01.25.23
NIIC Embraces More Collaborative Ethos
Mike Fritsch | The Journal Gazette
People who start and run businesses in northeast Indiana are having a hard time finding the right support services and programs to help them get started, grow, or even survive. In many cases, they don’t even know such services exist.
It’s time we provide these entrepreneurs with a new way of finding and receiving support.
To address these issues, we recently announced a new Northeast Indiana Innovation Center – with a new vision for regional entrepreneurial support. We call it “Entrepreneurship for All.”
Over the years, we have learned that we can’t help all entrepreneurs the same way.
We are a “Community of Communities,” whether defined by geography, race, language, gender, income level, veteran status, interest or anything else.
Our region is diverse, and our entrepreneurs’ needs are equally diverse.
This requires us to offer customized support with each community rather than just to each community, building trust and cultivating an ecosystem of Entrepreneurship for All.
To offer the best support, the innovation center has embraced a new mindset. We recognize we can’t do this on our own. There are other entrepreneurial support organizations that can help, too.
Instead of competing, we commit to coordinating this support and working together as a collective to provide the best help an entrepreneur can get.
To make that happen, we have reinvented ourselves with a more collaborative identity. We’re still NIIC. Yet, Northeast Indiana Innovation Center is now the Northeast Indiana Innovation Collective. With the new name comes a new vision and new commitment.
This is all part of a plan to strengthen regional organizations serving entrepreneurs.
We will launch a new collaborative framework and software tools to empower participating organizations to work better together and create a stronger network of support for entrepreneurs.
We also commit to working with our collective to create better programs to serve five types of entrepreneurs and their businesses. This is vital for our regional economy.
Lifestyle businesses: • Whether solopreneurs or micro-businesses, they have the potential to grow into larger companies. They contribute greatly to the creative fabric of our region.
Small businesses: • Built around a great idea, these companies need help moving beyond startup phase. We’ll connect these business owners with coaching and capital.
Scalable businesses:• As established companies, they have the potential to grow big. We need to tear down barriers they face in small towns, minority communities and others.
Large corporations: • They seek to build a culture of innovation or corporate intrapreneurship to drive new business development.
Social entrepreneurs:• They seek to change the world. Their mindsets attract people to our region.
Small businesses create the most job growth, and Entrepreneurship for All is foundational to helping regional economic development plans succeed. Working together will help NIIC fulfill its purpose: To create transformative, positive impacts in the lives of people, businesses and our region through entrepreneurship.
Mike Fritsch is president and CEO of the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center.
