IHCC Regional Entrepreneurship Center hosts 10th anniversary

The Indian Hills Community College Regional Entrepreneurship Center (REC) in Ottumwa hosted its 10th anniversary celebration with a Kickoff Breakfast on Tuesday, Dec. 17.

The event featuring a keynote speaker, Paul Gormley of CIRAS at Iowa State University. Gormley gave an overview of Artificial Intelligence and how AI could be an affordable and useful tool to boost small business success.

Current REC tenants shared tours of their offices and information about their businesses.

Attendees included Indian Hills Community College President Dr. Matt Thompson, IHCC Vice President of Business Solutions, Dr. Jennifer Wilson, Lisa Shimkat, America's SBDC Iowa-State Director at Iowa State University as well as other SBDC representatives, Kelly Prickett, IHCC REC and SBDC Regional director, REC Founders, program alums, and new REC tenants.

Soul Punch catered breakfast for the occasion. Soul Punch will be a new REC tenant as of Jan. 1.

The REC is a 10,000-square-foot building comprising approximately 7,000 square feet of rentable space and 3,000 square feet of shared space. Indian Hills Community College marks 10 years supporting rural business growth, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

In the last 10 years, the REC has helped create 27 business starts; of those programs they can track, more than 50 percent are still in business today. Many of those alum companies have moved to surrounding communities, such as Oskaloosa, Albia, and Ottumwa. These businesses have created and maintained more than 200 jobs in the area.

"In 2021, we asked the state to allow us to start a pilot program where we merged the REC and SBDC director position,“ said Dr. Jennifer Wilson, IHCC Vice President of Business Solutions. ”Our goal was to increase outreach and entrepreneurial understanding within the IHCC region, expand client services, increase the use of the REC, and talk more holistically about our services. Skeptical but agreeable, the state provided us the latitude to be innovative—being the first in the state to initiate this model."

Wilson explained that the partnership was successful and reaped big rewards, including the ability to expand its reach and partner with other nearby rural communities, angel investors, lenders, and many others, including state and local government programs and officials.

The REC has remained 90 plus percent filled since 2022, mainly due to the merger.

"It's a privilege to be hired as the first director with a combined role to enhance support for our local businesses and communities building an entrepreneurship ecosystem," said Prickett. "It is a spirit of collaboration that continues to make the REC/SBDC vital for rural development."

"We wouldn't be where we are today without the SBDC," said Fairfield resident and business owner Rae Guillermo. "Kelly [Prickett] has been amazing."

Guillermo co-owns The Dessert Mixologist, a plant-based dessert line, with her lifelong friend and sorority sister Lorrie Popik. Guillermo is also a tenant inside the REC in Ottumwa.

Malwood USA's owner, Cherielynn Westrich, said her company has been at the REC for about three years.

“With the help of our great advisors at the center, we have grown our business and doubled our sales every year," Westrich said. "Kelly, Darrel [Sarmento], and Marissa [Long] have been invaluable assets to our business, giving us fantastic advice and helping us find other professionals to advise us.”

Malwood makes an under-dash hydraulic clutch pedal conversion kit and a hydraulic throw-out bearing called the Cherry Bearing.

“I never would have thought that I needed AI training, but after that presentation, I think I could really use some AI to help business,” Westrich said about Gormly’s presentation.

Nicole Major, owner of Pink Butterfly Press LLC, said she became a REC tenant earlier that month.

"I started my business in 2020 but went part-time with it two years later,“ she said. ”I'm at it again full-time, and I don't think I could have made a better choice than the REC. I have quickly learned so much from Kelly, Darrell, and Marissa. I couldn't be happier about this choice."

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