Two SBDC Iowa regional directors, Michael Wampler and Jenica Johnson, have received awards from the national Small Business Development Center association America’s SBDC. Wampler, regional director of the SBDC location at Kirkwood Community College, is a recipient of the Top 40 Under 40 Young Professionals Award. The award recognizes SBDC staff who demonstrate innovation, leadership […]
Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), a national network of volunteer counselors providing free mentoring and programming to small businesses, is holding a pitch competition in Des Moines on Sept. 12. The event is one of five pitch competitions SCORE is hosting to celebrate the nonprofit’s 60th anniversary. Competing small businesses will have the chance […]
America’s Small Business Development Center Iowa (SBDC) has announced Elizabeth Christensen is the new regional director of the Western Iowa SBDC, located at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs. Christensen will serve new entrepreneurs and existing business owners in Pottawattamie, Shelby, Harrison, Page, Mills, Cass and Fremont counties. She has 20 years of experience […]
The Greater Des Moines Partnership has announced the 14 participants for the third Scale DSM Business Accelerator cohort. Scale DSM uses Interise’s Streetwise program to help business owners gain management know-how and networks needed to increase revenue, create jobs and positively affect the community over the six-month program, a news release said. Members of the third cohort […]
The ImagineDSM Entrepreneurship program, in collaboration with FuseDSM and Bookpress Publishing, has opened registration for its second cohort. Starting in October, the six-month program is split into six sessions, each led by industry professionals and experienced entrepreneurs. Topics covered will include idea development, networking and relationships, marketing and branding, conflict resolution and negotiation, financial management […]
The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program recently celebrated the cohort of 32 small business owners who completed the 12-week program. This was the 11th cohort of the program, which is administered by Des Moines Area Community College in collaboration with all of Iowa’s 15 community colleges. There are now 300 program alumni in Iowa and over […]
Coe College in Cedar Rapids held a May Term course teaching students how to move an early-stage idea through ideation and validation. The course was taught by David Tominsky, Coe’s entrepreneur-in-residence, and a co-founding partner of Novy, and Samantha Brown, assistant professor of psychology and faculty co-director of C3: Creativity, Careers, Community, a career services program […]
The 2024 John Pappajohn Student Entrepreneurial Venture Competition, the 24th annual, was held on April 22 in Des Moines. The competition, a collaborative effort of the five John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Centers, was the first one since John Pappajohn’s death last year. “It was a bittersweet experience to host this year’s competition just one year after […]
The inaugural Latina Business Excellence Summit, aiming to celebrate and empower Latina entrepreneurs, will be held on May 9 from 3-7 p.m. at the River Center in Des Moines. The summit’s goal is to increase access to opportunities, representation and resources. The event will include speakers, an expo to connect with other Latina-owned businesses and resource […]
Oskaloosa Schools is launching Oskaloosa Spirit Cafe, an initiative aimed at providing vocational opportunities and promoting inclusivity within the community. The cafe, which will open to the public in the summer, was originally conceived to provide essential job skills to students with disabilities, and now welcomes a range of students from diverse backgrounds to help everyone pursue […]
