Chamber wants to brand Durham city for entrepreneurs

From correspondent Alex O'Connell

The Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce wants to harness the city’s diversity and educated young population by promoting Durham as the place to be for entrepreneurs.

Outlining the chamber’s objectives its annual meeting today, board Chairman John Messick said a new task force plans to get the word out that Durham is a “wonderful place to start a new business.”

As part of the initiative, a project called the “Durham City Start-up Stampede” will be launched in April. Free office spaces in downtown Durham will be provided for entrepreneurs for 60 days, to give them a taste of building and operating a business here.

“Durham has become a hotbed for entrepreneurial start-up activities,” Messick said. “We are going to allow young entrepreneurs to come in, that are working in their homes, their garages or local coffee shops, to come here, work in Durham. And hopefully, they’re going to find that this is a great place to work and they’re going to want to stay here, to work and live here.”

Read more from today's chamber meeting in The Durham News this coming Sunday.