Global Entrepreneurship Week returns with dozens of events planned in Kansas City
November 8, 2023 | Ansley Franco
Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Missouri Business Alert, a member of the KC Media Collective, which also includes Startland News, KCUR 89.3, American Public Square, Kansas City PBS/Flatland, and The Kansas City Beacon.
Click here to read the original story.
Kansas City’s annual multi-day educational and networking event for entrepreneurs begins Monday.
Global Entrepreneurship Week draws thousands of like-minded individuals to more than 50 events to interact, learn from experts and hear success stories for no cost.
Business professionals will lead sessions on such topics as how to be a “solopreneur,” the importance of personal branding and bookkeeping essentials.
Plexpod Westport at Park 39
The event’s main sessions will be held at Plexpod Westport by Park 39 from Nov. 15 to 17. Other events will take place at various locations around the Kansas City metro area over the course of a week.
Plexpod offers office spaces for entrepreneurs, startups and growth-stage companies of all sizes.
Gerald Smith, founder and CEO of Plexpod, said he is excited that his business was selected as this year’s central location for Global Entrepreneurship Week.
“It’s these types of events that really open you up to things that you wouldn’t experience otherwise,” Smith said.
Smith is a self-described lifelong entrepreneur. He started his career in digital media, working with brands like AMC Theatres and John Deere for 25 years.
“There’s a bit of a pay it forward for my wife and I with Plexpod. I absolutely love being around others that remind me of myself in starting their companies,” Smith said. “Entrepreneurship knows no boundary.”
Jess Dyroff, co-founder of Brightside Creative, plans to attend multiple sessions at Global Entrepreneurship Week. She started the company in April to transform businesses using creative strategy and branding expertise.
Dyroff said she is most interested in hearing the lessons from older entrepreneurs and is excited about the expertise people are showing up with at GEW.
“We’d love to just expand our reach and really put ourselves out there to meet new faces within the small business community,” Dyroff said.
Chris Bohannon, founder of Artist KC, also plans to attend. Bohannon is a retired middle school art teacher who left teaching in 2017 to open her business making custom acrylic paintings of pets.
This will be her fourth consecutive year participating in the event.
“I think the most appealing part of GEW is that everyone on stage presenting is an experienced entrepreneur that is offering you free advice and resources, and nothing beats hearing it from somebody who’s already been there,” Bohannon said.
On top of also attending the events, Madison Clark, founder of Grief Cards, will be leading a session about working with emotions.
“I’m talking about the intersection of where entrepreneurship and grief meet, and how to work with those emotions and build an entrepreneurial life that works with them instead of acting like they don’t exist,” Clark said.
Dr. Shelley Cooper accepts the $25,000 first-place prize at the AltCap pitch competition during Global Entrepreneurship Week 2022; photo courtesy of Dr. Shelley Cooper
The week will also feature the AltCap Your Biz Pitch Competition, where $40,000 will be awarded to four winners.
The competition was open to owners of businesses with less than $250,000 in annual revenue. Ten finalists will pitch at AltCap’s event 3 p.m. on Nov. 16.
Last year’s winner, Shelley Cooper, pitched Diversity Telehealth, a company that works to bring health care access to people who may not ordinarily have it.
On competition day, Cooper said she was completely surprised when she won the $25,000 first-place prize.
“It’s made a huge difference in my company and is still making a big difference,” Cooper said.
Diversity Telehealth is utilizing a portion of the winnings to cover a new feature that would expand the language options in the app to include Arabic, French, Swahili and Somali.
“I think the main bit of advice is to remember why you’re doing this … and just keep working at it and give it your best effort,” Cooper said. “Keep your heart in it.”
Entrepreneurs who are interested in attending the event can register online. Spots are limited and are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Featured Business
2023 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Three fathers bring Whizz Bang potty-training game to market through Make48, Handy Camel
The Whizz Bang gamifies potty training and saves the bathroom floors of all parents, said Amy Gray. The device, which hooks on the underside of a toilet seat lid, emits a LED light target at the bottom the bowl. Once hit, the device plays musical praise, said Gray, the head of sales for Handy Camel,…
Reconciliation Services hopes to heal trauma in the heart of stigmatized Troost corridor
Commanded by Scripture, David Altschul journeyed into parts unknown, said his successor, Father Justin Mathews. In the mid-1980s, a philanthropic pull tugged at the heart of Altschul — a white, insurance salesman from Johnson County — and eventually led him into the distressed, history-rich neighborhoods that lined Troost Avenue on the east side of…
Thelma’s Kitchen cooks up pay-what-you-can cafe concept to preserve community
Twenty people once filled the kitchen of Thelma Gardner’s apartment in search of their next meal. Their hunger for food fueled her hunger for humanity, recounted Father Justin Mathews as he sat sipping coffee in the newly opened Thelma’s Kitchen. The pay-what-you-can restaurant — located inside of the Reconciliation Services building at 3101 Troost Ave.…
Operation Breakthrough bridge over Troost symbolizes ‘real community’ at an intersection
With reflection in his voice, Alvin Brooks paused. “The city has to be a partner,” the Civil Rights activist and veteran Kansas City Police Commissioner said as he spoke of the redevelopment of Troost Avenue — the well known racial dividing line, that has long isolated the east side of the Kansas City metro from the…