(Video) ESHIP Summit attendees ask: Can entrepreneurial support efforts actually be sustainable?
July 13, 2018 | Tommy Felts and Bobby Burch
When more than 600 attendees gathered this week in Kansas City for the second ESHIP Summit, they each came with their own ecosystems, businesses, local governments and support networks in mind.
They also brought questions.
“What are they doing in their cities? What’s worked and what hasn’t worked? What can we adopt back at home to learn about new resources?” asked Deloris Wilson, an inclusive innovation fellow at BEACON: The DC Women Founders Initiative.
The three-day conference organized by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation sought answers to how entrepreneurs and their supporters can rethink an economic model that currently fails to provide equity in access to business success.
Planned as an unconventional gathering of innovators, mayors, community builders, economic development leaders, 1 Million Cups leaders, researchers and educators, ESHIP provided an opportunity for people like Wilson flesh out common challenges — like sustainability among initiatives aimed at entrepreneur support.
“A lot of the work — and a lot of the organizations that are in a similar space that I’ve met — are relatively new, probably within the past five years. I have not yet met someone that is like ‘We’ve been doing this for 20 years,’” Wilson said.
Locally, KCSourceLink has come close. The entrepreneur resource network celebrated 15 years in Kansas City in June.
The Kauffman Foundation was founded in 1966.
Hear more takeaways from Wilson and other attendees in the video below.
Featured Business
2018 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Back to the people: Social venture firm connects WyCo entrepreneurs with a human-centered toolkit
Editor’s note: The following story is presented through a paid partnership with Network Kansas. An initiative built on collaboration with business boosters already embedded in urban communities is deepening Network Kansas’ impact, said Erik Pedersen, sharing how the strategy helps more readily connect entrepreneurs to available resources like loans and technical assistance. In Wyandotte County,…
Great Jobs KC aims to impact 50,000 Kansas City scholars within a decade — one life at a time
Editor’s note: The following story was written and first published by the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, Missouri (EDCKC). Click here to read the original story. Natalie Lewis is no stranger to complex work. As chief operating officer of Great Jobs KC, she oversees programs that connect thousands of Kansas Citians with scholarships, tuition-free job training,…
Black Feast Week returns to feed restaurants new diners, combat hunger in Kansas City
Opening Black Feast Week — designed to promote Black-owned restaurants, chefs, and culinary creativity — by feeding 150 single Black mothers for free was an intentional act of community care, said Joshua “JT” Taylor. “We’ve always tried to prioritize helping people who are most marginalized,” said Taylor, senior content producer and chief administrative officer at…
‘Night Without Borders’ opens coffee house doors to honor heritage through harmony
Culture transcends borders, said Danny Soriano, surrounded Friday night in a popular Crossroads coffee shop by music, dance, art, food, and drinks that all shared a common link: Latino flavor. “Whether it’s Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Argentina, we all come together as Latinos, as Hispanics, and celebrate our heritage,” said Soriano, who organized a…