Entrepreneur Tour, Take 2

Meghan McDonough, economic development director for the City of Havre de Grace, knew a good idea when she saw one. That’s why she organized the city’s first entrepreneur tour July 23, modeled after a similar tour organized by the Bel Air Downtown Alliance in May, which she attended.

“I made notes to tweak their program to make it specific to Havre de Grace,” McDonough said. Among the changes she made was to offer two sessions, one during the day and one in the evening. “I ended up canceling the day event because all the interest was in the evening.”

The Havre de Grace event was successful, with 11 entrepreneurs attending. She said, “Of the 11, there were some business partners, so in all we had five new ideas for businesses. I’m following up with them.”

Another change McDonough made was to have participants introduce themselves and describe their goals. As a result, she said, “The meeting was more conversational.”

As with the Bel Air tour, representatives from the planning and economic development departments were on hand to provide information and assist aspiring entrepreneurs.

One thing McDonough won’t do next time is spend a lot of money on advertising outside Harford County. She said, “I spent $1,200 advertising, including a few publications in Baltimore, and every person who came was from Havre de Grace. It was surprising. Lesson learned.”

McDonough expects the city’s next tour to be near the end of the year. She pointed interested persons to the city’s economic development Web site, www.havredegracemd.com/departments_economic.php, in the interim.