Our vision of catalyzing transformative growth in the Charlotte Region where dynamic small businesses and business leaders thrive cannot be accomplished without a heavy emphasis on building social capital for both of our vision’s constituencies. Entrepreneurs need access to decision-makers to build meaningful relationships so they have visibility to contracting prospects and real opportunities to compete for those contracts. Equally important, business leaders need access to professional development opportunities and executives at the most senior levels to grow their careers. This is why our foundation focuses on creating customers, connections, and capital.
The 2001 Harvard Business Review article is amazingly relevant 22 years later. While the focus isn’t on small businesses or business leaders necessarily, the intentionality mentioned throughout and the three core concepts of making connections, enabling trust, and fostering cooperation are central to building the social capital needed for everyone working in business.
This 2023 Forbes article, Social Capital Is Your Most Valuable Asset, rightly points out that “Discerning entrepreneurs know their success would not have materialized without strategic connections, shared lessons and knowledge.” This is exactly why our Scale Up CLT business accelerator participants are provided access for free to our Investor Quarterly, Exploring Economies, and other events where they’re in the room with more than 100 decision makers, creating unmatched opportunities for entrepreneurs to engage directly with the people who can help them grow their businesses.
One misconception about social capital is that proximity alone guarantees a desired outcome. As we point out to our Scale Up participants, no one is going to walk into the room with a contract and ask for your signature. Being in the room is only half the battle (one that AT&T is going to make available for even more participants), the other half is having an effective pitch, demonstrating the value of a product and service, and establishing trust with your target audience.
As we continue to address barriers to access, we are grateful our friends at AT&T have granted our foundation $10,000 to help cover travel expenses for 10 Scale Up participants to attend our 2024 Exploring Economies intercity visit to Phoenix. This event brings together more than 100 leaders from across the Charlotte Region to learn, grow, and build relationships, while focusing on supporting the region’s vibrant economy.
“Small businesses are often referred to as the backbone of the economy,” Kathleen Evans, regional director of external affairs for AT&T North Carolina, said. “They create jobs, foster innovation, and contribute to local communities. AT&T assists entrepreneurs through a variety of initiatives and services, including technology solutions, educational resources, and community outreach, like our support of the CLT Alliance Foundation Scale Up CLT program.”
AT&T’s purpose is connecting people to greater possibility and it aligns perfectly with the work we do in the CLT Alliance Foundation. Thank you, AT&T, for everything you do in our community to connect people to greater possibility!
