The Melting Pot Business ownership is like a melting pot. Not in the normal sense of different people coming together to form a community, but similar: it takes many different forms of personal experiences, education, actions, trials and errors, lessons learned, tears, sweat, long nights, hard work, and an unbelievable amount...
Are you aware that West Virginia lags far behind Appalachia, and the nation, in entrepreneurial and start-up activity? In fact, the Kauffman Foundation’s 2017 State Report found that WV ranked last in startup early job creation with a third as many jobs created as the leading state, and below the...
The MVP Problem The venerable MVP, or Minimally Viable Product, has long been the measure for which most startups begin their market/A-B testing. It’s taught in nearly every prototyping seminar, early entrepreneurship education programs, and in most colleges of business. It’s tried and it’s true—but is it the best we can...
Program Spotlight for December Downtown Appalachia: Revitalizing Recreational Economies (DARRE) Stephanie Tyree, Executive Director, WV Community Development Hub [email protected] Ray Moeller, Economic Redevelopment Specialist, WVU Northern Brownfields Assistance Center [email protected] DARRE is a three-year program partnership between the WV Community Development Hub, WV Northern Brownfields Assistance Center, Woodlands Development & Lending, and Partner...
While we’re not completely out of the woods yet from the COVID-19 health crisis, we’ve come far enough that seeing our loved ones in person this holiday season and joining in some actual (versus virtual) merriment is looking like a real possibility. However, both shoppers and businesses have new challenges...
Program Spotlight for November Tamarack Foundation for the Arts Spotlight Program: Domenica Queen Programming & Operations Director, [email protected] Tamarack Foundation for the Arts helps to grow West Virginia’s creative economy by providing essential programs that equip Mountain State artists and creative entrepreneurs with the skills necessary to succeed and thrive in the place they...
Program Spotlight for October Small Communities Big Solutions Sara Payne Scarbro, Alliance for the Economic Development of Southern WV [email protected] This annual event showcases all the successes and highlights what is working across the southern part of the state. Each year a mix of community leaders, educators, businesses, and public officials come together...
What’s stopping you? I mean, really, what’s stopping you? You’ve done the research, you’ve done the preliminary plans, listened to all the right podcasts, sat in all of the webinars, did all the right things...except you have nothing to show for it. In every single aspect of life- education, careers, relationships,...
Program Spotlight for September 2021-2022 WV Statewide Business Plan Tara St. Clair, Director of Operations, Encova Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship [email protected] Tara provided updates regarding the 2021-2022 WV Statewide Business Plan Competitions. The competitions provide high school and college students across the state of West Virginia with the unique opportunity to make...
Program Spotlight for July Goldman Sachs 10,0000 Small Businesses Sonia Moin, Senior Director, ICIC, [email protected] Dr. Lorena Chambers, CEO of Chambers Lopez Strategies LLC The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) drives inclusive economic prosperity in under resourced communities through innovative research and programs to create jobs, income, and wealth for local residents....
