Hennepin County: A long-term partner to the business community

Hennepin County: A long-term partner to the business community

For more than a decade, Hennepin County has supported the business community with economic development programming to build a stronger, more equitable, and resilient local economy.

The latest initiative, Elevate Hennepin, has helped hundreds of residents start a new business and expert advisors contracted by the county have provided more than 41,000 hours of consulting to more than 3,200 businesses and entrepreneurs.

Why has Hennepin County put so much time, effort, and money into supporting small businesses?

As Economic Development Director Patricia Fitzgerald notes, especially in times of uncertainty, maintaining a strong, resilient local business community means economic strength and resilience for residents, too.

“Local businesses create vibrant places that make Hennepin County a great place to live, and they reflect the many cultures and identities of our residents,” said Fitzgerald. “They’re generating wealth that stays in communities, and they’re creating jobs that support families. The businesses we’ve served are generating economic growth and sustaining thousands of livelihoods in the county.”

Thousands of residents have been positively impacted by Elevate Hennepin whether they launched a new business, got a new job or Elevate support meant a business owner could retain a resident’s job.

Long before Elevate Hennepin started in late 2020, Hennepin County saw a need to support the business community. It launched a partnership with cities to make business consulting and access to capital widely available to all entrepreneurs and businesses countywide. The idea was to create a one-stop shop for business owners to work one-on-one with a trusted business advisor who could help them work through the most common challenges of running a business, and help them access financing when they needed it. 

Hennepin County also started it’s first cohort program that offered in-depth expertise to fuel growth for successful, second-stage companies ready to scale.

“The strategy was two-pronged. One, level the playing field by making access to capital and advising accessible for all entrepreneurs. And two, targeted support for the businesses most likely to scale, at just the right time in their growth journey,” said Fitzgerald.

An elevated approach

This strategy was pushed even further during the COVID-19 pandemic that dramatically impacted the business community and daily life. In 2020, the county brought together a council of business leaders from across various industries to ask, what do businesses really need in this dire moment.

The outcome was a reiteration that Hennepin County had an essential role in supporting the business community by providing resources out of reach for many small businesses and fueling the growth of successful companies.

Hennepin County further developed economic development efforts with Elevate Hennepin, fulfilling the promise of a centralized suite of resources and a network of consultants with expertise in several areas, including legal, financial, accounting, marketing, technology, human resources, and more.

Elevate Hennepin put a closer focus on supporting businesses at the earliest stages when the risk of failure is high. By offering guidance to these nascent businesses, Hennepin County has been able to rewrite the odds of success for new businesses.

“We’re providing business owners with highly skilled, specialized consultants at no cost. Our goal was to provide the type of back-office support and specialized expertise to small businesses that larger companies have in-house or pay consultants for,” said Fitzgerald.

The county also doubled down on supporting people of color and women, who face systemic barriers to entrepreneurship. Bringing new people into the essential economic engine only makes it more powerful and better tailored to the local community. Since the launch of Elevate Hennepin, 63% of businesses that utilized advising were owned by entrepreneurs of color and 58% were women or non-binary.

In this period of economic uncertainty, she says it’s even more important to advance an equitable and well-supported business community at all stages of business.

“With so much uncertainty facing businesses today, driven by so many factors beyond their control, owners of small businesses need all the support they can get,” said Fitzgerald. “We want our business community to know that they’re not alone, and that Hennepin County has a vested interest in their success.”