Louisiana congressman hearS from local tech innovators
(Baton Rouge, La., October 17, 2022) — Representatives Garret Graves, representing Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House, and Troy Carter, who serves Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District and attended from his Washington D.C. office, joined startup founders and small-business owners at Nexus Louisiana headquarters on Oct. 17 in an open forum to create a dialogue between tech founders, innovators and congressional representatives. Participants asked the representatives questions and discussed the barriers they’ve experienced as entrepreneurs and small-business owners.
“Hearing directly from innovators and founders about the specific challenges they’re having — access to financing, dealing with bureaucracy, getting the right certifications or approvals so that they can become federal government vendors,” Graves said, “that’s how we figure out what our priorities are and discover what problems we need to address.”
Carter echoed that sentiment, and assured attendees that he and Graves are listening. “Hearing from you is critically important to making processes more seamless,” he told attendees. “We’re listening to your concerns to figure out how to revamp some of these antiquated processes.”
Participants also shared concerns about securing access to capital for second-stage businesses offering nontraditional products.
“Here at NexusLA, we’ll do our part to make sure that local politicians can hear from founders,” said NexusLA CEO Calvin Mills Jr. “We’re committed to being good partners and staying in touch with their offices to see what we can do to help find solutions.”
A representative from Senator Regina Barrow’s office also attended. Other governmental agencies and partners present included Louisiana Economic Development, the City of Baton Rouge, and NewCorp, Inc. Participating small businesses included Bright Enterprises, Clear Blue Design, Directed Analytics, King Crow Studios and OfficerReports.
About NexusLA
Nexus Louisiana’s mission is to accelerate the growth of high-potential companies by providing them with coaching, capital and connections. Our programs leverage regional collaboration to foster mentorship, investment, and opportunity for local entrepreneurs to grow their ideas and transform the technology industry in Louisiana. For more information, please visit https://nexusla.org/.
