Pearland City Council adopted a resolution on Nov. 8 for the Pearland Economic Development Corporation to enter a three-year $927,000 contract with Cannon Workplace, LLC. Cannon Workplace will help create and operate the Pearland Entrepreneurship Hub, a new venture that aims to help small businesses in the city.
“I think it was the singular highest goal that we identified in our council [and] mayor retreat, which is supporting small businesses and creating an ecosystem for them to thrive in Pearland,” Council Member Luke Orlando said. “I think we’ve had a lot of good progress on that front, and I think this is going to be a capstone in that effort, so really looking forward to that.”
The Pearland Entrepreneurship Hub is a part of the PEDC's Pearland Prosperity strategic plan, which aims to grow and diversify the city’s economy and make Pearland a community of choice in the Greater Houston area, according to the PEDC.
The PEH has five main goals, the first of which is to enhance Pearland’s innovation and entrepreneurship culture by creating events, programs and activities for entrepreneurs, small business owners and post-secondary educational institutions, according to agenda documents.
The second goal of the PEH is to partner with entrepreneurial assistance programs, such as the city of Pearland, the PEDC, the Pearland Chamber of Commerce, the San Jacinto Community College Small Business Development Center and local organizations, according to agenda documents.
The last three goals include increasing the number of Pearland-grown businesses; creating and maintaining a financially sustainable business model for the PEH; and branding Pearland as a place where where innovation and entrepreneurship occurs, which includes attracting emerging technology and innovation-driven companies to the city, agenda documents read.
Measuring success
Despite the resolution passing unanimously, Council Members Alex Kamkar and Adrian Hernandez raised concerns about the lack of concrete goals to be able to measure the success of the PEH.
Hernandez said he saw many well-defined engagement metrics, such as the PEH's goal to add a minimum of 30 new members to the Cannon Connect platform. However, he said there were no goals regarding business-specific outcomes, such as increasing the number of businesses in primary sectors that start and grow in Pearland.
“I would really like to have some more concrete metrics for those outcomes, specifically those [that] seem to be the ones that provide the impact statements for us," he said.
PEDC President Matt Buchanan said the PEH’s metrics will have to be revisited frequently because the PEDC is aiming for more long-term benefits to Pearland business owners and entrepreneurs.
“We just need to get this up and going, and it’s going to take a year or so to get it going and start getting activities and getting that base of companies that they’re working with,” Buchanan said.
The contract with Cannon Workplace will begin on Dec. 1 and run through Sept. 30, 2024, agenda documents read. The $927,000 three-year deal is broken down to $309,000 per year.
The agreement is broken out into a three-month launch period of the PEH along with the ongoing operation of the hub, according to agenda documents. The PEDC will pay $15,000 to Cannon Workplace to cover the upfront costs of the launch.
Following the launch period, the PEDC will make monthly payments to Cannon Workplace, agenda documents read. The agreement includes a termination clause allowing PEDC to cancel the agreement with a 30-day notification.
Cannon Workplace will also hire a navigator, who will be responsible for carrying out the plan of work and will be dedicated only to the PEH project, according to agenda documents.
“As a former small business owner, if I had this opportunity to have somebody mentor me and hold my hand through that, I would have been very appreciative, so overall, I’m supportive of this,” Hernandez said.
