Business Services

Trainings and Workshops

Get Out Of Your Own Way: Managing Limiting Beliefs

What is preventing your business success? Maybe it’s you. Many business owners find themselves struggling with limiting beliefs. These are the nagging voices inside your…

Subject
Business
Series
Business Basics
Start Date
November 14, 2023

Bookkeeping Best Practices

Let’s face it: Bookkeeping and record-keeping aren’t the most glamorous parts of running a business. Yet these two functions are critical to your success. This…

Subject
Business
Series
Business Basics
Start Date
November 15, 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!

Brian Voerding

Brian Voerding

Vice President for Inclusive Entrepreneurship (320) 631-2006
Ismail Mohamed

Ismail Mohamed

Enterprise Academy Program Officer (320) 412-5330

Subscribe to Newsletter

Subscribe to the Initiative Foundation’s small business and economic development newsletter to stay in the loop on upcoming trainings, resources and other opportunities.