Business Services
Trainings and Workshops
Food Safety: Starting a Restaurant or Food Truck
Join us for a workshop that will teach you all the necessary steps to start your own food truck or restaurant. During this workshop you will…
- Subject
- Business
- Series
- Business Basics
- Start Date
- November 28, 2023
Starting a Cottage Food Production Business
Learn how to sell food products right from your home. Join us for a workshop on becoming a cottage food producer—an exciting way to enter…
- Subject
- Business
- Series
- Business Basics
- Start Date
- December 5, 2023

Lending—With a Mission
As a certified Community Development Financial Institution, or CDFI, the Initiative Foundation works to create economic opportunity throughout Central Minnesota by lending funds to locally owned businesses. The Foundation’s lending initiatives play a crucial role in promoting economic development, revitalizing underserved communities, and fostering financial inclusion.
By providing access to capital and support to borrowers who may face barriers, CDFIs like the Initiative Foundation help to create opportunities for economic growth and empowerment in disadvantaged areas.

Business Support for You
Lending programs at the Initiative Foundation go beyond just providing capital. We also provide business support to help borrowers succeed. Support can come in many forms, from business planning and credit counseling to other forms of education to bolster a borrowers’ financial capacity.
Entrepreneurial Programs
In addition to its Business Basics workshops and its partnerships to advance business succession planning across the region, the Initiative Foundation invests in the promise of local people who have the drive and determination to start and sustain job-creating, community-enriching businesses.

Enterprise Academy
Launched in 2018, the Enterprise Academy has helped hundreds of individuals realize their dream to build and launch local businesses. From accounting to food to healthcare ventures, Enterprise Academy graduates are enriching the region and beyond with their products and services.

Initiators Fellowship
The Initiators Fellowship is a bold strategy that gives next-generation leaders the tools and resources to accelerate their entrepreneurial and leadership skills—all for the greater good of Greater Minnesota.
Contact Us
Reach out to a member of our staff for questions on the array of business services that we offer. We are here to help!




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