San Diego, CA - San Diego County Entrepreneurship and Adversity Program
Location: San Diego, CA
Venue: San Diego State University
For thirty years, San Diego State University and its Lavin Entrepreneurship Center have offered extensive entrepreneurship programming, including a two-year undergraduate program that encourages interdisciplinary collaboration to build the next generation of SDSU entrepreneurs; the VentureStart Competition, the Start-UP Fund, a LeanModel Competition, the Women in Entrepreneurship Lecture Series, the Entrepreneur Society, the California Entrepreneurship Educators Conference, Entrepreneur Day, and entrepreneurial internships. The program has received numerous national awards. They partnered with the Center for Leadership and Entrepreneurial Studies, a San Diego non-profit, to join the UPBI in 2021 and will launch their Entrepreneurship and Adversity Program in September 2021.
Regional Assets: San Diego is the best place to launch a startup according to Forbes magazine due to its strong economy, diverse population, great educational institutions, unsurpassed quality of life, and access to international markets.
Workforce: With more than 1.37 million people, San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. and the second-largest in California. More than 100 languages are spoken by residents. 17 % of San Diegans have a graduate-level or higher degree, while 42.3 % have at least a bachelor's degree and 87.3 % have at least a high school diploma.
Financial & Business Resources: The City's Economic Development Department has a proactive Business Expansion, Attraction and Retention (BEAR) Division that works with businesses in targeted industries. Several business incentive programs are available to assist companies. The city is home to cutting-edge businesses in life sciences, genomics, biotechnology, telecommunications, Smart City technology, software, electronics, and other major innovative industries. Base Sectors in San Diego include International Trade, Manufacturing, Military, and Tourism.
Infrastructure: The city of San Diego is well served by buses, trains, and a local airport, which has flights to 158 domestic and international cities. The Port of San Diego has three major terminals. San Diego has a growing cruise ship operation, and cargo operations are also a major sector. Daily freight rail service is provided by Burlington Northern (including to Mexico) and trains have direct connections to major cities throughout the U.S. More than 80 trucking companies are located in San Diego County.
Underserved Communities: In spite of the relative affluence of San Diego, with a median income of $78,980, 11.59% of the population live in poverty. As with other target cities, the majority of these individuals (91.5%) are from minority backgrounds. Almost a quarter of San Diego’s population is foreign-born.
Stakeholders Leveraged for UPBI (the San Diego Entrepreneurship and Adversity Program) include Access, Community, Life, Improvement, Multicultural, Bridging, Inc (C.L.I.M.B San Diego), Score San Diego, Southern California Small Business Development Corporation, and Connect All @ the Jacobs Center.
Contact: Dr. Alex DeNoble
Lavin Entrepreneurship Center, San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA 92182
Telephone: (619) 594-4890
Email: adenoble@sdsu.edu
Contact: Dr. Theresa Harris
Center for Leadership and Entrepreneurial Studies, SW
11956 Bernardo Plaza Drive, Suite 247
San Diego, CA 92128
Telephone: (858) 231-5484
Email: theresa@leadershipcentersw.org