(bright music) (upbeat music) - [Male Narrator] Additional funding is provided by the Friends of KTWU.

- On today's Working Capital, we discuss the importance of economic prosperity, innovation, collaboration, and diversification in business and community.

Stay with us as we learn about a building a sustained community.

It's all about business on Working Capital.

(upbeat music) Hello, and welcome to Working Capital, an organization with a strong history, built upon the mission to build a strong and viable Topeka and Shawnee County, while representing our culturally rich and diverse community.

I am happy to introduce Glenda Washington and Laurie Pieper of the Greater Topeka Partnership.

Glenda and Laurie, welcome to Working Capital.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- So first off, let's just get a little brief overview.

What is the Greater Topeka Partnership and what does that entail?

- The Greater Topeka Partnership is a partnership of organizations that all have the economic enhancement of Topeka and Shawnee County as part of our mission.

Within the partnership, Glenda and I both are part of GO Topeka, which is the specific economic development partner.

Underneath the partnership, in addition we have the Chamber of Commerce which is working on legislative issues and we have Downtown Topeka.

We also have several other partners in addition to our shared services.

- Fantastic.

Well right off the bat then with GO Topeka, I know there's a new small business incentive programs that you guys are kind of putting forth.

Tell us a little bit about that program.

- Well first of all, I need to give credit for the inception of the program to Glenda Washington because she's the person who created it, how many years ago now Glenda?

- About four or five years ago.

- About four or five years ago.

But we've recently done an update to the program.

Glenda got it off the ground and then when I came on board with GO Topeka this past autumn the program came under my responsibility.

And as part of good program management, an organization is always looking at what it can do to keep it current, keep it relevant, make improvements.

Glenda did an awesome job with the program, but we've made some changes to the application process and also introduced some new incentives.

So one of the things that people need to know is that the purpose of the incentive program is to encourage businesses to make investments in their companies that are going to help them grow and improve their financial performance.

So the incentives that we've continued that Glenda created are construction and renovation, equipment, marketing, architect and design to help business cover those costs when they're making investments to help them grow their companies.

In addition we've added some incentives that are related to commercialization and innovation to help with that portion of our strategic planning for Topeka and Shawnee County.

- Wow!

So what size of businesses does this really target?

I mean is this a single person or I mean are we looking at 15-20 employees?

I mean, how can you guys cater to the size of business here in Topeka?

- It can be for a business that has the founder as the only employee or the business owner as the only employee.

It goes up to businesses that have 100 employees.

For some of the incentives, we have different caps.

So for companies that have between one and nine employees for construction renovation and equipment, there's one cap.

And then for the second stage companies that are at 10 to 100 employees, we have larger caps on the incentive amounts for those two particular categories.

- Are there any businesses off the top of your head that have really been shining examples of taking advantage of these new incentives?

What's some of the sparkling businesses?

- So these incentives have been really useful for businesses that have been making investment in equipment that allows them to add additional production shifts or to add additional services that allow them to bring on additional employees so that they can increase their revenues and offer great jobs in our community.

Glenda, would you like to add anything to that?

- Yeah.

Any business that you can think of basically in this community, know about it or have taken advantage of it.

And those that don't, we're marketing to those individuals as well.

I mean, you can walk over NOTO Downtown, over in Fairlawn, any of those communities and you'll find a business that has taken advantage of the incentive program.

- This program and even just GO Topeka and the Greater Topeka Partnership, I mean, it really has been a boon to get businesses and people back downtown say are historic downtown and also NOTO so it it's been been just a great program.

So-- - And something that I have to point out, and again, I have to give kudos to Glenda for getting this off the ground, I don't know of any other community that has a grant incentive program like this to support their small businesses.

So what we're doing is really important.

(upbeat music) And also as far as I know very unique.

- That's fantastic.

It's time for a short break.

Stay with us as we talk about future plans for Greater Topeka Partnership and their mission to sustain a fun and vibrant community.

We'll be right back.

You're watching, Working Capital.

(upbeat music) Welcome back to the show.

We were just talking about incentive programs to get businesses up and going here in Topeka.

And Laurie, if we could again, just let's go over what businesses should know about applying, the application process for this program.

- Oh, thank you for the opportunity to talk about that.

The funding for program comes from JEDO so that we can help to create high quality jobs in Topeka and Shawnee County and help to support our businesses in their growth.

And it's important for businesses to think about that when they are apply.

So when they write their cover letter, it's important for them to be thinking about the uses of funds that they're proposing when they apply for the incentives and appreciate their request in the context of an economic development mission.

So how will that investment in their company help them increase their gross revenues, improve their profitability, hire new employees, offer higher wages, have a more sustainable business model so that that business stays here thriving in Topeka and Shawnee County.

So that's one tip that I have in mind is keep in mind the context for the incentives and the purpose of the incentives.

And then also this is something that is a competitive application process.

It's not something where you just submit an application and automatically you receive funds.

And so think about making the business case for the use of the funds and your timeline, what kinds of things you're going to be trying to accomplish, what your measures of success are and any information that you can provide the review committee with because we have an independent review committee, any information that you can provide the review committee with that helps them understand why you're a good investment for the incentive program.

- Fantastic information.

Of course, you guys aren't all all about this one program.

So Glenda, let's talk about some of the other stuff going on down there.

Micro loans, contract financing, the pitch contest.

What's some other stuff you got churning down there?

- We have a lot of new programs coming out for minority businesses.

And so these programs that I'm responsible for are simply for minority and women owned businesses.

So the first one I wanna talk about is the micro loan.

So we have a, what we call now a first opportunity loan fund.

And that fund can fund businesses up to $100,000.

But what we found was a lot of the businesses that we come in contact with are looking for a little less.

So we created a micro loan program and that program will be launched in a couple of months.

That program has looked at what the market bears.

It will be geared toward those individuals that need maybe $5,000 to $15,000.

So that was the gap right there.

That's what we were missing.

I got people coming in every day asking, "What can you do for me?

"I need a loan, but I don't need a big, big loan.

"I just need something either to buy a piece of equipment "or some working capital for the moment.

"What's in it for me?"

And so we came up with the solution and that'll be the micro loan program.

We'll put that out pretty soon.

People will be able to start applying for it, but we are drafting all of the language and the application, and then we'll put it on the market for individuals that are microbe-size businesses because small businesses and micro-size businesses are totally different.

And so we wanna make sure that we are addressing some of their needs as well.

- So give me a little bit of the difference between a micro-business and a small business, just for some more viewers out there maybe that would help me.

- So I'll talk about the micro business.

A micro business is maybe an individual that's a sole proprietor and he doesn't have know a big group of people working for him.

He's micro, everything in his business is very small.

- Could be working out the house, could be working out of his garage.

- He's probably working out of the garage.

- Shared space.

- Yes.

And so that's the micro business.

He's not at that point now where he can hire somebody.

So he's generally making a certain amount and he's beginning to break into the business world.

And so he's a micro-business that I'm talking about.

- Fantastic.

- Small business, you wanna give him a definition of small business since you are the small business?

- When people talk about small businesses, depending on the context, they have different definitions that they use.

The SBA standard as a rule of thumb, not for every industry, but as a rule of thumb is 500 employees or fewer.

But when we're talking about small businesses in our local community, we're usually talking about businesses that have under 100 employees.

So we might be looking at startups or we might be looking at second stage companies.

A lot of the small businesses that we work with are in the 10 to 15, 25 employee category.

And what we're trying to do is really help them grow.

- Now keep in mind, I'm talking about minority owned businesses and women owned businesses.

- Yes.

- And she's talking about general population.

So you'll find a difference there.

You'll find different needs.

So when we talk about what small businesses, I mean, I'm sorry, minority businesses need, generally they are under capitalized.

And so this is one of the reasons that we're going in that direction to make sure that we have capital for them that they can grow to where they can-- - Stepping stones.

- Yeah.

So we're building that ladder for them or helping them build that ladder.

- And something I would like to add to what Glenda has said is that while for minority and women own businesses, her programs might be the best first place to look.

They're not the only place to look.

So it's not that if a business is a minority or women owned business, they can only look at those resources.

They can also look get the more general programs.

- They'll be able to take advantage of her small business incentives as well.

So what we wanna do is we wanna provide wraparound services so they can actually have an option.

Historically they haven't had many options and so this opens that door.

- You guys, you are doing great work down there.

So I hope some people.

- Thank you.

- Viewing today see these programs and reach out because great help.

- [Glenda] Yeah.

So thank you.

- Thank you both for being on today.

- Thank you.

- It's time for another short break.

When we return, we discuss professional development and building environmental sustainability with Omni Circle Group.

Stick around.

You're watching, Working Capital.

(upbeat music) Welcome back.

Omni Circle Group is a Topeka based collaborative workspace provider for personal and a professional development all while sustaining a diverse and environmentally sustainable community.

I'm happy to introduce Michael Odupitan of Omni Circle Group.

Michael, welcome to Working Capital.

- Thank you for having me, Jay.

- Now you're making some great strides in the community.

But to start off with, you came here for school.

You're not from this community.

What brought you back?

What kept you wanting to give back to Topeka?

- Well, it was quite a journey for me as I went through the last couple years of my life when I left Topeka.

Actually I left Topeka because I was looking for more growth.

And around 2015 is when I decided to leave.

But in that process, I was in a journey of finding myself, but I also realized that there was a lot of issues that needed to be addressed in this community, not just in this community, but around the world.

But I decided to come back here because a big part of my life was, the second half of my life when I came here as a 19 year old going to Washburn University.

But the second half of my life, I spent about 15 years here of growing as an adult.

And throughout that process of learning what I was learning in my process of my journey of growing, I felt like what I had learned was necessary for me to come back and give it to the place where allowed me to become a man.

So I decided to come back to Topeka in 2019 to be a part of the growth of this city.

I heard there was some great things happening and wanted to be a part of it.

- You're one of the new leaders that are rising.

You are here but you're turning around and helping give a hand up and it's been fantastic.

So tell me about Omni Circle Group and what do you do there?

- So Omni and our mission is to unite and strengthen communities.

And we say we do that by adding value to the personal and professional development of our members.

And the goal is for people to be able to achieve anything that they wanna be able to achieve.

Whether that be community or globally.

So one of the things that we're doing now, just operating through our growth model for community growth is meeting people on three different stages, which is community development, personal development, and professional development.

So we started out on the basic level of meeting the basic needs of the community, doing as much as we can in the community as far as, we did backpack giveaways, we did toy drives, we did food box deliveries, just meeting the things that people need on the basic level.

And then as our organization evolved, we started to do some more personal development where we were building our community.

We're getting people where we were uniting people again.

That was a big part of what we wanted to do when we start to see that social media and technology is getting people farther and farther away from each other.

And I'm a person that believes in the old traditional values of getting to know people, connecting with people.

So we start to connect with people.

And then now we're there, we're working with people, we're collaborating with individuals to help them grow, to become the best version of themselves.

And as they become the best version, then the next goal was to help them start to create when they find their purpose or their passion in their life and the thing that they wanna do, which is then now where we have our creation phase of our organization, which helps people then start up small businesses.

- So it's like you guys are finding holes in our community that you can help patch at where people are falling through.

So lately, just to get some of your messages out, I know you've been having some media takeovers.

Tell me how that's been receiving the community and how that's been effective for your marketing strategy.

- We've had a couple in the last couple weeks.

We had Sprout that allowed us to do a media takeover on their social media.

United Way also gave us an opportunity.

As we were growing, there was a of partners in the community that also gave us some spotlights on their social media.

So it's been really good.

Like I said, I think the overall goal for us has always been to try to be the bridge for this community as we focus on minority communities, but it is for everybody.

So a big part of us wants to say for those, in our model we say we take people from survival to creation.

So from the survival mode, if you're in a space where you might not have the skill or knowledge, or you might not have people around you that are motivating you to get to the places you wanna be, Omni can be the bridge where we offer those resources in community and opportunity to get you to the places that you wanna be.

So it's been really, really great that the community is receiving what we're doing and giving us the opportunity to share our message so people are aware of what we're trying to build in this community.

- We'll get into a few of the programs and all, but you're helping the community out quite a bit.

How can the community help out Omni Circle Group?

- So we're just talking about building community in general.

So one of the big things that we have right now is just offering more resources to people that need opportunity that they may not have access to.

So that was one of the big things is that we recognize, when we talk about our focus being minority communities.

When you look at sometimes there might not be an awareness that certain things exist.

And then so what we are looking for is being that bridge is we need more people to say, "I do exist.

"How can I partner with you so that the people "that need those resources can then come get them?"

And then as we transform people into becoming that better self, then now we can start helping people along this pipeline of growth to get to where they wanna go in life.

So I would say the biggest part, like any other organization, we are a nonprofit organization so donations are always good.

We're in the process of remodeling a 15,000 square foot building that we purchased about a year and a half ago.

And getting that building up would be really beneficial to us because then having the house allows us to do the work that we really wanna do in the community.

(upbeat music) Right now we're just kinda a little bit of everywhere, which is the name Omni Circle.

But I think when we get the house done, it's gonna make a world of a difference for the work that we're trying to do in this community.

- It's time for another short break.

Stick around and see what's in the pipeline for the future of Omni Circle Group.

We'll be right back.

Welcome back.

Michael, there's a lot going on with Omni Circle Group.

So let's just start with some of the programs and some of the offerings you have there.

- Yeah.

So Omni Circle, we operate, we have five pillars of our organization where we say we wanna build community, we're educating the community.

And one of our pillars, economic growth, which is our environment and then our culture.

And we operate primarily out of the first three, which we use a little bit of that Maslow's Hierarchy in needs as we move through helping people.

And I mentioned that as far as community development, personal development and professional development.

A big part of our organization, we are a membership organization.

So we focus on building our members, but also environmental sustainability, which is then helping the community, right?

But the three pillars that we operate when we say that we connect, collaborate, and create with people.

And on each level we do something different.

But in most of our programs right now reside in our collaboration phase because it is about the personal development of the individual.

So we try to meet those needs as we have a whole person center leadership that we work on as one of our main programs where we do a number of different programs where we help people become.

And then becoming is whether that be socially, financially, whether that be family development, personal development, spirituality.

We really focus on a whole person.

So mental, physical, social, and emotional, right?

So in these programs that we build, we have Women for Women Forum led by Levis Clark.

We have a MOVE bootcamp that we do every Saturday ran by Danielle Martin.

We have a men's forum that's operated by Sterling Scales.

And then we also do a YMDG because we focus on kids as well with our... YMDG stands for Young Minds Determined to be Great.

And that's operated by Jarvis Doman.

So we have a lot of different programs that we're building into.

And so those are some of our standing programs, but now we have just stepped into our startup community, which is in our creation phase for entrepreneurship.

And through that entrepreneurship, we received a pretty supportive grant from the Kauffman Foundation.

We received $360,000 to do small business development for minorities.

So we'll be starting our first cohort here in a little bit.

So we are really excited about that because this organization is growing.

So I think as we continue to add programs and then coming back to this being the cycle of growth.

A lot of times we talk about people being generational cycles where they can't get out of these cycles.

Hopefully Omni can be the bridge where we're helping people break those cycles.

- There's a lot of professionals out there who I know seeing this and seeing they have some place they could go help volunteer and share their knowledge.

What kind of people are you looking for?

What kind of professionals do you need helping out?

- Like I said, it's helping us develop that balance wheel.

We really feel like anywhere that you're off balance, life is about balance, right?

So those places that you're off balance in.

So we are trying to offer a number of programs that help people around the board.

So I think to be honest with you, when we think about helping people, being a servant leader, you wanna be in a space where we can serve, but what do people need?

Right?

It's not about more so what we feel like we wanna give to the community, it's what the community feel like they need in order to grow.

So from our membership, when we have surveys and we have conversations about what can we offer to the community, or what do you need to grow to get to the next level, those are the things that we wanna add, right?

But I think that for a lot of times, I think so many people have things to add.

You yourself working in this, being what you're doing in this could add something to our community because how many people have access to people like yourself, especially kids to say, "I wanna go become that."

And then being able to offer that information and be able to help somebody see the vision for where they wanna go.

We always tell our members, it starts with beginning with the end in mind.

So if you're gonna know where you gonna go, you need to have an idea what it looks like in order for you to get there.

So I think for resources for other professionals, it's bringing in their ideals and their professions to allow people to see and know that it's tangible for them to be able to create economic development and growth in this city.

So that's a big part what we're looking for is bringing in more professionals to help us build that community to where we can help the greater society here in Topeka.

- So what group that you're working with seems to really be the standout group so far.

I know they're all probably doing great, but I mean, is it that the younger kids who really need the role models?

Is it the guys around our age who are trying to start a business?

Is it the retirees who are just still trying to find their way?

- It's a little bit of everything.

It's truly a community.

And I say that it's working with the kids and seeing them blossom into who they wanna become.

There's this thing that we've been saying in our community that, "The flowers are blooming."

And in the essence of that is that everybody is now we planted to seed but the flowers are now starting to come out of the ground.

And we wanna be this own solid tree at some point, but everybody is adding something of value to this group.

So when you talk about development of people, that's truly what it is.

We believe in people and we believe in developing people at each level.

So the kids are growing, the adults are growing.

I mean we just had a conversation two nights ago with one of our members was like, "This organization is helping me grow and identify things "about myself that I normally didn't see in myself."

Through our MOVE bootcamp, We have members that have said, "We were doing a pushup challenge," and from that pushup challenge they've lost 30 pounds.

So these type of things are happening within our organization where it's just being around good people and positive energy that's gonna help people continue to achieve what they wanna achieve but it's happened at every level of our organization because even giving our seniors an opportunity to get involved when they're normally just sitting at home, but then now they're getting involved and then offering what they've learned as experience to help the next generation grow.

So we are really creating this pipeline of growth where it's really been pretty awesome to see.

- I mean really, Omni Circle Group is becoming a pillar of this community in such a short time.

So keep up the good work.

I know the people really appreciate it and it's really needed in this community.

I'm glad you came back.

- Yeah.

I'm thankful to be back.

- [Jay] Thank you, Michael.

- Thank you.

- That's all for tonight's show.

I like to thank Glenda Washington and Laurie Pieper of the Greater Topeka Partnership (upbeat music) along with Michael Odupitan from Omni Circle Group for being with us on Working Capital.

As always, if you know of an interesting business or management technique, we wanna hear from you.

So give us a call, drop us an email, or send us a letter.

We look forward to hearing from you.

See you next time and thanks for watching.

It's all about business, and you've been watching, Working Capital.

Additional funding is provided by the Friends of KTWU.