Anyone in Douglas or St. Louis counties launching a new business -- or with a good idea for a business -- has 11 million reasons to get a hold of the Greenstone Group.
The newly formed group of more than 30 economic development experts, community organizations and others launched an $11 million initiative this week to help start or to help grow as many as 500 new Northland businesses in the next 10 years.
And not just any businesses.
"It is very likely we will help an entrepreneur or two grow a business the size of Cirrus or spawn a cluster of new business spinoffs around the large-scale mining opportunities proposed for the Iron Range," Northeast Entrepreneur Fund President Mary Mathews said at the initiative's launch. "A few will create much wealth and many jobs."
That's the sort of optimism that can come from $2.5 million, which was the amount of funding for the initiative that Mathews' Duluth-based fund received from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The foundation's 10-year commitment is unprecedented "and speaks volumes about our confidence" in the entrepreneurial effort, the foundation's Polly Talen said in a statement.
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Others helping to reach the $11 million funding goal include the Blandin Foundation, Minnesota Power, the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation and the U.S. Small Business Administration with assistance from U.S. Rep. James Oberstar.
Duluth realized the importance of diversifying its economy in the 1970s when the U.S. Steel plant closed, financially crippling the city. Entrepreneurs who start businesses can expand economic opportunities and bolster any community's bottom line.
The Greenstone Group hopes to do that in Duluth with coaching, support and advice from successful business owners willing to help upstart entrepreneurs increase revenue, identify new markets and create jobs.
"Somewhere out there in northeast Minnesota or northwest Wisconsin may be a small business idea so good it could become the next Cirrus -- or even the next Google," Talen said.
With $11 million of seed money, maybe both.
