News Category: NIIC WBC EmPWR Program
08.26.20
Inclusive Entrepreneurship Programs Create New Opportunities for Hoosiers
For Immediate Release
August 26, 2020, Fort Wayne, Ind.— Pre-COVID-19 Pandemic, U.S. small businesses accounted for 44 percent of U.S. economic activity. Indiana-based nonprofit The NIIC believes small businesses will help to drive the Post-COVID-19 economy. The NIIC is working to narrow the opportunity gap for Indiana business owners through five inclusive entrepreneurship programs. The programs expand services to traditionally underserved groups in Northeast Indiana and across the state. These include:
- Connected Communities Breakthrough
- FAST-IN (Federal State and Technology in Indiana)
- OPENS (Optimized Path for Entrepreneurial Network Success)
- WBC EmPWR (Women’s Business Center Equity & Prosperity for Women Reimagining Businesses)
- WEOC (Women’s Entrepreneurial Opportunity Center)
Some examples of these groups include rural business builders, disabled individuals, ethnic minorities, immigrants, ex-offenders, and other historically unserved community segments. The goal is to cultivate hidden entrepreneurial talent and help individuals live fuller, more prosperous, better-connected lives.
“The NIIC is dedicated to economic prosperity and social well-being for Hoosiers. We want to support them to maximize their entrepreneurial potential. This past year, we have focused on equitable assistance and non-traditional support for underestimated entrepreneurs. Through the support of generous funders plus our dedicated staff, our five new targeted and focused programs will broaden networks, strengthen communities, increase access to capital, and stimulate diverse business ventures,” said Karl R. LaPan, President and CEO, The NIIC.
Stacey Poynter, District Director, Indiana District Office, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), said, “Access to capital is a barrier to entrepreneurship that the SBA strives to erase. The NIIC has partnered with the SBA for the last five years to provide the Women’s Business Center (WEOC), and I am thrilled they are recipients of our FAST, PRIME, and EmPWR grants as well. By working with partner organizations like The NIIC—who creates innovative and accessible programs for entrepreneurs—we are able to succeed in our mission of helping small businesses start, grow, expand, and recover, thus building stronger and more stable economies throughout Indiana.”
Connected Communities Breakthrough Program is a program funded by Foellinger Foundation and led by Program Manager Julie Sanchez. “There are real barriers to business ownership for many members of our community. Through innovative methods and customized curriculum, Breakthrough Program supports participants along a continuum. We help them to realize that they can be entrepreneurs and own businesses,” said Sanchez. Program participants learn how to launch a business through this program. The first cohort started in June 2020. Cohort two recruitment is in progress. Click here to apply.
FAST-IN Program is funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Federal State and Technology (FAST) Partnership Program. The program’s purpose is to increase the number of Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) proposals successfully submitted by Indiana entrepreneurs. Increased funding through this initiative could lead to more research, development, and innovation in the state.
Jeff Erickson, Principal Investigator, Engine Research Associates, Inc. benefited from the FAST-IN Program by saving valuable work time. “We worked through FAST-IN to submit a recent SBIR application. The program easily saved our company 100 hours of work time. That’s a big deal for a small company like ours. SBIR grants are essential to our company’s growth and research,” said Erickson. Engine Research Associates is developing covert, fuel-efficient engines for unmanned aerial vehicles. FAST-IN is offering various webinars to train individuals how to submit successful proposals. More information is available on The NIIC events website page. https://niic.net/our-events/
OPENS Program is funded by the U.S. SBA Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs (PRIME). OPENS focuses on connecting low-income microentrepreneurs to vital services, access to capital, and other common start-up barriers to improve new-business formation rates. “Microentrepreneurs typically have five or fewer employees. Access to NIIC resources and support, and exposure to new networks, can be fundamental to their success,” said LaPan.
This program offers no-cost business coaching and start-up training to eligible microentrepreneurs in Northeast and East Central Indiana.
WBC EmPWR is a one-year initiative funded by the U.S. SBA Office of Women’s Business Ownership (OWBO). It runs through April 2021 and focuses on women business owners adapting their businesses for success during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program empowers female founders to innovate, reimagine business models, gain resiliency through tools and resources to create more sustainable and viable ventures. EmPWR is available to Hoosiers living in Indiana who are not served by the Central Indiana Women’s Business Center. Learn more about WBC EmPWR and apply for the program by clicking here. https://niic.net/empwr/
WEOC Program achieved its five-year milestone this year and serves women business owners at all stages of their entrepreneurial journeys. Nearly 2,000 women business owners have participated in WEOC.
WEOC’s Launch Women Business Builder Program serves female-founded digital, e-commerce, app, or web-based businesses at no cost to participants. Participants build a business action plan and complete market research and strategies. They receive management assistance, coaching, strategic planning, and more. The goal is to increase business guidance and education for women of all socioeconomic statuses across 16 Indiana counties.
About The NIIC
467 new products launched, 189 patent applications submitted or granted, and 2,290 jobs created—that is what entrepreneurs have achieved through The NIIC since its inception 20 years ago. The NIIC has also connected Northeast Indiana companies to attract $91 million in grants and capital.
The NIIC is a non-profit, vibrant entrepreneurial community designed to advise entrepreneurs to plan, launch, and grow successful business ventures by moving ideas into action. The NIIC’s 55-acre campus is a U.S. Small Business Administration HUB Zone and a designated Opportunity Zone through the U.S. Treasury. The NIIC is the country’s only ISO9001:2015 registered business incubation and acceleration program. The NIIC received global recognition in 2020 as the International Business Innovation Association’s Mixed-Use Entrepreneur Center of the Year and recipient of the prestigious Dinah Adkins Award, one of InBIA’s top two honors. TheNIIC.org. Click here for The NIIC press kit.
Contact: Tammy Allen, Director, Marketing & Programs, info@niic.net, 260-407-1731
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08.20.20
Opportunity Amid Distress
Great Reimagination aims to jump-start post-COVID-19 economy by innovation
COVID-19 hijacked the American economy. Early estimates suggest more than 20% of small businesses will close permanently. Companies with underrepresented, diverse founders reportedly face even higher closure rates.
Unemployment has surged, and many of the jobs are not coming back. Companies adjust workforces and business models to adapt to new marketplace realities.
The Great Reimagination is a phrase coined at The Northeast Indiana Innovation Center. It describes what we predict is the next wave of business innovation and expansion for Indiana and the world.
It is time to cultivate and nurture a new cadre of generative, courageous, adaptive business leaders – innovators with the passion and drive to redefine business models, redevelop products and reinvent services for a post-COVID-19 economy.
COVID-19 affects companies and our daily lives. Changing consumer behavior creates economic pressure, driving businesses to change, too. The Indiana economy needs revolutionary breakthroughs from inventors and disruptors. It needs to usher in a new generation of entrepreneurs and startups. Economic distress creates opportunity. Opportunity breeds entrepreneurship.
Northeast Indiana remains a dynamic marketplace for cultivating new business growth.
Our region boasts resources to help Hoosiers to innovate through the Great Reimagination. The innovation center brings together workspace, capital, talent and expertise to fuel economic recovery driven by a resurgence of entrepreneurial spirit.
Through national, state, regional and local collaborations, The center inspires, supports and accelerates the hometown team. Over the past several years, underrepresented entrepreneurs have especially been a focus as we work to level the playing field for them. Multiple funders back these individuals through our new and existing programs.
Individuals served through these programs may include women, rural residents, immigrants, minorities, veterans, those with disabilities, the formerly incarcerated and others. Our programs encourage these individuals to overcome barriers to form and sustain business ventures.
For example, our Breakthrough Program, funded by the Foellinger Foundation, connects historically excluded aspiring business owners to sources for advising, training, business planning, assessments, coaching and more.
OPENS – the Optimized Path for Entrepreneurial Network Success – connects low-income microentrepreneurs, whose companies have fewer than nine employees, to vital services, access to capital and business coaching.
The Women’s Entrepreneurial Opportunity Center is one of two federal Small Business Administration-funded women business centers in the state.
Since its formation five years ago, more than 2,000 female business owners have benefited through workshops, training, business coaching and mentoring.
The center’s newest program emerged as a solution for women business owners dealing with the realities of a COVID-19 economy. WBC EmPWR (Equity and Prosperity for Women Reimagining their Businesses) empowers women to reimagine business models for success despite COVID-19.
The Small Business Administration’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership funds this one-year program that runs through April 2021.
The federally funded FAST-IN Program aids inventors, researchers, scientists and small businesses pursuing funding for research and development through Small Business Technology Transfer and Small Business Innovation Research grants.
Such funding helped Engine Research Associates, Inc. evolve from the founder’s hobby, located in the family garage, into a family-owned business that advances U.S. Department of Defense initiatives.
This statewide program targets Opportunity Zones and underrepresented scientific and professional knowledge workers. The goal is to fund key applied development and commercialization activities. Our center resides in an Opportunity Zone.
The Connected Health Lab is creating a statewide network of researchers and innovators to stimulate cutting-edge breakthroughs to apply Internet-of-Things technology to health sciences to transform health care delivery.
Hoosiers, it is time to step up, make the most of these opportunities and get our economy back on track.
Reimagine a business model to address the realities of our new economy.
Reinvent a product to transform old ways of doing things.
Create a breakthrough idea for a new service to meet consumers where they are today.
Become a business owner who hinges your company’s growth to disrupting established industries.
Start a business to free you from the frustration of your income being dependent on other people’s decisions.
Act on your passion and commitment to launch your own business.
Now is our time. The Great Reimagination offers abundant opportunities to pummel the pandemic, sow seeds of innovation and grow prosperous businesses.
Karl R. LaPan is president and CEO of the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center.
08.10.20
Workshop Series for Hoosier Small Business Owners Teach How-To of Customer Care
Reach New Levels with Customers During COVID-19 Pandemic
For Immediate Release
August 10, 2020, Fort Wayne, Ind.— Beginning this month, small business owners have an opportunity to learn how to deepen customer engagement and relationships through KARE for your Customers Workshop Series. The WBC EmPWR Program at The NIIC is offering the workshop series at no charge to small business owners. Participants will learn how to sharpen their sales processes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kelly Ambriole, Associate Partner, Sandler Sales, will lead established businesses of all sizes, with a priority to woman business owners, through the four-week workshop series beginning virtually in August and in-person in January. “KARE is an account planning tool at a 30,000-foot level. The four letters of K-A-R-E stand for Keep, Attain, Recapture and Expand,” said Ambriole. “Putting accounts into those four categories simplifies all the complexities you have when trying to balance it all and an entrepreneur.
The workshop series includes four cohorts, two virtual and two at The NIIC, and is broken into two groups based on a company’s previous annual sales.
- Virtual Cohort for Businesses with less than $100,000 in Sales, Tuesdays, 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., August 25, September 8, September 22, and October 6
- Virtual Cohort for Businesses with $100,000 or More in Sales, Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., August 25, September 8, September 22, and October 6
- In-Person at The NIIC Cohort for Businesses with less than $100,000 in Sales, Mondays from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., January 11, January 25, February 8, and February 22
- In-Person at The NIIC Cohort for Businesses with $100,000 or More in Sales—Mondays, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., January 11, January 25, February 8, and February 22
Topics of discovery will include KARE, ideal client profiles, the behavior cookbook, and immersive worksheets. Ambriole said the program is ideal for anyone responsible for lead generation, sales, and account management.
“This is a high-quality opportunity for small businesses to rethink and re-engage their customer base in a new way,” said Sarah Lance, WBC EmPWR Program Manager. “Kelly Ambriole’ s expertise is tremendously valuable as a key leader at Sandler Sales.”
This workshop series is funded by a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Women’s Business Ownership (OWBO), and there is no cost to participate. This program is specifically for women; however, it is also open to everyone with businesses and organizations in 83 Indiana communities served by the WBC EmPWR Program. “COVID 19 is forcing all of us to take a hard look at how we’ve done business in the past, what is working now, and how we will do business in the future,” said SBA Indiana District Director Stacey Poynter. “We’re proud that SBA funding is able to support innovative programs like EmPWR, which inspire, teach, and support Indiana small business owners.”
To register for the KARE Workshop Series, visit the events page of The NIIC website. https://niic.net/our-events/
About The NIIC
467 new products launched, 189 patent applications submitted or granted, and 2,290 jobs created—that is what entrepreneurs have achieved through The NIIC since its inception 20 years ago. The NIIC has also connected Northeast Indiana companies to attract $91 million in grants and capital.
The NIIC is a nonprofit, vibrant entrepreneurial community designed to advise entrepreneurs to plan, launch, and grow successful business ventures by moving ideas into action. The NIIC’s 55-acre campus is a U.S. Small Business Administration HUB Zone and a designated Opportunity Zone through the U.S. Treasury. The NIIC is the country’s only ISO9001:2015 registered business incubation and acceleration program. The NIIC received global recognition in 2020 as the International Business Innovation Association’s Mixed-Use Entrepreneur Center of the Year and recipient of the prestigious Dinah Adkins Award, one of InBIA’s top two honors. TheNIIC.org. Click here for The NIIC press kit.
About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration makes the American dream of business ownership a reality. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
Contact: Tammy Allen, Director | Marketing & Programs, info@niic.net, 260-407-1731
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07.31.20
It’s a moshpit for business reimagination
Excerpt
The Equity and Prosperity for Women Reimagining Their Businesses program at the Women’s Entrepreneurial Opportunity Center plans to bring an Innovation Moshpit Workshop Series to Fort Wayne and much of the rest of the state.
The WEOC at the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center describes the workshops as a series of opportunities for small-business owners to mash up unrelated ideas for reimagining their businesses.
The 10-week virtual program co-led by Gregg Fraley, founder of Gregg Fraley Innovation, and Sarah Lance, EMPWR program manager, will take place online through the Stormz virtual meeting platform starting Aug. 12, and will continue through Oct. 7.
Read the full article on KPCMedia.com.