For Immediate Release
    Contact: Kris Absher, Communications Director, Office of the Lt. Governor, 702-486-2400
    Bob Shriver, Executive Director, Nevada Commission on Economic Development, 775-687-4325

    NEVADA PREPARES FOR THE NEW ECONOMY
    Lt. Governor Hunt Helps To Create Strategies To Support Entrepreneurship In Nevada

    Rising to meet Governor Guinn’s challenge to improve the entrepreneurial climate of Nevada, Lt. Governor Lorraine Hunt headed up a team of private businesspeople, government officials, educators, and entrepreneurs at the State Policy Academy on Entrepreneurship facilitated by the National Governor’s Association Center for Best Practices and sponsored by the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.

    Teams from nine other states – Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Utah, Washington and Wyoming – joined the Nevada Academy in an intensive three-day session to craft strategies that will improve the entrepreneurial climate not only in Nevada but throughout the United States. "The new economy is dominated by knowledge-based industry and commerce," said Hunt. "Nearly 70 percent of current economic growth is driven by entrepreneurs who are small businesses focused on assembling resources and creating new innovative products or services that will lead to further investment and growth," she continued. "Nevada will be prepared to meet this unique opportunity."

    Although many policies in Nevada support entrepreneurs, Hunt and the Nevada team focused on policies that would create an environment that fosters the notion of entrepreneurship from elementary school students to high-growth entrepreneurs. Strategies addressed were:

  • Creating a culture in which more people view entrepreneurship as a career option;

  • The needs of startup businesses;

  • Access to capital;

  • Tax and regulatory policies that affect entrepreneurs;

  • Meeting the workforce needs of entrepreneurial companies;

  • Addressing regional variations in entrepreneurship; and

  • The role of universities in cultivating technology entrepreneurship.

    "The Policy Academy on Entrepreneurship was the first step in preparing Nevada for the new economy," said Bob Shriver, executive director for the Nevada Commission on Economic Development. "The opportunity to strategize with other states was invaluable. It was also an eye-opener. I learned that many other states – whether they were eastern, rural or urban communities – are facing the same issues of access to capital, workforce development and improved standards in education as Nevada.

    The Nevada Academy team – Mike Chipman, Dr. Gary Valiere of Sierra Nevada College, Bob Goff of Sierra Angels, Tom Gutherie, President of the Southern Nevada Development Corporation, Christine McKiernan, Vice President of the Nevada Development Authority, Louis Castle, Executive Vice President of Westwood Studios, Bob Shriver, Executive Director of the Nevada Commission on Economic Development, and Lt. Governor Lorraine Hunt – will meet once again in December to fine-tune the strategies created during the three-day academy and develop an implementation plan. Once completed, Hunt and the rest of the team will make preliminary recommendations to Guinn. Another NGA-Kauffman Academy for 10-selected states is planned for June 2001. At that time final recommendations will made to the governor.

    The National Governors Association (NGA) is a bipartisan organization founded in 1908. Through NGA, governors identify priority issues and deal collectively with issues of public policy and governance at both the national and state levels.

    For more information regarding entrepreneurship in Nevada, please call Bob Shriver at the Nevada Commission on Economic Development, 775-687-4325.

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