Wabash, IN (August 7, 2017) – Attention entrepreneurs! Grow Wabash County is proud to announce with our partners INGUARD Insurance and the Manchester University College of Business that we will be hosting our third cohort of CO.STARTERS starting the evening of Wednesday, October 11th. Furthermore, we are proud to announce that this upcoming class is being partially underwritten through a grant from the Community Foundation of Wabash County.
CO.STARTERS is a nine-week cohort based program that equips aspiring entrepreneurs with the insights, relationships, and tools needed to turn ideas into action and turn a passion into a sustainable and thriving endeavor. Groups of 10-16 entrepreneurs meet for nine weeks, meeting one evening a week for three hours, led by a facilitator. CO.STARTERS facilitators are experienced entrepreneurs, educators, and business owners from the community who guide participants through the program by asking the right questions, drawing on the knowledge in the room, and using available resources and connections in the community to point participants in the right direction. For this fall’s cohort, course facilitators are Steve Edris, former CEO of Owens Corning; Alan Tio, Business Development at Michael Kinder & Sons, Inc.; and Keith Gillenwater, President and CEO of Grow Wabash County.
During CO.STARTERS, participants develop and fine-tune their ideas, critically examining every part and determining next steps through real-time feedback from people in the community. Over the nine weeks, topics of discussion include everything from business structure to knowing your customer to determining a ventures break-even point. In addition to exploring different topics each week, guest speakers are also brought in weekly to enrich the conversation and help participants learn from the experience of others in the community.
“Over the last year, we have graduated two cohorts of CO.STARTERS consisting of 16 small businesses and entrepreneurs who are working hard to take their businesses and ideas to the next level,” Gillenwater said. “I would encourage any entrepreneur who is looking to get traction behind their idea and turn it into a business or for any business owner who wants to take some time to refocus back on the structure and mission of their business to consider signing up for CO.STARTERS.”
The CO.STARTERS course cost is $300 per business concept. Scholarships and financialassistance may be available. The class will be held in Messer Lab at INNOVATE @ INGUARD located at 231 W Canal St, Wabash, IN 46992 and will begin October 11, 2017 from 6 to 9 pm and run weekly (except for Thanksgiving week) on Wednesday evenings for nine weeks.
Entrepreneurs and Small Business owners interested in enrolling in this course to launch your next idea, register online at wabashchamber.org/events. If potential applicants have questions they may reach out to Grow Wabash County at info@growwabashcounty.com or call 260.563.5258 for more information.