Elizabeth Warren Visits Groundwork! to Meet New Bedford Entrepreneurs
A trifecta of power women: me, Senator Warren, and Dena
Senator Elizabeth Warren stopped into New Bedford for a visit this week. On her agenda: lunch at No Problemo followed by a stop at Groundwork! Clearly, this lady knows what’s up.
The visit was organized by our friends at the Economic Development Council and was intended to showcase the emerging entrepreneurs in our city. I’ll admit to being excited and a little starstruck. I mean, Elizabeth isn’t just any old Senator… her views on Wallstreet, Planned Parenthood, and student loan debt (to name just a few) have been quoted by my Facebook friends all over the country. This woman is famous!
Liz was impressive in person– energetic, attentive, and sharp. And yet our New Bedford friends at the table were even more impressive. Now here’s the part where I brag about what our Groundwork! members are doing:
Chris Rezendes of INEX Advisors spoke about creating a Internet of Things impact lab here in New Bedford. In Chris’s view, New Bedford is the perfect place to develop and test IoT solutions because the challenges we face here are the challenges that people face everywhere in the world.
One of our newest members, David Duquette of Littoral Power Systems, spoke about why he moved his tidal energy startup to Massachusetts (and specifically New Bedford) from its previous base of operations in Princeton, New Jersey.
Dan Mahoney of the SoCoCoding Foundry spoke about his plan to teach computer programming skills to a wider population in New Bedford, starting with the unemployed.
Danielle Dyr deFrias, of the Pidalia team, spoke about the challenges of keeping talent in the New Bedford area, and why she hopes that the Night Shift Sessions, an upcoming lecture series that Pidalia will host at Groundwork, will encourage people to stay in town.
Finally, Groundwork! partner David Parker of Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll) spoke about plans to launch EforAll on the South Coast, bringing its successful pitch contest and accelerator program to our region.
Boom!
Pretty exciting stuff, eh? Apparently Liz thought so too. Here’s a quote from her in a short video clip. (You can see the clip and an article on the visit at SouthCoastToday.)
New Bedford is clearly building a future around entrepreneurship. And it’s exciting to see the collaboration here, the partnership. The idea that small businesses are not in competition with each other, they’re helping each other. Because when one does better, they all do better. That’s what I’m excited to see here in New Bedford.
Dang, that woman is on point. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
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