White House Summit on Entrepreneurship & Small Business Growth

This is a press release issued earlier this morning:

San Mateo City Councilmember David Lim will attend a White House Initiative Summit on Entrepreneurship & Small Business Growth in Mountain View on Friday, January 7, 2011.


Featuring U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke as the keynote speaker, the summit is full day event designed to help small businesses and entrepreneurs find ways to collaborate with government to help create, grow, and maintain vibrant businesses crucial to our Country’s economic recovery.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for the City of San Mateo to collaborate with federal and regional entities, and to invite up-and-coming businesses to plant roots in San Mateo,” said Councilmember Lim. “A strong, diverse business community with owners who have a stake in our neighborhoods is crucial to keeping the City of San Mateo fiscally and culturally vibrant. “

Councilmember Lim plans to use the summit to actively lobby businesses to consider the City of San Mateo their home.

This effort is in line with recent efforts by San Mateo to drive business growth. In June 2010, the San Mateo City Council voted to provide $75,000 in start-up money for the EDGE (Economic Development Growth Enterprise), an initiative of the San Mateo Chamber of Commerce which seeks to create and grow local corporate businesses in San Mateo. In November 2010, the EDGE secured close to $50,000 from corporate sponsors Salesforce.com, Franklin Templeton, Mills-Peninsula Health Services, Kaiser Permanente, and Glenborough Real Estate.

Councilmember Lim noted, “The business community has stepped up and created a vehicle to encourage dynamic business growth in our community. I am excited to do my part by attending this summit, where I will be able to share with a larger audience all the wonderful things that make the City of San Mateo a great place to do business.”