Cedar Rapids business accelerators win SBA contest

Two Cedar Rapids organizations that help entrepreneurs develop and grow startup businesses are winners of a national competition sponsored by the United States Small Business Administration.

The Entrepreneurial Development Center and the Iowa Startup Accelerator were among 80 winners selected from more than 400 applications and presentations for the second annual Growth Accelerator Fund Competition. Each organization will receive $50,000 from the SBA.

In accepting these funds, the accelerators also will be committing to quarterly reporting for a year. They will be required to report statistics such as jobs created, funds raised, startups launched and corporate sponsors obtained.

The data will allow the SBA to continue building on its database of accelerators and their impact. It also will help the SBA develop long-term relationships with the startups and constituents in the communities where the accelerators operate.

The Entrepreneurial Development Center was founded in 2003. In its first 11 years of operation, entrepreneur members have raised and employed more than $260 million in capital, generated more than $900 million in new revenue and paid more than $300 million in new wages.

Curt Nelson, president of the EDC, said the SBA grant application was specific in its intent to support underrepresented classes in new business creation and growth.

'The Entrepreneurial Development Center has seen a steady rise in female-founded businesses over its 11 years,” Nelson said in a news release. 'In 2014, 32 percent of the businesses supported and over 50 percent of the support hours were invested on female-founded businesses.”

Nelson said the SBA grant will support a growing consumer goods founders program. The group includes 19 area consumer goods companies, of which 58 percent were started by women.

The Iowa Startup Accelerator was founded in 2013. The nine members of the founding committee were primarily successful entrepreneurs.