Center to ‘Catalyze’ Underrepresented Entrepreneurs
A statewide initiative to assist women and immigrants launch or grow businesses will debut Tuesday. The Women’s Economic Opportunity Center for Indiana, which is based at the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center in Fort Wayne, will offer services from concept to completion. NIIC Entrepreneur-in-Residence Mike Fritsch says the center will fill a "very specific" gap felt throughout the state.
The center is being funded through a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration. It will support entrepreneurs in 83 counties. The Central Indiana Women’s Business Center, a separate but similar program affiliated with the Indy Chamber, serves entrepreneurs in Marion, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Brown, Putnam, Boone and Shelby counties. The WEOC will cover the remaining counties through partnerships with existing organizations and its physical presence at the NIIC’s innovation park campus in Allen County.
The initiative will provide counseling, mentoring, coaching and business development assistance, as well as help with access to legal, financial, capital, marketing, business planning and management team expertise and tools.
NIIC Chief Executive Officer Karl LaPan calls the center a "great extension" of its services, which will help reach "growth-oriented businesses facing specific challenges with respect to what I call the 4 M’s of entrepreneurial business building – Money, Mentorship, Markets and Management."
The organization is collaborating with national programs to provide various support to participants. They include Wendy Kennedy International, Mentoring Women’s Network and the Tejara Global Business Development Center.
Lisa Gomez-Osborn has been named executive director of the WEOC. She says "there are substantial gains to be achieved by better supporting, linking, and connecting Hoosier women and immigrants to the specialized and sophisticated resources and providers that can catalyze their venture idea, performance, and the potential gains they have in ‘leveling the access’ to financing, talent, and markets. I am excited to launch and lead this effort."
Fritsch tells Inside INdiana Business the center will broaden access to training and resources he says are only available in a few Indiana counties.