In 1998 just getting the words high tech in our communities’ vocabulary was no small feat. We were conditioned to believe that we would continue to be an industrialist manufacturing community. That was who we were and where we were always going in search of the “big one” i.e. manufacturing plant. Main Street RWC believed that there were high tech opportunities right here in Richmond/Wayne County for budding entrepreneurs if they were cultivated, fostered and the right types of infrastructure were in place. It was going to take a culture change. We needed to create the environment, educate the community, elected officials and community leaders on the importance of diversification of our economic development efforts. We decided to hold a tech summit and invite a Richmond native Michael Hothouse, a Serial Entrepreneur to be the Keynote speaker. Michael’s company Paranet, Inc was sold to Sprint for 200M.

Michael said something that I continue to remind myself of still today in how far we have come. He shared with the audience that when he was invited to speak that he heard two words that he thought he would never hear together- Richmond and technology and how excited he was as an entrepreneur to learn of our efforts to position our community for the global market place. Since his visit our communities’ vocabulary has changed words such as; Incubators, Uptown Innovation Center, Life Science Initiative, Biomedical Education, Advanced Manufacturing, Certified Tech Park, Nanotechnology, Entrepreneurship, AgriScience and the high tech words go on and on. Our communities’ culture has changed a lot since 1998 and continues to evolve never as quickly as we would like; but we still continue to look at our community in the eyes of an entrepreneur; a community of possibility and opportunity.

Renee Oldham, CMSM
Executive Director
Main Street RWC, INC.
Urban Enterprise Association
Uptown Innovation Center