The Lincoln Chamber of Commerce and Partnership for Economic Development have been increasingly involved in promoting business startups.  At our Partnership investors meeting last month, we heard from two different groups working on creating new businesses in our community in completely different ways.
First, we heard from a member of our staff Jason Ball and Amanda Thonen from Design Data about Start-up Weekend.  Lincoln is hosting the first Startup Weekend and Week this month. The event is to engage aspiring and established entrepreneurs and teach them to the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures. Startup Weekend is a grassroots effort, powered by the Kauffman Foundation, touring across the nation to educate.  The program comprises the largest community of passionate entrepreneurs in the nation with over 400 past events held all over the world.

The six-day event is set Sept. 7 and will bring together developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiast to share ideas, form teams, build projects and ultimately launch startups. Lincoln Startup Weekend and Week will provide attendees with educational, networking and business opportunities.

The event will begin with the formation of teams and the development of business plans and continue through Sept. 9 for final presentations. Startup Week will directly follow with four days of continued events including a quick pitch competition, a co-working event, and a tech crawl.  The Partnership is sponsoring the event in conjunction with a number of other local companies.  Additionally, I am very proud of the number of volunteers that have stepped forward to assist in this very important effort.  For more information on the event and how to register visit http://lincoln.startupweekend.org.

Also at our quarterly Partnership meeting, we received an update from a long-time friend of the Partnership and Chamber, Rick Wallace.  Wallace is the Executive Director of Community Development Resources, a local non-profit that delivers a wide variety of financial tools for business startups and expansions.  CDR has had a micro-lending and small business lending program for a number of years in Lincoln, including a time when the program (formerly known as the Self Employment Loan Fund of Lincoln-SELF) was part of the Partnership.  There are literally hundreds of businesses and thousands of jobs in Lincoln today because of Rick’s work with CDR.

Recently, the program has added a number of other financing tools including the SBA 504 program, a low-interest loan program for nonprofit agencies and the Alice Integrity Loan Fund, a fund started by Lincoln banker Alice Dittman to finance women and minority start-up ventures.  These new tools bring an additional role for the organization in business growth and will provide additional resources for local businesses.

I am proud of our history with CDR and proud of our continued involvement with this important organization.

Entrepreneurship is the cornerstone of an economy and we will continue to find ways to create the highest impact possible in that arena.

Thanks and please contact us if you would like to start your own business or help others that would.

The Chamber’s mission is to improve the lives of Lincoln residents by providing increased economic opportunity and can only be accomplished together.  Networking opportunities, business advocacy, and creating economic viability are critical to our success.  We encourage you to become a member and help us achieve these goals for Lincoln.  For more information, please contact Paul 436-2350.