Cape Girardeau has been selected as the next site for the Kauffman Foundation’s national entrepreneur mentoring program, 1 Million Cups. The first event will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 12.
The program is held every Wednesday morning from 9-10am in locations all over the country. Lead organizer for the Cape Girardeau program, James Stapleton said the program is designed to provide aspiring entrepreneurs, whether they are experienced or beginners, a platform to share their information on what they're working on and their success or challenges they have faced along the journey. It is built on the premise that entrepreneurs benefit from collaborating and working together in an open and sharing environment.
“As an experienced entrepreneur myself, I can tell you that entrepreneurs always turn to experienced entrepreneurial business mentors to try to help them through those challenges,” Stapleton said.”This is a great open and sharing way to do that.”
According to Stapleton, the Kauffman Foundation selected Cape Girardeau as a site for several reasons.
“Cape Girardeau has a long history of really successful entrepreneurs, and it’s a community that’s really built around the success of those entrepreneurs,” Stapleton said.
Stapleton also said the Kauffman Foundation recognized that Cape Girardeau is on the leading edge of some new exciting opportunities.
“You get the sense, that even though we’re a small community, we’ve got this entrepreneurial spirit that gives us the potential in the new and challenging dynamics of the global economy to continue to be a successful community,” Stapleton said.
1 Million Cups will take place at Codefi, Cape Girardeau’s newest creative, co-working space and technology incubator located at 339 Broadway. Participants of the program are also invited to the launch of Codefi on Nov. 7