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Business News
Independence, MO —
The Independence Economic Development Council has a wider range of services to help out local entrepreneurs thanks to a new partnership with a statewide program.
At the group’s quarterly luncheon on Friday, officials announced the partnership with the Missouri Small Business & Technology Development Centers at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
“We provide the resources that support the skills for entrepreneurial growth,” said SBTDC’s director, Carmen DeHart.
The EDC runs the Ennovation Center in Independence, which includes business incubator space, and it works with local startups and other companies. There’s a wide range of mentors and programs – public and private – out there for entrepreneurs, and part of the EDC’s job is to point people in the right direction. The SBTDC has many programs itself and also can help sifting through the options.
“It’s about bringing connections,” said business development specialist Mark Allen.
Luncheon speakers outlined some of those resources:
• Denise M. Fields, technology business specialist, encouraged entrepreneuers to take a look at applications of research conducted at the University of Missouri in Columbia.
“There’s a lot of research that happens at the university, across the board,” she said.
For example, AndroJek, a human fertility company that is the first bioscience tenant at the Ennovation Center, is working with the university.
“We work with large industry partners as well as entrepreneurs,” Fields said.
• Rebecca Gubbels, a business development specialist, is an ex-banker who works with startups, and she mentioned the seminars and similar programs the SBTDC provides.
“We bring in speakers who are entrepreneurs themselves and know what you need to know,” she said.
The owners of many of the startups currently operating in the Ennovation Center have taken those courses.
The courses are often held at the group’s offices at 4747 Troost in Kansas, but one is coming up this month at the Ennovation Center, 201 N. Forest Ave.
Gubbels will facilitate “FastTrac NewVenture” on five successive Tuesday’s starting May 29. The all-day classes are about exploring a business idea and developing a business plan, and it’s aimed mostly at displaced workers. (It’s $595, but scholarships are available for dislocated workers through Missouri Career Centers. Call 816-235-6063 or email fasttrac@umkc.edu.)
• Allen said he’s putting more focus on getting businesses to look overseas.
“We think Missouri is an untapped resource in the area of export,” he said.
The SBTDC at UMKC – one of several around the state – has a more detailed listing of its services at http://sbtdc.umkc.edu/
Another resource for entrepreneurs is Graceland University’s Institute for Professional Development. That group’s director, Barbara Weathers, also emphasized the importance of collaboration and partnerships.
“Synergy,” she said, “is when two forces come together and become greater than they are individually.”
The Independence Economic Development Council has a wider range of services to help out local entrepreneurs thanks to a new partnership with a statewide program.
At the group’s quarterly luncheon on Friday, officials announced the partnership with the Missouri Small Business & Technology Development Centers at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
“We provide the resources that support the skills for entrepreneurial growth,” said SBTDC’s director, Carmen DeHart.
The EDC runs the Ennovation Center in Independence, which includes business incubator space, and it works with local startups and other companies. There’s a wide range of mentors and programs – public and private – out there for entrepreneurs, and part of the EDC’s job is to point people in the right direction. The SBTDC has many programs itself and also can help sifting through the options.
“It’s about bringing connections,” said business development specialist Mark Allen.
Luncheon speakers outlined some of those resources:
• Denise M. Fields, technology business specialist, encouraged entrepreneuers to take a look at applications of research conducted at the University of Missouri in Columbia.
“There’s a lot of research that happens at the university, across the board,” she said.
For example, AndroJek, a human fertility company that is the first bioscience tenant at the Ennovation Center, is working with the university.
“We work with large industry partners as well as entrepreneurs,” Fields said.
• Rebecca Gubbels, a business development specialist, is an ex-banker who works with startups, and she mentioned the seminars and similar programs the SBTDC provides.
“We bring in speakers who are entrepreneurs themselves and know what you need to know,” she said.
The owners of many of the startups currently operating in the Ennovation Center have taken those courses.
The courses are often held at the group’s offices at 4747 Troost in Kansas, but one is coming up this month at the Ennovation Center, 201 N. Forest Ave.
Gubbels will facilitate “FastTrac NewVenture” on five successive Tuesday’s starting May 29. The all-day classes are about exploring a business idea and developing a business plan, and it’s aimed mostly at displaced workers. (It’s $595, but scholarships are available for dislocated workers through Missouri Career Centers. Call 816-235-6063 or email fasttrac@umkc.edu.)
• Allen said he’s putting more focus on getting businesses to look overseas.
“We think Missouri is an untapped resource in the area of export,” he said.
The SBTDC at UMKC – one of several around the state – has a more detailed listing of its services at http://sbtdc.umkc.edu/
Another resource for entrepreneurs is Graceland University’s Institute for Professional Development. That group’s director, Barbara Weathers, also emphasized the importance of collaboration and partnerships.
“Synergy,” she said, “is when two forces come together and become greater than they are individually.”
