Harbor Entrepreneur Center (HEC) Executive Director Grady Johnson with South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) Executive Director Bob Quinn, joined by Mayor Will Haynie and Councilmembers Howard Chapman, P.E, John Iacofano, and Jake Rambo, partnered with HEC Co-Founder Patrick Bryant, HEC Chaos Coordinator Kim McManus, Charleston County Economic Development (CCED) Senior Director Ashley Richardson, Charleston Regional Development Alliance (CRDA) President David Ginn, Catch Talent Founder Christina Lock, Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments (BCDCOG) Regional Economic Development Specialist Ryan Wilcox, Kevin Gathmann of Cushman & Wakefield, Inc. and Amin Yachnes of JRS Coding School celebrated the return of the Harbor Entrepreneur Center to Mount Pleasant with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The new center is located at 11 eWall Street.
The HEC in Mount Pleasant creates an entrepreneurial ecosystem for students, veterans, career changers, and businesses to develop new enterprises and ideas to grow here in the Charleston region. With major support from the Town of Mount Pleasant, the 38,000 sq. ft. facility provides a collaborative space to inspire, educate, and elevate entrepreneurial organizations, venture capital investment, and innovation. The HEC currently houses over 50 high-growth locally-owned companies.
“Entrepreneurs are primary drivers of innovation, job creation, and prosperity,” Johnson said. “The financial backing of the Town of Mount Pleasant, the South Carolina Research Authority, Charleston County Economic Development, and the Charleston Regional Development Alliance gives us this incredible opportunity to make entrepreneurial resources available to all members of our community.”
Mayor Will Haynie welcomed the HEC by saying “The Town of Mount Pleasant is thrilled and honored to have been selected as the location for the Harbor Entrepreneur Center. Their being the lead agent in technology and entrepreneurship for the One Region Roadmap Commission, of which I’ve been a member since inception, is further proof that Mount Pleasant is the place for innovation, technology, and economic growth.”
The mission of the HEC is to support the economic vitality of the region through the collision of thinkers, doers, and visionaries. When entrepreneurs collide, ideas are exchanged, relationships are built, and business growth accelerates. For more information on available office space and programming at the Harbor Entrepreneur Center, email Grady Johnson at grady@harborec.com.
The Harbor Entrepreneur Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was founded in 2012 by local entrepreneurs John Osborne and Patrick Bryant with support from the Town of Mount Pleasant with the mission of creating Collision! between entrepreneurs.