NWI BizHub connects Northwest Indiana entrepreneurs and small business owners to the right resources at the right time, no matter where they are in their journey of starting, accelerating or expanding their business.
How do we accomplish this?
NWI BizHub connects a large diverse network of primarily nonprofit service providers offering a wide array of business-building services for small businesses. We facilitate access to these resource organizations for established, emerging and startup small businesses throughout the region.
Our network resource partners provide a wide range of business-related services, including:
- Training classes
- Business planning
- Financial management
- Funding
- Internships
- Legal services
- Marketing/sales
- Mentoring
- Commercialization
- Regulatory compliance
- Government contracts
Founding Partners:
Legacy Foundation, Crown Point Community Foundation and Unity Foundation of La Porte County, the Northwest Indiana Small Business Development Center and the Center of Workforce Innovations have united in an effort to improve the entrepreneurial infrastructure in Northwest Indiana through a project called NWI BizHub. This effort is rooted in the September 2018 strategic plan Ignite the Region: A Regional Strategy for Economic Transformation. That report identified an “underdeveloped entrepreneurial culture and ecosystem” as a weakness of the region. The report specifically calls for building “a regional entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem asset map to help entrepreneurs, startup companies, and investors to navigate the state’s existing resources and networks.”
To that end, the NWI BizHub engaged SourceLink to help build that asset map.
The project began with a grant provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. The Lake and La Porte County Community Foundations partnered to explore opportunities on how philanthropy could play a role in fostering economic development in our communities. Through community engagement and research, entrepreneurship emerged as a priority area where the Foundations could build upon existing efforts.
To learn more, download a fact sheet below.