-By Jim Brumm, StarNews Correspondent
Wilmington’s unique attractions to entrepreneurs were recognized Wednesday when CNN Money said the Wilmington area is one of the best 50 places in the U.S. to launch a small business startup.
Specifically, the cable network said that the metro area comprising New Hanover, Pender County and Brunswick County are 14th among 20 mid-size metro areas.
With few large employers, CNN says, the Wilmington area has created an entrepreneur-led economy.
Jonathan Rowe, director of the UNCW Entrepreneurship Center, explains that many of the employees who are attracted to strong businesses such as GE Nuclear, Corning and PPD come with trailing spouses who become entrepreneurs after being unable to find local corporate positions in their professions.
As CNN put it: “In Wilmington, if you can’t find a job, you create one.”
There’s also the quality of life, Rowe said, reflecting CNN’s point that the biggest incentive for many entrepreneurs moving to the Port City is the beaches.
Among CNN’s 20 midsize areas – those with a population of 250,000 to 1 million, Wilmington’s metro area of nearly 350,000 people is the only city located on the coast.
Rowe said the quality of life often attracts UNCW graduates who want to stay in the area, creating their own employment to do just that.
It also attracts those who do not have to be in a specific place to operate the business they have created, said Tom Looney, the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce’s Entrepreneur in Residence.
That’s why he came to the area a decade ago, Looney noted, explaining technology has made location irrelevant for many who want to raise their family in a wonderful place.
Supporting the economic activity surrounding a few big companies and the area’s natural beauty are “a great university and community college,” Rowe said.
Also important he added are the arts and a strong secondary school system.
CNN pointed out that Wilmington has evolved considerably over the last three decades.
In the 1980s, I-40 improved connections between Wilmington and other state metro areas. The local film industry began to grow with construction of EUE/Screen Gems Studios, the largest television and movie production facility east of California and home to the television show “One Tree Hill.”
During those decades, Rowe said, business growth has trended up with the velocity of the area’s population growth.