would include industry certification training, advanced engineering technology skills and different skilled trades.”

Deborah Hooper is the president of the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce. She says more collaborations are needed between the area's school system, universities and companies to ensure graduating youth have these vital skills. She also believes cultivating more entrepreneurs will help create another level of economic stability for the area.

To accomplish this, the city has just opened a new CoLab—the downtown work-space designed for people in the early stages of launching their business. "We think it makes sense to keep entrepreneurs working together in this type of colab space so that they feed off of one another, they learn from each other," explains Hooper. "Also, we can bring in more experienced business people to coach them.”  Elon University is donating the CoLab space at 229 North Green Street. Entrepreneurs will have access to educational programs as well as gigabit fiber internet service provided by North State. This location is the only spot in the city to have this high speed service.