UNI Receives Kauffman Grant to Assist Rural Iowa Businesses

The University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Business Growth and Innovation (CBGI) has been selected for grant funding through the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s 2020 Heartland Challenge. The grant is intended to support the planning and implementation of business transition programming to address the challenges faced by small businesses in the states of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas.

CBGI plans to use the grant to launch the Iowa Business Transition Program Initiative, which will be an expanded element of CBGI’s proven succession planning work for small businesses where since 2016, over 90 Iowa companies have successfully transitioned ownership of their business.

CBGI’s Iowa Business Transition Program Initiative will work with current business owners, their next generation of family members, key employees and third party buyers in developing detailed succession road maps for their firms across rural Iowa.

“Rural decline is one of the greatest issues facing Iowa’s economy, affecting more than one-third of the state’s population. The Iowa Business Transition Program Initiative will provide a viable plan for rural businesses to remain the lifeblood of their local economies. By creating an inclusive educational and consultative program, we will be able to address all business succession issues that arise in rural Iowa,” stated Paul Kinghorn, director of CBGI.

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to increase opportunities that allow all people to learn, take risks, and own their success. The Kauffman Foundation is based in Kansas City, Missouri, and uses its $2 billion in assets to collaboratively help people be self-sufficient, productive citizens. BIZ