Every November, businesses and entrepreneurs celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW). This year, the Town of Wake Forest, North Carolina celebrated like never before. GEW arrived as the community broke ground on Loading Dock Wake Forest (LDWF), the most significant addition to Wake Forest’s entrepreneurial ecosystem to date. GEW celebrates innovators around the globe, connecting 10 million people across 180 countries in a vibrant ecosystem of entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, policymakers and other startup champions.
Restoration of the warehouse housing LDWF, located in the heart of Wake Forest’s storied downtown, is scheduled for completion in summer of 2021. The coworking space and business incubator will feature a street-facing food hall and outdoor event venue amidst the 24,000 square foot industrial space. Built for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs, LDWF is projected to make a recurring $178 million annual impact across Wake County, with $105 million in Wake Forest alone. Researchers project that LDWF will create a total employment impact of 1,020 jobs, from direct, indirect, and induced jobs. The space itself will host in excess of 100 companies with a total capacity of 437 employees. Of that total capacity, researchers estimate that LDWF will create and house 147 new jobs in the heart of Wake Forest.
The LDWF groundbreaking marked both a monumental milestone in the Town’s economic development and united attendants to the worldwide celebration of entrepreneurship. During Monday’s event, President of the Wake Forest Business & Industry Partnership (WFBIP), Jason Cannon, reflected on the powerful message LDWF sends to the world about the progressive, innovative, pro-business culture of Wake Forest. Cannon noted that Wake Forest is one of the fastest growing communities -- tenth out of 550 municipalities -- across North Carolina. In record numbers, people are moving to Wake Forest due to an unrivaled quality of life and boundless career opportunities in tech and business. LDWF demonstrates that the sky is truly the limit for Wake Forest and the entrepreneurs who call it home.
The collaborative spirit welcoming the arrival of Loading Dock in Wake Forest carries particular significance in the midst of GEW. The Global Entrepreneurship Network sponsors 40,000 entrepreneurial workshops during GEW that focus on education and mentorship. This same spirit defines the culture of LDWF. Cannon affirmed the WFBIP & Town’s commitment to leverage every available resource in Wake Forest’s unique infrastructure of innovation, ensuring that partners will have the tools, mentors, educational programs, and community to make and keep their businesses successful. For example, Wake Forest’s Wireless Research Center and RIoT, an Internet of Things-focused economic development initiative, will play an ongoing role in LDWF. RIoT’s highly successful RIoT Accelerator Program (RAP) will provide structured programming that places valuable tools in the hands of local entrepreneurs. Additionally, Loading Dock is already partnered with Wake Technical Community College which provides ongoing educational opportunities with business, legal, financial, and technological experts.
GEW is about championing entrepreneurship wherever and in whomever it may be found. In Wake Forest, this entrepreneurial spirit of innovation is available in abundance. Loading Dock’s expansion into Wake Forest is both an acknowledgement of the community/s already flourishing entrepreneurial ecosystem and an investment in the Town’s bright economic and cultural future. Hosted on the first day of GEW, the LDWF groundbreaking could not have come at a more serendipitous time. By all accounts, LDWF will be a leader in small business development in Wake Forest for years to come. Complementing a variety of existing resources for business growth and development, LDWF’s official arrival in Wake Forest provided the community a most compelling reason, even amidst a pandemic, to safely celebrate entrepreneurship.
