Sep. 12—ANDERSON — Kimberly Janelle remembers Anderson at its economic and cultural high points.
Local entrepreneurs offering everything from hairdos to fresh barbecued ribs helped make Anderson feel like home for Janelle.
"Entrepreneurship was around me," Janelle said Thursday during an event at the InerG Impact Center. "It was all around me, except I didn't know that was what it was called."
She recalled local girls selling T-shirts and families serving meals out of church kitchens on Sundays.
"Within every great city, there is a vein of entrepreneurs," she said.
Janelle believes Anderson is on track for renewed growth given the influx of new businesses and the work of local entrepreneurs.
Starting a business, they acknowledge, is an intensive, often overwhelming process. Officials at the InerG Impact Center gathered business leaders from throughout the area Thursday to announce a program they hope will make the idea less daunting for would-be entrepreneurs.
The center's entrepreneurship incubation program will provide access to business education and other resources through a network of community partners, they said.
Anderson University is one of those partners.
"I am often looking for opportunities to connect needs in the community with assets at the university," said Stephanie Moran, the university's senior advisor for strategic partnerships and a member of the advisory board for InerG's entrepreneurship program.
"There are entrepreneurs that could use some of this support," she said. "Both students and faculty can assist some of these entrepreneurs."
Business education, Moran said, includes learning how to operate programs such as QuickBooks, a bookkeeping program, and mentoring with community experts, as well as skills like networking and leadership.
The goal is to eliminate as many barriers for entrepreneurs as possible, which requires funding, said Cory Graham, executive director of the InerG Impact Center.
The incubation program will be funded through a $40,000 Community Collaboration Fund grant from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. There are enough funds to assist 100 entrepreneurs.
Graham and his colleagues hope to expand that number to 150, which would demand more funding. The development corporation, he said, has agreed to match any additional funds raised by the InerG Impact Center.
Graham hopes to raise an additional $40,000 in donations.
In addition to expanding the area's entrepreneurial population, the center hopes to expand programming to include assistance in acquiring capital and ensuring members are able to attend the Madison County Leadership Academy.