Organizations help western Kansas businesses thrive

HAYS, Kan. (KSNW) — Organizations in Kansas have started a partnership to help businesses and economic development in western Kansas.

Some of those organizations include the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), K-State 105 and the Northwest Kansas Economic Innovation Center. They work together to provide the right resources for small businesses at the right time.

“This is an exciting new process because we’re all got out of our own boats and jumping into one, and we’re all rowing together now, and I think we’re going to make a difference,” Greg Jordan, state director of SBDC, said.

Jordan says the number of clients they have served in western Kansas has declined over the last decade. They want to realign the western part of the state.

“What happens in these smaller communities, the loss of a single business can have dramatic impact on a community,” Jordan said. “And that’s where we can really help to make a difference because one of the issues that really comes up as we looked at the food desert, we have places that have lost their grocery store, and the closest one is 60 miles away.”

Jordan says in the past, the organizations have been waving neighbors and worked together but didn’t have a strong cooperative working arrangement.

Services include everything from training to individual 1-1 counseling. They are also looking into areas that can create a baseline for other businesses to come to the area.

“Finding housing and finding child care, those are areas that have declined because thesre just wasn’t assistance for them or there wasn’t ways to help people get started in that there wasn’t the money, and we can bring all these resources together to help rebuild some of these areas that have really suffered,” Jordan said.

Jessica Gnad, the director of K-State 105, says there is uneven economic development in Kansas, and small business development is a key driver for prosperity across the state.

“By this partnership being one of the first that K State 105 has launched, I feel like that sets a precedent for how we move forward,” Gnad said.

Scott Sproul is the president of the Northwest Kansas Economic Innovation Center and says the partnership provides more assistance for more people but also brings in different services.

“It gives us a really good chance to remove the silos, if you will, and to bring the right suite of services that businesses and entrepreneurs desperately need,” Sproul said.

One example is an entrepreneur who finds a better way to build a house, and they can plug into KSU of FHSU to share and collect expertise.

“It’s typical that a business owner or an entrepreneur is very good at building the widget or building the piece that they want to take to market, but it’s very uncommon for them to have all the aspects of business that they need,” Sproul said. “So this enhanced suite of services will be rolling out for northwest Kansas, will hopefully help those businesses be stronger.”

Sproul says they have not scratched the surface of the talent in the western part of the state.

Israel Luna is opening a new restaurant soon and says he couldn’t have done it without the help of the SBDC.

“I was lost for about a week or two. I was like, What am I going to do? How am I going to do it? He kinda just told me what they could do for me, and I was like, sure, you know, because obviously there’s going to be a need for for extra resources,” Luna said. “I had some capital, but I was going to need more for what I was wanting to do. Al directed me through all of the things. He helped me put my business plan together so that I could also approach a local banking institution here in Hays.”