Our guest speaker this past Tuesday was Ann Mueller, Recruiting and Communications Director for the Sustainable Business Center located at 2900 West Main Street in nearby Galesburg, IL. See the Center’s webpage at: www.sustainablebusinesscenter.com.

I introduced Ann to the class as the first of 2-3 “facilitators of entrepreneurial activity” we will have as guest speakers this semester. By “facilitators of entrepreneurial activity” I mean that the guest is not an entrepreneur themselves but rather that they—and their organizations—help entrepreneurs expand or otherwise succeed in any of a variety of ways.

As stated on its webpage, the Sustainable Business Center performs this important, often hidden function by offering environmentally sustainable entrepreneurial firms that already have some level of success—i.e., “second-stage” firms—the opportunity to move their operations to the next level and beyond via provision of “office space and accompanying office amenities, warehouse storage, manufacturing space, land for organic agriculture production, and a Food and Drug Administration-certified commercial kitchen.”

I now turn things over to Midwest Entrepreneurs class member Matt Bertelsen to provide you with further details on what we learned from Ann Mueller about the Sustainable Business Center. Further details on the Center can be found at the weblink provided above or by contacting Ann via phone (309-343-1191) or e-mail (ann@sustainablebusinesscenter.com).

Prof. Gabel

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There is a facility west of Galesburg, Illinois that some would call a “little known treasure” of the area.  This facility is called the Sustainable Business Center (SBC).  Our class had the opportunity to learn all about the Center and its goals for the community when SBC Director of Recruiting and Communications Ann Mueller came to speak to our class.

The SBC got its start in 2010 when the Carhartt clothing manufacturing company donated the building—a former Carhartt manufacturing facility—to the Human Links Foundation (see: http://www.humanlinksfoundation.org/).  The future of Galesburg’s economy looked bleak but Human Links had a vision and believed that it could be turned around.  From that vision the Sustainable Business Center was born with some ideas in mind: create gainful employment, produce well-made, high quality products, and create an environmentally sustainable economy.  From these ideas came a mission: “Bring jobs to the Galesburg area by nurturing and growing businesses that represent green technology in its purest form”.  The second hidden treasure created by the Sustainable Business Center is the restaurant in the facility called “en season”.  A second mission was established for the restaurant: “To bring local food that is wholesome and pesticide-free back into the community”.

The Sustainable Business Center has created a business plan that not only helps boost the economy in the Galesburg area but also helps create a sustainable environment and economy for future generations.  The Business Center provides a range of support services and a space to work to help start-up or established businesses build and succeed.  With this in mind they began searching for tenants that would use green technology, clean energy, and sustainable agriculture practices in their business plans.

In the Center’s 88,000 square-foot facility, it houses three tenants, along with the restaurant.  The first tenant, Intellihot Green Technology, is a company that creates smart tankless water heaters which save energy (see: http://www.intellihot.com/).  These water heaters recently won a first place award in the Illinois Clean Energy Fund Awards.  The second tenant, Sitka Salmon Shares, allows members to sign up for a “share” of the harvest of an independent, small boat, family fisherman (see: http://sitkasalmonshares.com/).  The third tenant, Jerry’s Mojo, is a mobile coffee shop that uses a 100% electric, zero emission vehicle (see: https://www.facebook.com/JerrysMojo).  Jerry’s mobile coffee shop’s location can be tracked on social media.  The restaurant in the facility, en season, is an entirely farm to table restaurant.  All food used is locally grown by both local farmers and in the SBC’s garden and pesticide and antibiotic free (see: http://www.enseasongalesburg.com/).

The Sustainable Business Center still has some open space for tenants looking to follow a sustainable and green business plan.  For more information on the facility visit its website www.sustainablebusinesscenter.com.

Thanks to Ann Mueller for being our very informative guest speaker!!

Matt Bertelsen