Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at 5:30:00 PM Olathe City Hall 100 East Santa Fe, olathe, KS

Innovation Pavilion goal is to feed the innovation-entrepreneurial ecosystem with all sorts of tools in order to maintained a stronger community. 

First speaker is Stephanie Landis from SBDC-Kansas.

She is presently a consultant for the Kansas Small Business Development Center located at JCCC, is a Certified Value Growth Advisor, Certified Global Business Professional, Friends of the Library and Leadership Olathe Alumni Board Member, KC Chamber Annual Small Business Celebration and Mr. K Award Judge, and frequently contributes to business magazines and panel discussions.

By integrating her extensive leadership background in nationally recognized corporations with the personal experiences from owning three local businesses, she provides valuable insight into strategy, business development, hiring and motivating employees, and understanding the budgeting and financial influences within an organization. 

Her continuous improvement approach and sales expertise has earned her many awards including most recently the League for Innovation in Community College for GAME – Growth through Action, Measurement and Engagement strategic planning workshop. 

She received her Bachelor's in Business Administration from the University of Kansas and her Master's in Business Administration from Rockhurst University. 

She will explain how America's SBDC – Kansas is your "go to" spot for resources, training and advising. As previous business owners-our advisers blend their learned experience and owner experience to help our clients succeed in their business endeavors. SBDC services include: cash flow management, sales, marketing, exporting, supply chain, buy/sell, strategic planning, and much more. 

Second speaker is Leslie Walton from KC SourceLink. 

She studied accounting and business for her bachelor's degree and proceeded to earn her master's degree in business, which is also when she discovered her passion - entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur in her own right, Leslie understands how important it is to have the right team and resources for survival and success.

 KCSourceLink's mission is to connect the individuals, organizations and institutions that support entrepreneurship to one another and the community at large to grow a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem in Kansas City. 

KCSourceLink accomplishes our mission by connecting 240+ business-building organizations across the 18-county bistate metro. Through KCSourceLink, thousands of entrepreneurs and business owners are able to gain   access to the right resource at the right time to start, grow and accelerate their businesses

KCSourceLink has also been leading the effort to make Kansas City America's most entrepreneurial city. That means we help coordinate great events for entrepreneurs, like Global Entrepreneurship Week and Battle of the   Brands. We also help fill gaps in resources and bring national resources to the community through grants such as the I6 Challenge and the University Center grants from the Department of Commerce EDA.

We are looking forward to seeing you there!

And as always, we will have light refreshments!