Tag: Johnny Waller Jr.

Already feeling FOMO for Global Entrepreneurship Week? Here are KC’s can’t-miss events

By Tommy Felts / November 5, 2019

Hundreds of events geared toward makers, innovators and job creators are expected to pop up later this month in one of Kansas City’s historic cultural epicenters. “The 18th and Vine District has a rich history of entrepreneurship and has served as a hub for makers, dreamers and doers for decades,” said Jenny Miller, chief organizer…

Read More >
Leslie Walton, Determination Incorporated

Inclusion Open funding helps Determination Incorporated reunite KCSourceLink alums

By Tommy Felts / July 31, 2019

Within days of securing funding from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Inclusion Open, Determination Incorporated is expanding its team, the nonprofit announced Wednesday.  “We are so thankful to the Kauffman Foundation and excited to announce that Leslie Walton, an experienced entrepreneurial ecosystem builder in KC, is joining the team in support of our mission,” Johnny…

Read More >
The Porter House, Kauffman Inclusion Open

Kauffman Inclusion Open: Six KC grant winners ‘building an inclusive pathway to entrepreneurship’

By Tommy Felts / July 27, 2019

Plans to educate, inspire, and assist entrepreneurs traditionally left out of small business conversations will ramp up for the Porter House KC — thanks to new support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s inaugural Inclusion Open.  “We are so excited to be selected as one of this year’s grant recipients,” said Dan Smith, co-founder of the…

Read More >
Kyle Smith and Johnny Waller Jr., Determination, Incorporated; and Marcus Bullock, Flikshop

Rise Up, Get Started offers second chances with grants to formerly incarcerated entrepreneurs

By Tommy Felts / May 31, 2019

Kansas City should be home to second chances, hope, and opportunities, said Johnny Waller Jr. “Kansas City has a rich history of uniting behind its citizens for the common good of its people and that’s what this event is,” said Waller, co-founder of Determination, Incorporated, addressing a wide-ranging audience Thursday at the inaugural Rise Up,…

Read More >
Kyle Smith, Determination, Incorporated

Inmate to business founder: Determination, Incorporated adds partner with lived experience

By Tommy Felts / April 10, 2019

Determination, Incorporated’s new partner in compassion places a new lens on the impact the prison-to-founder non-profit could have, said Kyle Smith. “I’ve gotten this non-profit this far, but I can’t do it alone,” said Smith, founder of Determination, Incorporated, which uses entrepreneurship to curate new opportunities for formerly incarcerated people, on the addition of his…

Read More >