Winrock Hub gets $1M for startups

Reach to expand to all Delta states

A $1 million contribution from the Delta Regional Authority will expand a relatively new program by Winrock International to provide early startup money to new entrepreneurs, officials with the two entities said Wednesday.

Louisiana-based IberiaBank had earlier contributed $1 million to Winrock International's Innovation Hub, based in Little Rock. The new money will allow the Innovation Hub to expand what had been an Arkansas-centric fund into one encompassing the eight states that make up the Delta Regional Authority.

The hub's "I-Fund" began this fall with student-led startups at five Arkansas universities. Eight teams recently completed the first stages of a 12-week program that included mentoring from business professionals and the chance to market their ideas or products to potential customers, clients and investors.

Successful applicants to the program first received $5,000 grants to further develop their ideas, which, so far, have dealt primarily with patents. Grants totaling $50,000 are available as participants reach certain milestones in the program.

Jeff Stinson, the Hub's director of entrepreneurship, said about 50 public and private colleges in the eight states of the Delta Regional Authority are part of the expanded program because they "are a great breeding ground for innovative ideas."

"There's never a greater time to start as business as when you're a student," Stinson said during a telephone conference call with reporters. The expanded program won't be limited to students.

With the I-Fund now at $2 million in seed money, it should be easier to attract future investors and donors, Stinson said.

"We don't know of another program that provides this kind of early-stage training and mentoring," he said.

Chris Masingill, a co-chairman of the Delta Regional Authority, said the program fits in with the effort to "revitalize the Delta, creating jobs, improving lives and building communities." Masingill said the first dollars that go into a startup's investment are often the most important ones.

Rodney Ferguson, Winrock's chief executive officer, said 75 percent of investments goes to efforts in three cities -- New York, Boston and San Francisco. He said the Innovation Hub will prove that well-paid, highly skilled jobs are possible in the Delta "if you're willing to build an ecosystem that will support those jobs."

Ferguson cited other ventures by Winrock and the Delta Regional Authority in El Dorado; Cape Girardeau, Mo.; northern Louisiana; and Little Rock as successes in "creating jobs that will keep people in the region and create healthy communities with higher tax bases."

Managers of the I-Hub program want to have two groups of teams involved by next fall, with as many as 25 teams eventually. Winrock International will administer the program. A website to accept applications is still being developed. While groups of teams occasionally meet in person, much of the work is through videoconference, Stinson said.

Established by Congress in 2000, the Delta Regional Authority serves 252 counties and parishes in parts of eight states: Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Illinois.

Business on 12/22/2016

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