Having spent a career in rural economic development, Andrew Button was blown away when he discovered the potential of startups in creating jobs and wealth. Now he’s using the startup model to encourage economic growth in rural communities.

He was the CEO of the South Shore Business Growth Association when he began to notice a few years ago that new tech businesses were growing strongly. He heard about the growth prospects from entrepreneurs like Blair Ryan of the Rounds and Leah Skerry of Norex, two Halifax tech companies.

 “I was working in the business development role for eight years, and none of this hit my radar,” said Button, sitting on the sun-strewn deck of a Mahone Bay coffee shop last weekend. “This got me to thinking that businesses in my community are just not aware of this.”

As a result, Button formed MashUp Labs, an organization devoted to nurturing startups on the South Shore. Button, who is also chairman of the Acadia Centre for Entrepreneurship at Acadia University, has a network that spans the province, and he intends for MashUp Labs' reach to extend throughout the province, the region and beyond.

Button has been studying how startups are formed and the resources they need. He said the model can be exploited more fully in rural settings. MashLab is not an accelerator like Launch36, he said, but it can bring entrepreneurs together, flesh out their ideas and prepare them for such accelerators.

So far, MashUp Labs has worked with the Hub South Shore in staging events to bring together entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs and familiarize them with the ways of startups. It has invited Ryan and others to come in and talk about their businesses and held instructional sessions on methods in growing lean businesses.

For example, Alistair Jarvis, executive producer of gaming studio Orpheus Interactive, led a session on the uses of a lean canvas, a digital device entrepreneurs use to plot the course for a business.

What was interesting about the session was the range of entrepreneurial pursuits of the 20 or so South Shore residents who attended. One person was developing a data analytics startup, another a mobile app and another a biotech company. One is working on a project to recycle coffee grounds.

Button stressed during the interview simply how many businesses — and people who have ideas for innovative businesses — there are in rural communities. They simply need some guidance in getting these off the ground, he said.

Button plans to continue with these programs and to link the startup community with the young, growing businesses on the South Shore. Beyond that, he said he wants MashUp Labs to work with a range of startup entrepreneurs.

 “It’s not a stretch to think, how do we bring this to any community with socio-economic challenges in North America, and combining it with the work of, say, a Launch36.”