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4747 Troost Revisited
The evolution continues in this hub of small business resource organizations.
By Ellen Jensen
Four years ago, Kansas City Small Business Monthly published an article recounting the construction and organizational changes at 4747 Troost, a hub of resources for both aspiring and existing entrepreneurs. The evolution has continued, and there is a new set of changes unraveling.
Connections
The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) owns the building at 4747 Troost, which houses more than 18 entrepreneurial resources. Having that many resources under one roof is beneficial, but keeping them straight is a challenge—not only for the resource partners themselves, but for potential clients as well. KCSourceLink was established in 2003 to help aspiring, emerging and established small business owners find the right resource. The organization connects 138 resource partner organizations in an 18-county region around Kansas City, including those at 4747 Troost.
“The key thing to remember is that you can always call KCSourceLink first, and we will find the right place for you to go,” said Maria Meyers, KCSourceLink director. “Our services are free, and we keep up with the changes, so we make it easy for you to access the small business help you need.”
KCSourceLink also manages the Business Resource Center (BRC), located just inside the front door at 4747 Troost. Formerly part of the Small Business Administration, the BRC offers information on starting and growing a business, including books, videos and 150 pre-built business plans for a variety of different businesses. Computers with Internet access also are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
“The computers are equipped with business programs, and you can also use them to work on marketing brochures or print business cards,” Meyers said.
Business Outreach Services at UMKC
The UMKC Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration entrepreneurship programs are going through their own evolution. The focus hasn’t changed, just the delivery mechanism, said Marylou DeWald, director of Outreach Services and regional director of the Small Business & Technology Development Center.
All of the Institute’s UMKC business-building programs now are grouped together on the first floor of 4747 Troost and led by Marylou DeWald. Business Outreach Services serves as the umbrella organization for UMKC’s grant-based programs, which are the Small Business & Technology Development Center, Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC), Missouri Federal and State Technology Partnership (MoFAST) and iStrategy Studio.
“The goal continues to be to work with small businesses in the greater Kansas City area to help them grow and prosper,” DeWald said.
Potential recipients of these services now will be clients of Business Outreach Services, which is in the process of implementing a subject matter expert system. All of the resource providers within Business Outreach Services are subject matter experts, along with selected outside individuals who have subject matter expertise in various areas.
If you go to Business Outreach Services for help, you will be assigned a case manager who is your point of contact throughout your stay with the organization. If you need help beyond general business advice—government contracting assistance, for example—then the case manager would refer you to a subject matter expert, in this case, the Missouri or Heartland PTAC, depending on whether you are based in Missouri or Kansas.
“Business Outreach Services is like the primary care physician, and if you have certain problems, we refer you to a specialist to focus on specific needs,” DeWald said. “We monitor your progress, and that casework process is going to stay with you. We know the total of what’s happening to you and your business.”
UMKC Outreach Services Programs
UMKC’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) recently added “technology” to its name and focus. The Center is one of four in the country that has gone through the process. The new Small Business & Technology Development Center provides counseling to both established and emerging businesses. Counseling topics include business plan development, financial management, marketing, international trade, franchising, licensing and inventory.
“We are creating the infrastructure and bringing in the subject matter experts to work on high-growth, high-technology-related businesses,” DeWald said.
Among the technology-based programs is MoFAST, a program of the University of Missouri Extension. MoFAST is designed to assist Missouri businesses and researchers in obtaining federal research and development funds through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants.
iStrategy Studio’s role is to help small business owners build a Web site. One of the changes in this program is that potential clients now are required to take the Planning for Online Success class. It’s important that small business owners understand everything that goes into building an effective Web site, said Trisha Pitts, director of the iStrategy Studio.
“People think they will magically be found in the search engines, and that’s not so,” Pitts said.
The class outlines the step-by-step process of building a Web site, including research and deciding on keyword phrases. After the class, the client meets with Pitts and one of the development partners from the computer science school at UMKC. iStrategy used to have a technology team in the building that hired students, but now outsources through the computer science school. Based on how much work the client wants done, iStrategy writes a proposal.
“Our goal is to give them the most effective Web site possible for the lowest cost,” Pitts said. “If they want to hold down costs, they have to do more of the work. The class helps them to understand what is involved.”
The Heartland and Missouri PTACs assist small businesses in federal, state and local government procurement. They are funded by a grant from the Department of Defense and cooperative agreements with the University of Missouri and Missouri Southern State University. PTACs offer several services, including bid matching, assisting clients with marketing their products and services to government agencies, government registrations, government certifications, procurement price histories and educational seminars.
Other Business-Building Resources
Although the other building resource organizations aren’t under UMKC’s Outreach Services umbrella, they still are part of the 4747 Troost hub of small business service providers.
The SCORE office is housed in the Business Resource Center. SCORE counselors are retired businesspeople who volunteer time and expertise to help new and existing business owners solve problems. They provide one-on-one counseling with clients by appointment, as well as a monthly pre-business seminar.
The Missouri Enterprise Business Assistance Center is a non-profit company that operates as a resource to Missouri-based businesses in manufacturing, agriculture and innovation. It represents the state’s manufacturing sector as a Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). It also delivers technical and business assistance to companies through its Value-Added Agriculture Program and its Innovation Center, and through its association with industry groups, government agencies, university researchers and private consultants.
Also located on the first floor is the Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program (HEMP). Formed in 1995 by Barnett Helzberg Jr., former owner and president of Helzberg Diamonds, the program was inspired by his 20-year mentoring relationship with Ewing Kauffman. HEMP matches seasoned, successful entrepreneur mentors with less-experienced entrepreneur mentees. To qualify for the program, the mentee must have been in business as least three years and be the ultimate decision maker for a company that generates between $1 million and $75 million in annual revenue.
The Entrepreneurial Education Foundation administers FastTrac, a comprehensive education program for entrepreneurs. The program offers both a nine-session course for aspiring entrepreneurs and an 11-session course for existing entrepreneurs interested in growing their businesses. It is sponsored by the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.
Financial and Legal Services
Growth Opportunity Connection (GO Connection) is a non-profit organization designed to meet the needs of aspiring entrepreneurs. It operates two Small Business Administration (SBA) funded programs: the Missouri Women’s Business Center and the Microloan Program.
The Women’s Business Center provides business education, advising, access to capital, and mentoring programs for women entrepreneurs. The center’s mission is to help women build financially sound businesses. The center offers one-on-one business consulting, training seminars and access to technology in a non-intimidating environment.
The Microloan Program provides funding of up to $50,000 for inventory, supplies, equipment or working capital to entrepreneurs who don’t yet qualify for bank financing.
Since January 2002, the Entrepreneurial Legal Services Clinic has been delivering legal services to start-up and existing small business owners who cannot afford the market rates. The clinic is a program of the UMKC School of Law, and faculty attorneys supervise law students as they provide legal services to qualified clients. Services include assisting small businesses on entity formation, contract review and drafting, and advice on related issues.
Training Courses
The First Step Fund is a non-profit agency that provides business and entrepreneurial training and ongoing support to low- to moderate-income individuals. Training is offered for entrepreneurs who want to start or expand a small business. The organization offers the First Step FastTrac, a general business training course, Primer Paso FastTrac taught in Spanish, and the Developing Your Family Child Care Business Course. Other services include an alumni group, microloan program and mentor program, all of which are restricted to alumni of the First Step Fund program.
Also on the second floor is the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership (MCNL), which is a service and outreach unit of the L.P. Cookingham Institute of Public Affairs in the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration at UMKC. Created in 1991 to serve the six-state region of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Arkansas, the organization’s mission is to enhance the performance and effectiveness of individuals and organizations in the nonprofit sector. Services include education, applied research and problem solving.
The council on Philanthropy helps non-profit professionals and volunteers make a difference in their organizations, careers and community, building human and organizational capacity to expand philanthropy in the communities it serves.
The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) is committed to fostering a healthy urban core economy with thriving entrepreneurial activities and minority-owned businesses. Management services include business strategy, capital access, market, industry and operations analysis, purchasing opportunities, human resources development, accounting and legal assistance and business network development. ICIC-KC is an affiliate of the national organization.
Beyond 4747 Troost
Outreach Services also is trying to work together more closely with other small business development center-related organizations to make sure all are sending clients to the best people, DeWald said.
“We are creating a roadmap across the city to make it simpler for us to work together effectively,” she said.
Cooperating resources include the Johnson County Community College and Central Missouri State University SBDCs, the Kansas Women’s Business Center (KWBC), as well as the Missouri Women’s Business Center and the UMKC Small Business & Technology Center, which are in the building.
The idea is to avoid duplication of efforts. For example, Central Missouri State’s niche is intellectual property and manufacturing, and the KWBC has been focusing on certification and FastTrac for women.
Sherry Turner, KWBC director, said that all organizations in the community are doing a better job of coordinating efforts and directing clients to the right resources.
Certification workshops are new for the KWBC, which decided to fill a need in the community by helping women business owners understand the women business enterprise (WBE) certification process. They are collaborating with the Minority Supplier Council, which has had a niche with the minority business entity (MBE) certification.
“We are trying to be the go-to certification resource in terms of knowledge,” Turner said. “Business owners can spin wheels a lot to try to find out information.”
An Entrepreneurial Space
Although there have been many changes at 4747 Troost over the years, and likely more to come, the one constant is that the many organizations housed there continually are working together to provide the best service for small business owners. Along with the organizational changes, construction projects have altered the landscape, improving the building aesthetics.
Meyers said the building now has more of an open, friendly feel, and the people who enter the space are passionate about what they are doing.
“When I started here two years ago, this building was all white walls and gray,” Meyers said. “Now, it is a more lively space, and the colors are great. It went from hospital gray to entrepreneurial energy.”
Ellen Jensen is the managing editor of Kansas City Small Business Monthly magazine.
Tenant Locations at 4747 Troost
First Floor
Business Resource Center
Heartland Procurement Technical Assistance Center
Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program
iStrategy Studio
KCSourceLink
Missouri Federal and State Technology Partnership
Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Center
Missouri Small Business & Technology Development Center
SCORE
University of Missouri Outreach and Extension
Second Floor
Council on Philanthropy
Entrepreneurial Education Foundation (FastTrac)
Entrepreneurial Legal Services Clinic
First Step Fund
Growth Opportunity Connection (Go Connection)
Initiative for a Competitive Inner City–Kansas City
Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership (MCNL)
Missouri Women’s Business Center
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