Minority-Led

Only one side of the tracks: Omni Circle opens entrepreneurs ‘space to become or build their personal freedom’

By Tommy Felts / March 1, 2023

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 Go Topeka, which seeks economic success for all companies and citizens across Shawnee County through implementation of an aggressive economic development strategy that capitalizes…

How Kansas City’s new airport terminal became a sprawling art gallery for 28 diverse creatives

By Tommy Felts / February 28, 2023

Every major milestone in Kathy Minhsin Liao’s life has been marked by travel, she shared, making airports synonymous with transition. “My [art]work at the new terminal is called ‘Hello and Goodbye,’ and it touches on my personal experience of the fluidity of travel. When you’re at the airport, you’re in that limbo space of thinking…

Novel Capital, Pipeline join forces to help members gain easier access to evasive non-dilutive capital

By Tommy Felts / February 27, 2023

A fintech startup launched by two veteran founders is extending its services to members of the elite Pipeline network in a bid to make non-dilutive capital more accessible to startups across the region. Novel Capital, an Overland Park-based fintech growth platform that helps B2B businesses accelerate their growth, recently announced plans to help companies led…

United Way launching $2M fund with Kauffman to back nonprofits that serve people of color

By Tommy Felts / February 27, 2023

A new Nonprofit Catalyst Fund is expected to help the United Way of Greater Kansas City invest in advancing small nonprofit organizations that serve Black, Latino, and other people of color in the community, said Essence Yancey. “We believe that small, nonprofit organizations within communities of color play a key role in addressing a range…

Kauffman funds help Holy Rosary pilot new lending model to boost equitable access to capital

By Tommy Felts / February 27, 2023

When a traditional bank may not be able to justify lending additional funds to an entrepreneur struggling to get their business off the ground, Holy Rosary Credit Union is uniquely positioned to help people achieve that evasive upward mobility — regardless of race, gender, or geography, said Carole Wight. A $3.3 million grant from the…