Bullish on Nevada

Someone said to me last week, "Nevada is about last in every category and all the young people are leaving. We are rapidly declining and maybe I should move to a more progressive state."

I don't get it. I moved here in 2003 (and am still a newcomer) and I see enough every day to inspire me.

Reason No. 1: Contrary to widespread belief, Nevada has a growing population of young people to fuel the job growth engine.

Think about this. Nevada and Georgia tied as the two states with the highest entrepreneurial activity rates in the country, according to the "Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity," a leading indicator of new business creation in the United States. The annual index shows that Nevada and Georgia both had 510 per 100,000 adults creating businesses each month. Wow! This is great, and it is our state!

This age group is critical to a state's future because they represent the next wave of new families, new home buyers and big spenders. Over the next 10 years, they will move into the 35-to-44 age bracket and increase their average household spending by 23 percent, a jump of more than $10,000 per household. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nevada has 387,286 young people aged 25-34 and we ranked second in growth in this category from 2000-2010 in the United States.

OK, studies are great but where is there evidence that we have this growing population of young guns that embody the spirit of Nevada and are growing businesses and creating jobs? This leads to my second reason why we all should be bullish.

Reason No 2: Stop for a minute and look around. We have some amazing young (and sometimes young at heart) people here and they are achieving incredible feats. For example:

* A group of young engineers is building an eyetracking biometric technology that can change the lives of disabled individuals around the world.

* A young man is building a company around a laser technology that achieved world-record energies for laser accelerated particles.

* A young woman has built a company that will provide advanced safety technology products that can save the lives of hardworking roadside construction workers along highways with fast moving traffic.

* A young man and his business partner in Incline Village are energized to establish a private equity fund in Nevada to provide access to a broad range of capital investment vehicles.

* A professor at UNR has created a new encryption technology that can alter the way we protect our credit card information, our currency and our personal security.

Secretary of Treasury Kate Marshall was successful at pushing through SB75 to enable a $50 million opportunity fund in Nevada. Governor Sandoval signed this bill, and it is moving forward.

Washoe County Commissioner Kitty Jung has assembled the Washoe County Regional Jobs Team that has brought a wide array of people and organizations together to focus on jobs!

The Reno and Sparks Chambers are merging and typify the mind set of many people that see a need to focus, collaborate, and leverage our strengths.

There are at least four organizations in town with a focus of helping and mentoring entrepreneurs learn and grow.

There are two law firms interested in setting up an office in Reno to support the growth of new businesses and intellectual property development.

Three venture capital firms have contacted us and want to know how they can support Nevada and bring access to seed and early stage investment capital to startup businesses.

I can go on and on with many other examples, but the point is, northern Nevada is a great community and the opportunities are all around us. People outside of northern Nevada are starting to notice that there is more here to offer than just the great outdoors and low taxes.

While we have a growing populace of energetic young people and many great assets in place, we need to continue driving and pushing towards a stronger long-term goal. That is, enabling and engaging a mindset that seeks a way to make something positive happen. We need to stop asking ourselves questions such as; "No one will change anyway, so why bother?" or "It doesn't impact me, why should I get involved."

We certainly have some issues to deal with, but if we focus on finding solutions, we might make some progress, and we might even have fun doing it.

So what can you do? If you are an entrepreneur, ask someone to help you start your business; if you are an investor, find a young company and get involved; if you have services to offer, donate an hour of your time to help someone solve a problem; if you are retired, mentor someone and share your experiences; and if you want to help but don't know what to do, contact me or someone else and ask. It is that simple!

Ky Good is managing director of C4CUBE, a business incubator in downtown Reno. Contact him at kygood@gmail.com.