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NetWork Kansas Announces Job Creation and Capital Investment Figures for Fiscal Year 2011

by Anne Dewvall | Nov 10, 2011

NetWork Kansas Announces Job Creation and Capital Investment Figures for Fiscal Year 2011

  

November 10, 2011 -- Today NetWork Kansas released their fiscal year 2011 annual report. The report is available to the public as a download on www.networkkansas.com. NetWork Kansas, also known as The Kansas Center for Entrepreneurship, released information about the organization's statewide activity and economic impact during the period of July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011. The report includes information on job growth, capital investment, startup activity, and summaries of new programs that increase capital availability and access to resources for Kansas businesses.

During FY 2011, NetWork Kansas assisted more than 1,300 entrepreneurs through the organization's call center clearinghouse, helping them find resources to start a business, expand a business, move a business to Kansas, navigate regulations, and locate funding.

Through the organization's StartUp Kansas and Entrepreneurship (E-) Communityfunding programs, NetWork Kansas has awarded more than $4.2 million in matching loans and grants to Kansas businesses since 2007, leveraging $29.6 million in total capital. This report announces that this funding spurred the creation or retention of a total of 283 net jobs during FY 2011 alone. Businesses who received NetWork Kansas funding have created or retained nearly 1,200 Kansas jobs since these two programs launched.

Preliminary reports regarding The Kansas Economic Gardening Network pilot program and the Kansas Entrepreneurial Communities Initiative (KECI) are presented in this report along with information about the new Kansas Capital Multiplier Loan and Venture Funds, which provide a source of more than $13 million of capital for Kansas businesses.

NetWork Kansas underwent a strategic realignment during the FY 2011, splitting the organization into two complementary departments to maximize utilization of resources to facilitate implementation of 1.) Statewide programs and 2.) TheEntrepreneurship (E-) Communities partnership. Steve Radley transitioned from Director to President and CEO where his focus will be on creating strategies for developing and deploying NetWork Kansas' increasingly broad portfolio of resources to deliver long-term economic growth for Kansas.

Erik Pedersen transitioned from Associate Director to Director of Entrepreneurship Communities and will oversee the development and operation of the organization's innovative Entrepreneurship (E-) Communities initiative. NetWork Kansas welcomed Corey Mohn as the Director of Statewide Programs in August 2011. Mr. Mohn most recently worked for the City of Lawrence as Economic Development Director after serving as the inaugural program manager for the Office of Rural Opportunity within the Kansas Department of Commerce.

Restructuring allows NetWork Kansas to deliver a continued high level of service to these programs while providing an enhanced level of program clarity and new opportunities for collaboration.

These changes reflect NetWork Kansas' commitment to providing entrepreneurial resources to Kansans at a widespread, community level and will result in increased economic growth during 2012. To read the full report, including additional detail on job creation, business growth, and capital investment, visit networkkansas.com.  


To learn more about the Kansas Capital Multiplier Fund and NetWork Kansas' other Statewide Programs, Contact:

Corey Mohn, Director of Statewide Programs

785.296.6611

cmohn@networkkansas.com 

 

To learn more about the E-Community Partnership, Contact:
Erik Pedersen, Director of E-Communities
 
About NetWork Kansas:
 

NetWork Kansas was established as a component of the Kansas Economic Growth Act of 2004 to further entrepreneurship and small business growth as a priority for economic and community development in the State of Kansas.  Backed by more than 480 partners statewide, the NetWork Kansas service promotes an entrepreneurial environment by connecting entrepreneurs and small business owners with the expertise, education and economic resources they need in order to succeed. For more information about NetWork Kansas, visit www.networkkansas.com, or call 877.521.8600. 


Essentials of Rural Development—Entrepreneurship as a Key Component for Economic and Community Development

In developing its hypothesis that weaker economic performance in rural areas is due in large part to a lack of entrepreneurial activity, the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship in Lincoln, Nebraska stated that a key element to rural revitalization rests with energizing rural entrepreneurs and rural entrepreneurship. 

A key element of energizing rural entrepreneurs and rural entrepreneurship is to provide supportive environments that enable business concepts to be executed.  The foundation for a supportive environment is to ensure that local communities are competitive in order to make it viable in the long run. The Hometown Competitiveness Approach asserts that there are four interrelated strategies necessary:  1)  Leadership :  Building a skilled and increasingly inclusive leadership group with capacity to improve and sustain the community;  2)  Youth :  Retaining and attracting youth and young families that are involved in community leadership; 3)  Capture Wealth :  the capture of a portion of the wealth that will transfer between generations; 4)  Entrepreneurship :  Utilizing the wealth in an entrepreneurial way, not just for playgrounds and pools, but rather to energize and support entrepreneurs. 

In his Public Square approach to community building, Terry Woodbury of Kansas Communities LLC identifies four key strategies for community building:  1) Name and build on community assets; 2) Engage many more citizens than are currently involved; 3) Focus leaders in four sectors (business, education, health/human services, government) on doable, common goals; and 4) Deliver ongoing results via citizen/leader cooperation. 

In both models, it is clear that a vital element to rural development is the development of a process that engages and empowers the community to utilize community and economic development as divergent strategies working towards common goals.

The Mission of NetWork Kansas

The mission of NetWork Kansas is to promote an entrepreneurial environment throughout the State of Kansas by serving as a single point of access that connects entrepreneurs and small business owners with the right resources-Expertise, Education, and Economic-when they are needed most. 

NetWork Kansas is available statewide and has more than 480 partners that provide business building services to entrepreneurs and small business owners who have the vision and potential to succeed.  Entrepreneurs and existing businesses simply call 1.877.521.8600 to speak with a NetWork Kansas Referral Coordinator. The NetWork Kansas counselors conduct a “listen and learn” to assess the needs of the entrepreneur or existing business.  The counselor then identify and connect the business owner with the resources that are available to help with their specific need.

NetWork Kansas is Involved in Community-Oriented Programs to Build Entrepreneurial Capacity: 

Entrepreneurship (E-) Communities

A NetWork Kansas E-Community is a partnership that allows a town, a cluster of towns, or an entire county to raise seed money for local entrepreneurs through donations from individuals or businesses within the community. Selected communities partner with NetWork Kansas to establish their own local loan fund, increase connectivity to resources available to assist entrepreneurs and small businesses, initiate activities to generate entrepreneurial development, and participate in a statewide partnership with other E-Communities. The goal of the E-Community partnership is to increase entrepreneurial activity and develop a self-sustaining ecosystem favorable to long-term entrepreneurial growth.

The E-Community program, now in its fifth year, has grown from six communities in 2007 to thirty in 2011. The NetWork Kansas E-Community partnership allows a town, a cluster of towns, or an entire county to raise seed money for local entrepreneurs through donations from individuals or businesses within the community. During the first four years of the E-Community partnership, more than $4.7 million have been raised. These funds are estimated to generate more than $33 million of investment in rural businesses across Kansas.