Entrepreneurs along Kern's periphery getting business accelerators

Sep. 18—Kern's first business accelerator outside metropolitan Bakersfield is scheduled to open next spring in Kernville as the latest outgrowth of the B3K economic prosperity collaboration and one of five of its backers wants to launch along the county's periphery within about three years.

Business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs alike will be invited to take subsidized classes on business fundamentals — first-come, first-served and priced at $200 for a 10-week course that will include presentations by local subject-matter experts.

The idea is to help bridge a demonstrated gap between the county's entrepreneurial potential and the limited resources usually available locally to cultivate it, especially in an area as geographically removed from Bakersfield, where such support is growing.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Supported financially by Kern Initiative of Talent + Entrepreneurship and John-Paul "J.P." and Ingrid Lake's SeedCore Foundation, the classes will be hosted by Kernville Cowork. The owner there, Justin Powers, hopes to see a balance of brick-and-mortar business owners and online-type startup entrepreneurs — people from all walks of life — successfully bringing in sales from outside the county.

Powers said it can feel isolating trying to build a business in the Kern River Valley. He called the accelerator program a big step at a time when some businesses in the area are struggling.

"For us it's really huge," he said. "It's not very often that this sort of change that we're wanting to see around the county starts out in a place like this."

BIG NEED

An executive committee member of the B3K initiative, Nick Ortiz, president and CEO of the Greater Bakersfield Chamber, noted that a market assessment done by the collaboration found Kern had an exceptionally high rate of business startups but a poor rate of success because of a failure to nurture entrepreneurs. A critical part of bridging the gap, he said, is expanding access.

That will require setting up general and industry-specific accelerators, some geared toward specific populations such as Spanish speakers, he said by email.

"We'll need multiple business incubators and accelerators to create the robust environment for innovation-based entrepreneurship," he wrote.

Certainly some should be outside metropolitan Bakersfield, Ortiz said: "We need entrepreneurs to be able to access these services throughout the county."

LEARNING PROCESS

SeedCore director Danielle Patterson said two cohorts per year will be taken through a curriculum called Co.Starters that begins with having participants get to better know themselves. Later they are taught to scale up, strengthen their systems and put together a break-even analysis, among other steps in business development.

The foundation is also providing participants with digital entrepreneurship software called Startup Space that puts users in touch with a wide variety of resources including legal and accounting help. Patterson said information on it and other entrepreneurial resources in Kern County will be available at an expo happening Oct. 5-8 at the Kern High School District's Career Technical Education Center at 7301 Old River Road. (For information email info@gokite.org.)

To her, the exciting part is how the accelerator will expand access. She said when she and her husband started a business 15 years ago, they weren't aware of the support systems that were available. This program could help people like her.

"It's really going to be an opportunity for them," she said, "to learn what's available and, I think ... it's going to positively impact the community."

The Kernville program is distinct in several ways from the local government-supported tech accelerator Bitwise Industries is launching in downtown Bakersfield at the corner of 18th and H streets. That one is more exclusive, it pays participants as they develop their business and goes on for six months at 30 hours per week.

SOLICITING HELP

Powers at the Cowork, recently relocated to 11113 Kernville Road, said he's interested in finding partners wherever he can across the county. He said he's looking for organizations and individuals that might want to lend support.

"If there's any organization, whether in Kern County or if they're in the Kern River Valley, that are interested in kind of supporting this program, being a part of it, I'd love to talk to them," he said, adding that his email address is justin@kernvillecowork.com.