DSW: It Takes a Village to Raise a Small Business (aka the Original Startup) | Online

About this event

Moderator: Michael Bevis, Director of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, City & County of Denver OED Panelists: Makisha Boothe, Founder & CEO, Sistahpreneurs - www.sistah.biz Yessica Holguin, Director, Center for Community Wealth Building - www.communitywealthbuilding.org Harris Rollinger, Director, Entrepreneurship For All - www.EforAll.org Jeremy T. Katz, Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute - www.rmmfi.org

As Denver continues to mature from an oil & gas boomtown to an innovative tech hub, we cannot leave Main Street businesses behind. From the mom & pop shops, to the immigrant-owned eateries, and the local auto garage down the street, 97.5% of businesses in Colorado are small businesses. These small businesses are the "original startups". The latest tech unicorn or massive funding round might grab all the headlines -- but it's the diverse, local businesses that give our city it's character and keep it running.

Join us for a panel discussion focused on the tools, resources, and capital that are available to under-resourced entrepreneurs and aspiring small business owners across the front range. This will be a casual-conversation environment, where the audience can easily interact with panelists and develop a discourse leading to a call to action to support under-resourced small business owners.

If you are an aspiring (or existing!) small business entrepreneur, impact investor, subject matter expert, or curious observer, you will not want to miss this unique gathering of community-builders as we host an open discussion on what's working well and where the gaps are. You will walk away from this session with information, ideas, and actionable steps to join the movement to build a diverse, equitable, and more inclusive startup community in Denver.