NDED helps entrepreneurs with risks

Taking risks is part of the business landscape. For entrepreneurs, those risks are significant; he or she can lose everything.  According to Gary Hamer, deputy director for the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, failure is not only part of the game for entrepreneurs, it’s a good thing.

Hamer is part of the team at the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. Hamer said despite all the resources available, many are lured away from starting a business because of the risk involved and the fear of failure.

“Part of [the fear] is the risk,” he said. “Many people are risk adverse. If you’re going to be an entrepreneur you’re going to have to be willing to have failures. That’s part of being an entrepreneur.”

Hamer said the foundation of strong business in Nebraska is entrepreneurs, but defining an entrepreneur is one of the struggles the NDED has faced.

“Entrepreneurships are very important. One of the things we’ve struggled with is how do you define entrepreneur. Many people think if you own a business, you’re an entrepreneur but a business owner is not necessarily an entrepreneur.”

He said many programs out there are focused on helping all kinds of small businesses and not necessarily just entrepreneurs.

“A lot of programs that are set up under the guise of what we do to help entrepreneurs, but they basically help small businesses.”

The NDED has dozens of programs geared to promote business in the state and help starting entrepreneurs begin a successful business. The NDED has special programs and links to statewide resources that help entrepreneurs specifically.

One such program is Invest Nebraska, which has some business plan competitions and numerous events each month that help bridge wide gaps for businesses and help guide entrepreneurs through managed risks.

Hamer said the Department of Economic Development has useful tools, but more work needs to be done.

“We are probably a little slow in some financial programs,” Hamer said. “[One success] is we’ve set up some angel investment programs across the state. However, there’s a divide in converting some of our research into startup businesses.

Photo courtesy of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development

“We need to solve that. Bankers have become more conservative. So we need to help them bridge that gap [between banks and businesses]. We need to have more tools.”

The NDED is constantly promoting new programs and tools for entrepreneurs.

“One of the things we’re working on now is to design programs for higher growth entrepreneurs for doing things in Nebraska.”

Hamer said most of the entrepreneurship projects are broad and success is easier to achieve if a specific target is set.

“From an entrepreneurship standpoint, many of the things we talk about are shotgun things,” he said. “We need to target people who have abilities and want to work towards ideas. Instead of using a shotgun approach, we need to use a rifle approach and see the results.”

Using the NDED’s resources is one way for the entrepreneur to avoid unnecessary and volatile risks. For information about the services provided by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, visit their website or call 800-426-6505.