EnterCircle Entrepreneurship Week kicked off Tuesday, Nov. 12, with the St. Johns County Schools Innovation Challenge. Things really got underway Wednesday, Nov. 13, which was designated Social Enterprise Day.
Sriram Bharatam of Kuza Biashara Limited, delivered the innovation keynote. His organization offers small business learning, training and empowerment in Africa.
A Social Enterprise Panel Discussion followed with Dawn Lockhart, CEO of the Nonprofit Center of Northeast Florida; Cindy Funkhouser, president and CEO of the Sulzbacher Center; Kristin Keen, founder and CEO of Rethreaded; and Monte Walker, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Jacksonville.
The next event was “Community Wealth Building — Doing Well By Doing Good,” a presentation by select leaders representing an array of corporate entities primarily from across St. Johns and Duval counties. Each spoke about ways in which their corporations give back to their communities.
The panel was comprised of Lockhart; Patricia McElroy, senior vice president and foundation president for Vystar Credit Union; Whitney Myer, senior vice president and chief community impact officer at the Jacksonville Jaguars; Emily Bellock, senior director of community outreach for PGA Tour; and Susan Towler, executive director for corporate social responsibility with the Florida Blue Foundation.
Following that was a survey of attendees, Social Enterprise Challenge Opportunity, and a presentation by Lockhart about Catalyst Northeast Florida, a data-rich resource.
Closing out the agenda was “Innovative Capital Resources & Nontraditional Sources of Revenue/Funding” with Lockhart; Gregory Grant of Jacksonville’s Office of Economic Development; James Coggin, senior director for grantmaking and impact investing at The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida; and Iris Jones, consumer credit counseling services manager for Self-Help Credit Union.
The theme of the five-day EnterCircle 2024 is “Unlocking Serendipity.” This initiative of the Sapna Foundation is held each year at the link, 425 Town Plaza Ave., Ponte Vedra.
Throughout Wednesday’s presentations, a business expo introduced attendees to participating businesses in the area.
The event schedule continued Thursday, Nov. 14, with a Youth Symposium; and Friday, Nov. 15, with Women’s Day.
For a more detailed account of this year’s EnterCircle, please see The Recorder coverage in the Nov. 21 issue.
For more information about the link or EnterCircle, go to thelink.zone.
