NDED helps entrepreneurs with risks

Taking risks is part of the business landscape. For entrepreneurs, those risks are significant; he or she can lose everything.  According to Gary Hamer, deputy director for the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, failure is not only part of the game for entrepreneurs, it’s a good thing.
Hamer is part of the team at the Nebraska [...]

NEDA builds membership through conferences, networking

For more than 30 years, the Nebraska Economic Development Association has been providing economic guidance to small businesses and entrepreneurs throughout the state. NEDA’s goals are focused on economic development, increase knowledge and advancement among it’s members and networking opportunities for different professionals throughout the state.
NEDA has over 200 members in fields ranging from railroads, government [...]

Diplomats draw business into Nebraska

Imagine a business environment where new entrepreneurs can work together closely with large corporations and build, expand and promote business in the heartland. This is the basic idea behind the Nebraska Diplomats Inc., a non-profit corporation that builds alliances and networks between businesses and promotes business in the state of Nebraska. Nebraska Diplomats has been [...]

Small companies find ways to compete, keep business

Being able to bring in revenue is challenging when there are larger businesses or massive corporations selling the same product just blocks away.  Entrepreneurs can find it tough to compete and as a result, many ideas for small businesses often never reach the drawing board.  Entrepreneurs also face the challenge of keeping shoppers or customers [...]

SchillingBridge: Small town living goes hand-in-hand with entrepreneurship

Throughout their 25 years as small business owners, Mike and Sharon Schilling have whittled entrepreneurship down to a science.
Since starting a farm supply company back in 1985, they’ve also created a seed supplier, a fertilizer plant and numerous other businesses, parlaying each previous venture into the next. In 2002, the couple’s entrepreneurship culminated in growing grapes at a nine-acre vineyard near [...]

Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program takes shape

The Paul F. and Virginia J. Engler Foundation donated $20 million to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln earlier this year in an effort to create a program focused on finding students with entrepreneurial drive and providing those students with the resources to help educate them in successful agribusiness.
The program is in its infancy but [...]

NDE encouraging earlier exposure to entrepreneurship

As is the case with reading, writing and even learning a foreign language, the earlier in life we’re exposed to crucial skills, the easier they are to pick up. Entrepreneurial expertise is no different. That’s why Gregg Christensen and others from the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) are seeking to include more entrepreneurial options in the curricula [...]

CropMetrics provides exclusive services for area farms

Expansive fields of crops are common sites in Nebraska. Behind every field there’s a specific science that focuses on the best way to plant, irrigate and harvest these crops.  Many farmers don’t have the proper equipment to yield the best results. This is where Nick Emanuel and CropMetrics come in.
Emanuel, a native of North Bend, [...]

Omaha Chamber of Commerce builds connections for starting businesses

Starting a business in Omaha or Lincoln seems like a challenging task when there are numerous national chain stores to compete against.  Many entrepreneurs have a difficult time finding the right resources to establish themselves in a tough market. For some, a chamber of commerce may be the right avenue toward success. Local chambers of [...]

Caleb Pollard and the Impact Entrepreneurship Has On Economic Development

There are many ways for communities to pursue economic development, but entrepreneurship pure and simple, has been the driving force behind growth in Valley County.  Caleb Pollard, Executive Director of Valley County Economic Development, goes through the results they’ve seen and the impact it has had on the community.

Caleb Pollard – Valley County Economic Development [...]

PK Partnership Class Boasts 90 Percent Small Business Success Rate, Tripling of Sales

Everyone’s heard horror stories about small business failure. Some sources peg the rate of new startups that plummet into the abyss during their first year at around 70 percent; others go so far as to posit that 9 out of 10 new businesses collapse annually. But for many entrepreneurs in south central Nebraska, 90 percent doesn’t signify [...]

Web Site Promotes South Platte Area Rural Entrepreneurs

When sisters Betty Sayers and Nancy Herhahn graduated from Holdredge High School, educators and parents told them they could be more successful if they left Nebraska. And so they did.
Herhahn worked as a real estate company executive, living in Chicago and then San Diego. Sayers taught at a community college in Belcourt, N.D., then wrote [...]

University announces Kiewit, Scott entrepreneurial award winners

NU NEWS RELEASE
March 18, 2010
Contact: Melissa Lee
(402) 472-7127
(402) 580-3297 (cell)
melissalee@nebraska.edu
University of Nebraska President James B. Milliken has announced the 2010 winners of two awards that honor entrepreneurship in Nebraska: the Peter Kiewit Student Entrepreneurial Award and the Walter Scott Entrepreneurial Business Award.
The Peter Kiewit award recognizes University of Nebraska students who have worked toward [...]

Grow Nebraska Helping Nebraskas Small and Boutique Entrepreneurs

Grow Nebraska from Nebraska Entrepreneur on Vimeo.
Janell Anderson-Ehrke talks about GROW Nebraska and how they help entrepreneurs bring their products to market and the impact they have on economic development.

Valley County Sets New Paradigm for Rural Economic Growth

To many, the image of the young adult venturing out from their tiny hometown to seek the fortunes of the big city is an iconic slice of Americana. But Caleb Pollard, executive director of Valley County Economic Development, has every reason to believe big things can happen in small towns.
“Right now, there’s a prevailing attitude [...]