RCEEP partners deliver e-ship update

22 May RCEEP partners deliver e-ship update

Director of Strategic Initiatives Kari Mailloux and StartUp Hutch Entrepreneur Navigator and Program Director Jackson Swearer updated members on the years of efforts around local entrepreneurship at the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce May breakfast.

Both are members of the Reno County Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Partnership, a roughly 20-member coalition of community partners with a mission of cultivating and strengthening entrepreneurship in Reno County. The pair’s presentation traced the beginnings of the group back to 2017 when a handful of partners gathered over coffee to ask curious questions about the community’s small business environment. A task force then formed in 2018 seeking to explore the strengths and gaps within Reno County’s entrepreneurship landscape. Eventually, the task force developed a five-year action plan that included funding commitments from the City of Hutchinson, Reno County and Hutchinson Community Foundation; rebranding of the Quest Center as StartUp Hutch; ratcheting up a marketing budget to engage more people; and adding the role of navigator to existing staff to assist more burgeoning business owners.

Swearer said those efforts are bearing fruit through increased community engagement, more robust training programs and access to additional loan programs.

Audience members were given a chance to weigh in on what they saw as concerns facing the continued growth of the startup community, among them community participation, lack of young risk-takers, taxes, access to capital, good business plans, low population growth, inflation and sufficient workforce. Attendees were also encouraged to then offer their vision for the county’s economic future, citing a thriving downtown, EV charging stations, return of Career Quest alumni to live in the community, family friendly events, families remaining in the community helping to increase school enrollment, city regulations that support growth and entrepreneurship, and more jobs that help grow the tax base.