Media Release
Contact: Jo Ann Giese-Kent, FCEDC Director of
Entrepreneurship and Business Intelligence, FCEDC, 920.322.1878 or joann@fcedc.com
New Resource Network for Entrepreneurs Launched in Fond du Lac County
IGNITE! Business Success is officially “open for business”. IGNITE! is a network of fourteen entrepreneur resource providers who have rallied together to deliver a higher level of service consistency and support for start-ups and growing businesses in Fond du Lac County. “Entrepreneurs spur innovative thought,” says Jo Ann Giese-Kent, director of entrepreneurship and business intelligence for the Fond du lac County Economic Development Corporation. “This is an important element for a community’s competitiveness and job creation. A system approach is needed to support and grow that entrepreneurial spirit.”
IGNITE! Business Success is not a new organization. It is a delivery system (one-stop-shop) that will work within the framework and missions of the fourteen providers. IGNITE! resource providers include: Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corporation; Center for Enterprise Development (501c3 of FCEDC); ADVOCAP; Small Business Development Center at UW-Oshkosh; Ripon College Creative Enterprise Consultants; Moraine Park Technical College; UW Fond du Lac; Fond du Lac County UW-Extension; UW-Oshkosh Business Success Center; Marian University; SCORE; Fond du Lac Area Association of Commerce; Downtown Fond du Lac Partnership; and Fox Valley Workforce Development Board.
This coordinated network will provide confidential, free and low cost business-building solutions including: business consulting, capital resources or financing, entrepreneurial training, market research services, access to peer networks and mentors, and much more. Entrepreneurs are often uncertain where to begin and how to access these programs when there are so many individual organizations offering similar assistance. With IGNITE! Business Success, an entrepreneur simply makes one contact to IGNITE! at 920-322-1887 or emails info@IGNITEFondduLacCounty.com. An assessment of the entrepreneur’s needs will be conducted to help determine the type of assistance that would best help that person. The individual is then connected to the expert(s) within the IGNITE! network. As the entrepreneur receives assistance, a seamless level of confidential support and follow-up will be given to help him/her start, scale or accelerate their business.
