The Downtown Entrepreneurship Project

What is The Downtown Entrepreneurship Project?

Simple.  The Downtown Entrepreneurship Project (DEP)  helps downtowns and commercial districts of all sizes attract, nurture, grow and support entrepreneurs. Attracting and luring new businesses is hard, tedious and often fruitless work—and we all know it!   For every success story about a new business being attracted to a community there are a hundred of “the one that got away” stories! We are not saying give up on your existing business attraction program, but rather add another dimension your business development efforts. That new dimension is entrepreneurship.

Let's be honest, many downtown leaders find the idea of “home growing” businesses far more appealing than attempting, often in vain, to recruit new businesses.   Recruiting new businesses is not only tough work, it's stressful and can take months, if not years to finalize deals. If you ask most downtown managers, they will tell you they dread the thought of recruiting new businesses—it's monotonous, its time consuming and the Board of Directors and community want new businesses---yesterday. There is an easier way. Allow us to help.

Every community, no matter its size, has a potential pool of entrepreneurs just waiting to be asked to get involved. Sometimes that pool is right in town—sometimes it is spread out across the country.  The truth is that for many, it is a life-long dream to open a business.  Self-employment is an attractive option for many people—and the enthusiasm and new ideas entrepreneurs bring to the table can energize a downtown or commercial district. We help you find, nurture and grow those entrepreneurs!

 The DEP was founded by Charles D’Aprix, a  professional with a background as a Main Street Manager, Economic Development Manager, Economic Development Consultant and President of three public/private economic development partnerships.  His frustration with “chasing after” businesses led him to the conclusion that it is far better to “home grow” businesses by calling on the creativity of local residents (or even out-of-towners) than to rely on chains, second store locations and the “hot” business the next town over. Again, that does not mean you should give up on your current business attraction programs----just add another component.

He also came to the obvious conclusion that through entrepreneurship, downtowns can shape their own destiny.   He traveled the country to study entrepreneurs in downtowns, conducted extensive original research and even started his own downtown entrepreneurship development program as President of an Economic Development agency.  Recently he even incorporated the study of downtown entrepreneurship into a Master’s in Management.  In short, this has been a twenty-year labor of love for Chuck D’Aprix. In fact, Chuck D'Aprix is one of the country's foremost experts on entrepreneurs in downtowns and commercial districts.

Take a look at the services we offer and please feel free to call with any questions.  We think you will find that encouraging the growth of dynamic entrepreneurial activity will have positive long-term consequences for your downtown or commercial district