Celebrate Your Small Business Journey During National Entrepreneurship Week

As National Entrepreneurship Week gets underway, we celebrate the founders, visionaries and thought leaders helping to make the Greater Des Moines (DSM) business community thrive. From Feb. 11 – 18, 2023, as an entrepreneur, you can celebrate the journey you’re on and learn how to gain access to funding, educational opportunities and other resources. By working with local organizations like the Small Business Administration of Iowa, you can find loan information, training and more that will help you move forward in your startup journey.

Partnership Resources

The Greater Des Moines Partnership offers several ways to highlight your business and further market to your audience. Strike up some inspiration and check out the Small Business and Startup Stories DSM podcast. You’ll hear how T.J. Rude, the founder of Northern Vessel, worked his way to a permanent location at 1201 Keo Way in Downtown DSM, how a group of women started a business for women wanting to build new relationships and navigate the region’s outdoor offerings and explore how the Downtown Farmers’ Market season has allowed smaller businesses to spread the word about their products by becoming a vendor like Ori Asè’s owner, Hazel Grace or taking part in The Market when they apply to be in the Des Moines Farmers’ Market Incubator Program.

There are also plenty of opportunities to learn, grow and be inspired through Partnership events and our Affiliate Chambers. From our popular Top Five for Small Business Series events that take place throughout the year to the annual Small Business Success Summit coming up on Wednesday, March 22, there are plenty of opportunities to network and learn from industry experts. Minority small business owners can also apply to take part in Scale DSM, an inclusive business accelerator offering courses focused on strategic planning, leadership skills, and financials. Other events around the region include the Athene Black & Brown Business Summit in April — it includes a pitch competition and keynotes —and the Urbandale Chamber of Commerce’s Central Iowa Business Conference that takes place in May.

And if networking isn’t your thing, you can read tips, tricks and announcements in the Partnership’s Small Business Resources e-newsletter or more blog posts in the Small Business Resources Hub, where growing your career as an entrepreneur is easier thanks to writeups on financing, IT and more. Or, learn from SCORE mentors or become a mentor yourself to help up-and-coming founders achieve success, too.

So whether you’re working for yourself as realtor right out of high school like Jay Avant of Des Moines or you’re moving back to the region to open a new bookstore like Linzi Murray, there is a future for your small business here, and a successful story to be told about an up-and-coming entrepreneur … YOU!

The Greater Des Moines Partnership celebrates the Greater Des Moines (DSM) entrepreneur community and helps small businesses succeed with one-of-a-kind resources and opportunities for networking. Find out how other entrepreneurs have found success by reading their stories and attending local small business events in the region.