Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/646725
16 | I NSIGH T • M a r c h 2 0 1 6 w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m FACE T I M E One of our underserved populations is youth, and I believe no one is paying attention, or not paying enough attention, to these brilliant students. If we don't connect them to the resources in the community, they are going to leave. love to come because they are going to hear about things they have never heard about before. For those on stage, it's chasing a dream, but it also inspires those in the audience. We want them to say "If (the contestants) can do it, I bet I can do it too." My goal is to help them start that business and connect them to successful business owners who love to give back and are empowered by helping others grow. One of our underserved populations is youth, and I believe no one is paying attention, or not paying enough attention, to these brilliant students. If we don't connect them to the resources in the community, they are going to leave. If we can connect them to the mentors, resources and connections it's really hard to leave that. We want to create a continuum of people who care about them here and want to see them grow here. ere are three obstacles in particular when it comes to young entrepreneurs. e first is fear. ey have become risk averse. Some will say it's because of student debt. Some will say it's lack of experience. Number two is access to capital. It doesn't necessarily take a lot of capital, but for someone to get $5,000 can make all the difference. Lack of access to mentor and resources in the community that will take them under their wing is the third obstacle. We work on overcoming all of those with the Accelerator curriculum. We take about 20 students at a time through an intensive 12-week course. We've had some successful business ideas come out of the class. at doesn't mean every idea is ready when the class is done. Sometimes, we still need to run a pilot program, test the market and build up the capital. What we are seeing is that those teams are starting to grow. e second year, which we ran in spring of 2015, we had two ideas that perked up rather quickly. I would say about five of the ideas are scalable and another five are lifestyle. ey may not scale up or attract venture capitalists, but they have created a job for themselves and hired a few other people. I think the environment for entrepreneurs is starting to change in Northeast Wisconsin. We are creating the ecosystem and there are people who are supportive of the entrepreneurs. ere are investors who want to bring venture capital here and we are just getting started. 920-734-3358 FoxCities.org/bringithome SHARE WHAT IS To bring your event home to the Fox Cities, visit FoxCities.org/bringithome You may have just returned from an exciting convention or event in another city or state. Imagine that group meeting right here in the Fox Cities. We encourage you to get involved and work with us to "Bring it Home" to the Fox Cities. By booking an event with the Bring it Home program, you may receive Fox Cities area gift certificates.