Perry Startup Week: Series of events helps local entrepreneurs get down to business

PERRY, Ga. — Perry Startup Week provided a week full of events for local entrepreneurs to learn and network in their community.

Economic Development Director Holly Wharton said the week went well and allowed the city to meet many people in the community who are interested in starting their own businesses or already owning a business. 

“It’s been good to make connections with those people and we’re looking forward to being able to help them out however we can,” said Wharton.

The week started on Monday, Feb. 27, with an inaugural event, a networking opportunity and a business 101 seminar. On Tuesday night, another networking event called “Meet your local ESOs” allowed attendees to meet Entrepreneurial Support Organizations. 

Wharton said it was an expo-style event where participants could talk with banks, law offices, the small business development center and the chambers of commerce for attendees to see all the resources available.

Wednesday afternoon, they hosted a Lunch and Learn and Business Crawl, where attendees learned from local business owners about their processes and challenges. Thursday, there was also a Lunch and Learn event where attendees learned about the city’s development process and all the steps they need to take to open a business in the city. 

That night, there was also a panel discussion called “No Dumb Questions.” Wharton said the panel included representatives from banks, accountants, law offices, the small business development center, a cyber security firm and the VECTR center. She shared they wanted to include all the factors involved in business and allow time for attendees to ask the representatives questions. 

Friday morning, there was a pitch competition workshop. Attendees were taught how to market their business and explain it in a short period of time. Participants learned how to pitch their ideas to potential investors or to anyone they come across. 

The week wrapped up on Friday, March 1, with another networking event. Participants talked with other local entrepreneurs that night and reflected on the week.

Wharton said a couple of things inspired the events. She shared they wanted to ensure they supported local entrepreneurs and provided them with resources and assistance. 

“A lot of this is just an educational opportunity for us to share what’s available and what we can help with. Also, it is an initiative of our mayor and council strategic plan to be supportive of entrepreneurs and eventually feeding into being accommodating, welcoming and supportive of high technology and software-based businesses,” Wharton said. 

She hopes the week helped the community know that the city is where entrepreneurs can launch their businesses. 

“Perry has grown a lot over the last several years. We have a lot of intelligence in the community and a lot of people that are interested in starting new businesses and locating here. We have a lot of remote workers, so we just want to be contributing to the ecosystem here and supportive of anybody that wants to do business here,” Wharton said. 

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