Hundreds of business owners attended the 14th Annual Charles County Economic Summit on Tuesday morning, hosted by the Charles County Commissioners at the Jaycee’s Center in Waldorf. The central theme was economic gardening.
“It went off just as we expected,” Gene Lauer, Interim Director of the Charles County Economic Development Office, said. “Our goal was to be more interactive, and have more dialogue between the panelists as well as field questions and answers. One of our main objectives was that business that attended gets some takeaways from it. A lot of times, people speak about economic information but you go back and ask what you do with that. The objective was to get people thinking to grow their own businesses.
“Social media seems to crop up in almost everything. It came up during the entrepreneurial session. I hope it got some people thinking in to how they can use some of these tools for their own business as well as how we can use it to further our own programs and help businesses. I think we’ve accomplished those objectives.”
Robin Phelps, National Strategic Research Team Leader for the Edward Low Foundation’s National Center for Economic Gardening and CEO of Economy Partners, was the keynote speaker. She spoke about economic gardening and how it has helped other economies that have prescribed to the economic gardening program.
In Littleton, Colorado, 8,000 jobs were lost when Lockheed Martin left. Using the economic gardening theory, without further incentives or tax breaks, Littleton was able to turn around economically after those losses and come back stronger. The main emphasis is to buy products locally and manufacture locally.
After Phelps’ speech, a panel discussion was held on innovation and entrepreneurship. Casey Wilson, Retail Industry and Sustainability Programs Manager for the Maryland Small Business Development Center Network at University of Maryland College Park, led the discussion. Business Training Networks Inc. CEO Kate Zabriskle, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies Program Coordinator Martin Sorge, Edmund S. Pendleton and Entrepreneurial Innovation at Maryland Technology Development Corporation Director Roberta L.K. Melton were all also panelists during the first discussion.
Wilson noted that Charles County was one of the wealthiest counties in the country and spoke about the potential in Charles County for new businesses. Sorge stated that there was a lot of potential for farming in Charles County. The panel noted that times are tough and the markets are volatile, but that it should not discourage entrepreneurship.
Mindie Burgoyne, Social Media Expert for the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, led a panel discussion on using social media. She was joined by Holley Creative CEO Terri Holley, Proforma Johnston & Associates Marketing Manager Sean Johnston and Charles County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Arlene McLaren.
The panel emphasized that businesses should interact on social media the way they would interact in person and that social media should be used to engage people socially instead of just being used to sell a product.
The Charles County Commissioners issued a proclamation declaring the week of October 24-31st Economic Development Week. Gene Lauer spoke about initiatives the County is taking to help small business, emphasizing the Small Business Local Enterprise program that is in the opening stages of being formed.
