
Winston Churchill defined success as “moving from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” When I read this, I had to chuckle as I believe it is a perfect description of the economic development process in rural Kansas but also describes the life of an entrepreneur.
At Grow Hays, our mission is business creation, business retention, and expansion and business recruitment. Pretty simple, pretty straight-forward — but far from easy. Each portion of our mission requires a strategy and planning to determine how to achieve our mission. Today, I would like to focus on the first part of our mission — business creation.
To me, business creation is synonymous with entrepreneurship. Fostering an environment that is conducive to entrepreneurship is essential if we are to grow and sustain our economy in Ellis County. We are very fortunate that Fort Hays State University is actively engaged in entrepreneurship.
The university has invested heavily in entrepreneurship and conducts events like the Faulkner Challenge and Start Up Weekend. These are excellent events that sow the seeds of entrepreneurship in the community.
At Grow Hays, we are attempting to expand those efforts through our Robert E. Schmidt Entrepreneurial Series. This series consists of several events that further foster a community environment of entrepreneurship and business creation. These events include:
Pitch It
Pitch It is our Shark Tank-type event where aspiring and existing entrepreneurs “pitch” their ideas. Each participant gives a five-minute presentation followed by questions from three judges. Each event features five presenters with the winners being awarded a $500 cash prize. The objective of the event is to not only bring new ideas to the community but to also expose these ideas and concepts to an audience of potential investors, mentors and other resources that can help turn these ideas into reality.
Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge
The YEC is a Network Kansas sponsored event consisting of high school students in Ellis County doing a trade show booth as well as presenting a business idea. Last spring, we held the first YEC in Ellis County and had over 23 participants from local high schools.
Ethan Lang from Thomas More Prep-Marian was the winner of our local YEC and then went on to win the state YEC event held in Manhattan. What a terrific first year to produce a state champion!
TriSpective Speaker Series
We have amazing talent in our community, and the TriSpective Speaker Series puts those talents on display. Each event consists of three local speakers that give 15- to 20-minute presentations on a variety of topics. These individuals tell their stories, talk about their successes and failures, and answer questions from the audience. We have had a wide range of topics ranging from marketing and branding, market segmentation, overcoming obstacles and fears, data security, and entrepreneurship. It is a terrific opportunity to hear from people who have unique skills, have overcome obstacles and have actually “done it”!
Grow Hays quarterly luncheons
Communication and education are critical to our communities success and our quarterly luncheons achieve both. At these luncheons, we bring together community leaders, provide updates regarding Grow Hays activities as well as have speakers who provide educational information on things that impact our community. We have had speakers discussing the development process, development opportunities, the property taxation process, and the oil industry and its economic impact on Ellis County.
• • •
Entrepreneurship is absolutely a key component of our economic future in Ellis County and, at Grow Hays, we are working every day to help build an environment where entrepreneurship can flourish. We are very fortunate to have The Robert E and Patricia A. Schmidt Foundation as the sponsors of our Entrepreneurial Series.
I believe it is something Bob would have been proud to have his name on.
Doug Williams is executive director of Grow Hays.