Program areas at Entrepreneurship Foundation
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT. Responding to the requests from the regional Chamber of Commerce and with an ARPA grant, the Foundation embarked on a program to support the manufacturing industry in the state of Connecticut that has suffered supply chain interruptions from COVID and a chronic shortage of skilled labor. As a result, we launched a marketing campaign to encourage young people to pursue manufacturing as a business (to expand the existing supply chain) or as a career to bolster HR resources for the companies. Events included career fairs and manufacturing trade shows with young companies and startups as suppliers and established firms as buyers.
ENTREPRENEUR SALES OUTLET. The Entrepreneurship Foundation supports a sales outlet for 25 entrepreneurs to showcase and sell their products. This outlet is a brick and mortar location in downtown Bridgeport. The Foundation also provides and maintains an online store for the same purpose and organizes free pop-ups and booths at farmers markets.
BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITIONS for residents and businesses located in CT through two competitions: 1) The BRIDGEPORT BUSINESS CHALLENGE, whereby $69,698 in startup and growth grants were distributed among 30 finalists, chosen from over 100 entries from students, startups and established companies in the greater Bridgeport region. More than 20 volunteer judges helped to select the most promising companies in two rounds and three categories. 2) The NEW PRODUCT COMPETITION, that allocated $30,750 in R&D grants among 25 entries.
ENTREPRENEURS SOCIETY. A series of educational and networking events for entrepreneurs. Expense shown was for a software platform to track the progress of the young companies, and for meeting supplies, primarily name tags and signage. The Foundation provided mentoring for 40 individual entrepreneurs, and conducted free business training sessions for hundreds more.
CCEE (Conntecticut Consortium for Entrepreneurship Educators). The Foundation hosted a meeting of 14 member colleges and universities of the CT Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education (CCEE) on February 17 to discuss priorities, strategies and funding. Funds expended were for refreshments.