This North Kansas City hub will be base camp for GEWKC 2022; Deadline for event applications nears
August 11, 2022 | Startland News Staff
KCSourceLink announced this week that Global Entrepreneurship Week-Kansas City, the metro’s largest celebration of entrepreneurship, has a new base camp for its 15th year. The Nov. 14-20 weeklong event series is setting its main events at iWerx in North Kansas City.
Popular nearby businesses like Restless Spirits, Cinder Block Brewery and Chicken N Pickle will provide additional GEW event locations.
“From Midtown in Kansas City, Missouri, to 18th and Vine, we locate our GEWKC base camps in vibrant communities with strong entrepreneurial energy, and we’ve seen North Kansas City really take off as a hub for entrepreneurship and innovation in the past 10 years,” said Michael Carmona, senior director of KCSourceLink. “We’re excited to spur new ideas, make new connections and spark the next innovations in a place where that enterprising spirit is thriving.”
Click here to learn more about Carmona, who began leading KCSourceLink this spring.
KCSourceLink organizes GEWKC each year, with input from the community and sessions crowdsourced from entrepreneurs, service providers, policymakers and champions of entrepreneurship.
“The small businesses that have set up shop here have defined our character and made North Kansas City a destination for entertainment, culture and community,” said Adam Roberts, serial entrepreneur, owner of Screenland Armour Theatre and North Kansas City councilmember. “We hope to foster some of that entrepreneurial energy at GEWKC, as entrepreneurs and their champions connect to learn more about how to start, grow and accelerate businesses.”
iWerx in North Kansas City will serve as the base camp, where the key GEWKC sessions will be organized. iWerx is the first business incubator in North Kansas City and houses and nurtures startups and post-revenue small businesses. It offers space for coworking and events.
iWerx is an entrepreneurial development center. A mission-based group of shared work spaces and co-working facilities, its aim is to help businesses grow by plugging into community and through collaboration. All iWerx facilities are fed by a 10-gigabit broadband backbone supporting innovative efforts of more than 100 businesses at any given time.
“The iWerx team is excited to be the base camp for GEWKC 2022,” said Bob Martin, founding partner of the iWerx family of coworking and enterprise development facilities. “As a business with a mission to edify and assist entrepreneurs and their endeavors every day, we relish the opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments during Global Entrepreneurship Week. Since our inception seven years ago, we have been an active supporter and contributor to this worldwide event. We look forward to welcoming the Kansas City entrepreneurial community to iWerx in November.”
Past base camps have been held in the 18th and Vine District in Kansas City, Missouri, and in the city’s Midtown neighborhood, two other thriving entrepreneurial hubs that have been historic hotbeds of arts, community and culture.
The other locations near iWerx — Restless Spirits, Cinder Block Brewery and Chicken N Pickle, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Year — are expected to help showcase momentum in North Kansas City.
Global Entrepreneurship Week is an international celebration of the dreamers, innovators and job creators who launch startups, bring ideas to life and advance entrepreneurship. Founded in Kansas City by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in 2008, the event has since expanded to more than 170 countries. The event, organized each year by KCSourceLink, is driven by the input of the community and features crowdsourced sessions from entrepreneurs, policymakers, small-business advocates and anyone else who is interested in entrepreneurship.
GEWKC sessions will fit into five tracks, created by the planning committee in response to past attendee requests:
- Makers, Artists and Creators
- Startups
- Scalers
- Inclusive Community Builders
- Youthpreneurs
For those who want to host a session, GEWKC is accepting submissions until 11:59 p.m. Aug. 28. Sessions can include individual speakers, presenters, headliners, panels, workshops, competitions and more.
Click here to submit an event idea for GEWKC.
GEWKC is accepting submissions for in-person, hybrid and online sessions. Attendees will be able to build their agendas and register in October. GEWKC is 100-percent free and open to anyone.
Click here to register for the Aug. 12 “How to Prep Your Session for GEWKC” workshop.
Featured Business
2022 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
$500K investment round feeds GiftAMeal’s hunger for expansion deeper into KC market
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. A…
Mr. K winner: Charlie Hustle wears heart on its sleeve as it accepts Small Biz of the Year honor
Civic pride continues to pay off for Kansas City-stitched Charlie Hustle, winner of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s 2021 Mr. K Small Business of the Year Award. Chase McAnulty, founder and CEO, accepted the coveted award Thursday afternoon during a KC Chamber-hosted luncheon — a successful end to the vintage-inspired apparel company’s third run at…
KC’s premier queer sports league nearly doubles in enrollment; focuses on uniting diverse LGBTQ+ community
Athletics has not always been a space where Jared Horman felt comfortable, he shared; but through Stonewall Sports, he discovered a way to genuinely enjoy games while connecting with other queer individuals and allies. “We get to kind of reclaim this thing that was terrifying for us as children,” said Horman, who was first introduced…
Sneak peek: Foxtrot Studio rebrands, reopening in KCK with more space and a caffeinated twist
With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting in-person retailers across the globe, Jordan Fox found himself compelled to take a step back and return to the roots of his passion — creating quality products by hand, he shared. “Foxtrot has always been very experience-driven. The feeling you have when you come into the space, coupled with the…