Economic Gardening

The GRE Regional Economic Gardening Program is designed to provide sophisticated, tailor-made technical assistance to local companies poised for growth in the Greater Rochester, NY region. GRE partners with National Center for Economic Gardening, a national organization that supports entrepreneurship, to provide this unique program to Rochester area companies.

Economic gardening is ideal for second-stage entrepreneurs because it focuses on critical strategic challenges they’re wrestling with – from developing new markets and refining business models to assessing competitive intelligence. By providing second-stage CEOs with action-oriented tools and information, economic gardening specialists point them to new opportunities they may never have thought of on their own. Selected companies will have access to a suite of high-end, high-speed development tools.

Identify qualified leads by sorting contents of extensive databases
Map geographic areas using GIS software to facilitate targeted marketing efforts
Review core strategies related to commodity and/or niche markets
Examine social media utilization to connect with customers
Place your website in front of more customers using search engine optimization
Analyze employee temperament to build strong management teams

Testimonials from satisfied program participants:

“We are very pleased with the quality and timeliness of the information we received. It was helpful and supportive of our sales goals, specifically for our simulator market.” - Rohit Braggs, Orolia

“The Economic Gardening has been more than we expected. I have been pleasantly surprised. Overall, the quality of the work was excellent and comprehensive!” -Todd Barnum, Linton Crystal Technologies

"The Economic Gardening program developed a detailed marketing study that was valuable in our marketing analysis related to launching a new product. -Paul Dudley, President, ID Signsystems

“The data that was provided allowed us to make smart market-driven decisions to take ComTec Solutions to the next level. I would strongly recommend this program to companies that are looking to continue their growth.” – Rob Moyer, ComTec Solutions

We offer this program to a select group of companies in the Greater Rochester region at no cost, thanks to generous financial support from Greater Rochester Enterprise, ESL Charitable Foundation, Monroe County Industrial Development Corporation, Rochester Area Community Foundation, and the William and Sheila Konar Foundation.

Greater Rochester Enterprise president & CEO Matt Hurlbutt discussed the GRE Regional Economic Gardening Program on News 8 at Sunrise.

Does Your Company Qualify?

To apply for this free program, your business must meet the following eligibility criteria:

Be a for-profit, privately held company headquartered and operating in Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming or Yates County
Have between $1 million and $50 million in annual revenue
Employ at least 10 but no more than 100 employees (including the owner)
Have maintained principal operations in the Greater Rochester, NY Region for at least the past 2 years
Demonstrate growth in employment and/or revenue for at least 2 of the past 5 years
Provide products and/or services to markets outside of the Greater Rochester, NY Region

Note: Retail, restaurant establishments, and local service providers (e.g. accounting, legal, staffing firms) do not qualify for this program.