Cape to host weekly entrepreneurs' mixer starting in mid-November

The following story has been edited to correct Dr. James Stapleton's relationship with the Douglas C. Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Southeast Missouri State University.

Some business-minded organizers in Cape Girardeau are planning to offer more than just free coffee once a week with the November launch of a new entrepreneurial education program.

1 Million Cups, a weekly event that has grown to include more than 60 cities nationwide, offers budding entrepreneurs a chance to present their startup businesses to an audience and network with others who can offer mentoring and feedback.

The first local 1 Million Cups meeting will be from 9 to 10 a.m. Nov. 12 at Codefi, a soon-to-open community co-working and technology incubator inside the former federal building at 339 Broadway. Volunteer organizers of the meetings, which include Codefi co-founder Dr. James Stapleton, Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce president and CEO John Mehner, and local business owners Chris Foeste and Laurie Everett, seek to offer entrepreneurs "an open, friendly environment," Stapleton said, "where they can find answers and collaborate."

A typical 1 Million Cups event features a six-minute presentation by startup entrepreneurs, followed by a 20-minute question and feedback session with the audience.

"It's about being with other people who can answer the lots of questions that come with starting a business," Stapleton said. "You also start to develop a network of like-minded people -- creative, innovative, entrepreneurial people."

The 1 Million Cups program was created by the Kansas City, Missouri-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, not-for-profit organization that encourages entrepreneurial education through various programs, projects and events. The program got its name, according to the foundation, "based on the notion that entrepreneurs network and discover solutions over a million cups of coffee."

Since 2012, the program has built up participation in economic development centers, business incubators, on college campuses and in coffee shops in large- to mid-size cities. Cape Girardeau will become the program's 65th participant, and likely the smallest community joining to date. Three other Missouri cities -- Columbia, Springfield and St. Louis -- are also 1 Million Cups meeting hosts.

Stapleton, who in addition to partnering with Foeste to found the independent incubator Codefi, is the former founding director of the Douglas C. Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Southeast Missouri State University and continues to teach entrepreneurship at Southeast. He has spent years connected to the Kauffman Foundation through his involvement as the state director for events for the organization's Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Together, Stapleton and the other three organizers had to submit an application and go through an interview process with the Kauffman Foundation to bring the 1 Million Cups event to Cape Girardeau.

Stapleton said the effort happened because the organizers believe the community can benefit from the foundation's strategy of cultivating more entrepreneurial activity through the events.

"When [Kauffman] rolled it out, it really struck a chord with me," Stapleton said. "My own entrepreneurial experience was really started by a connection that I made -- a mentor of mine. I was 19 when I started my own business. I have always believed, that amongst all the other things you hear about, in terms of being important to helping entrepreneurs, that one helping another and experiential-based learning are essentially the most important."

Entrepreneurs may apply for a chance to present at a meeting on the microsite for Cape Girardeau, online at capegirardeau.sites.1millioncups.com, and find out more about the program on the national website, 1millioncups.com.

Kaldi's Coffee Roasting Co., based in St. Louis, is a sponsor of the meetings, and its coffee will be served. Attendance at the meetings is free and open to the public.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3632

Pertinent address:

339 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, Mo.