At the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ award ceremony on Tuesday, Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas, in his role as the Chairman of the city’s Industrial Development Agency (IDA), announced that he was bringing a small business incubator to Mount Vernon.
The incubator - dubbed The Beehive - “will be known, will attract a swarm of entrepreneurs, business owners, creators, coders and visionaries of all types,” according to Thomas.
“The Beehive will take the best practices of business incubators in the region and across the country,” he said. “The IDA’s role is to put our strength behind business and help existing businesses, as well as start-ups, grow and flourish.
“Mount Vernon will create a level playing field for business to access talent, capital, ideas and a network. This is the recipe to create jobs, economic progress and growth for a sustainable future.”
Thomas noted that The Beehive will serve as a space for collaboration, innovation and connection, offering its small businesses access to consultants, state-of-the-art technology labs and studios. The Mount Vernon IDA has already pledged $100,000 in grants and loans to local businesses.
According to the IDA, the vision of The Beehive is to create a space where aspiring entrepreneurs from Mount Vernon to meet, connect, collaborate and tap a vast array of resources to develop ideas and inventions while growing existing operations.
“Project Beehive, the first of its kind in our community, will serve as an invaluable resource for Mount Vernon’s small businesses,” IDA Executive Director Sean McIntyre added. “It will incentivize start-ups, established businesses and entrepreneurs to compete for seed funding in what will be dubbed ‘The Honey Pot Challenge.’
“Project Beehive will cultivate an abundant supply of innovation and resources for businesses that will get our economy moving forward again.”
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