Ecosystem Tour 24-09: Mid-Atlantic
In our latest stop on the Ecosystem Tour, we sat down with Mark Lawrence, managing partner of Inncuvate and a leader in ecosystem building. Mark's work is rooted in Prince George’s County, Maryland, but his impact extends far beyond the local community. His approach combines economic empowerment, entrepreneurship, and place-based development, transforming how we think about growing small businesses in underrepresented communities.
Mark Lawrence didn’t take the traditional route to community development. After spending 17 years in corporate consulting, he turned his attention to a question many of us have faced: “How do I take the skills I’ve learned and use them to uplift my community?” His answer was Inncuvate, a firm that fosters local businesses and entrepreneurial ventures, particularly in places where economic opportunities are limited.
For Mark, entrepreneurship isn’t just about starting a tech company—it’s about creating businesses that transform communities. Whether it's supporting food truck owners or helping local entrepreneurs scale up, Mark sees every venture as a potential catalyst for community wide growth.
“We’ve got to stop thinking that entrepreneurship only exists in tech,” Mark explains. “From barbershops to restaurants, these local businesses create jobs and sustain communities.”
One of Mark’s standout projects is the Innovation Hub at Prince George’s Community College, which he helped design to foster entrepreneurship at the local level. This hub wasn’t just another computer lab; it became a space for students and entrepreneurs to explore design thinking and innovation. The initiative was such a success that other community colleges began looking to replicate the model.
But Mark’s vision doesn’t stop with small-scale community hubs. He’s also partnered with the City of Baltimore and the Minority Business Development Agency to launch a Manufacturing Innovation Hub Cooperative. This project focuses on helping minority-owned manufacturers grow by providing shared resources, technology, and opportunities for collaboration.
Mark is passionate about distinguishing between two terms that are often used interchangeably: the entrepreneurship ecosystem and the innovation ecosystem. While the innovation ecosystem focuses heavily on tech and high-growth ventures, Mark believes that the entrepreneurship ecosystem needs to be about people and businesses at all levels—especially those who don’t have access to tech-focused resources.
“Supporting local businesses, whether it’s a food truck or a manufacturing cooperative, is just as vital to the health of our communities as any high-tech startup.”
One of the keys to Mark’s work is his focus on real estate development as a critical component of ecosystem building. By working with community anchor institutions like colleges and local governments, he helps create physical spaces where entrepreneurship can thrive. For Mark, these spaces are not just about providing a roof over a business—they’re about fostering innovation in the heart of the community.
He is currently piloting a new model, a community-based venture studio, designed to create businesses that are deeply rooted in their communities. “What if the industry sector was the community itself?” he asks. This venture studio model seeks to harness local entrepreneurial talent and channel it into ventures that have the potential to transform neighborhoods.
Mark Lawrence is also the board chair of the Startup Champions Network (SCN), a national organization supporting ecosystem builders nationwide. SCN provides a platform for peer-to-peer learning, helping ecosystem builders share successful models and strategies. Under Mark’s leadership, SCN is growing its membership and expanding its reach, offering more opportunities for collaboration and learning.
“Ecosystem building can be isolating, and it burns people out,” says Mark. “But SCN is a place where we can come together, support each other, and make this work sustainable for the long term.”
As we continue our Ecosystem Tour, Mark Lawrence’s work highlights how entrepreneurship—when focused on community and collaboration—can serve as a driving force for long-term economic growth in underrepresented areas.
Stay tuned for more stories from the Ecosystem Tour as we continue to explore the people and organizations that are shaping the future of entrepreneurship across the country.
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