Federal grant will help Weber State's entrepreneurs with early-stage startups

Weber State University has gotten a federal financial boost to help early-stage entrepreneurs advance their startups.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) has awarded a $718,968 grant to WSU to help develop a new training program for the Ogden-Clearfield Launchpad entrepreneurship center, which provides resources for early-stage entrepreneurs as they move through the startup life cycle.

The university said the funding will provide personnel and space for community entrepreneurs to apply for microgrants and mentoring to develop their business ideas.

“This is a chance for Weber State to help grow innovation in Northern Utah,” said James Taylor, WSU’s Technology Commercialization Office director. “We want to create and promote an entrepreneurial community in Northern Utah alongside our healthy manufacturing community.

“Maybe you have a great idea, maybe you have a lousy idea, but you don’t know until you put it into action, and that’s exactly what this fund will do. It will help people put ideas into action.”

The EDA said the grant project will be located near a designated Opportunity Zone, a program established in the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017, and the grant funding will be matched with $720,702 in local funds. The project is expected to help create more than 60 jobs and generate $2 million in private investment.

“Weber State’s Ogden-Clearfield Launchpad will partner with existing advanced manufacturing industries through this new program to provide mentoring, training and product development resources that early-stage entrepreneurs need to grow and become successful,” said John Fleming, U.S. assistant secretary of commerce for economic development. “The nearby Opportunity Zone will further incentivize businesses to invest in the area and help reinvigorate the local economy.”

  The EDA said the project was made possible by the regional planning efforts led by the Wasatch Front Economic Development District (WFEDD). The EDA said it funds WFEDD to bring together the public and private sectors to create an economic development roadmap to strengthen the regional economy, support private capital investment and create jobs.

Weber State has several programs in place to help students and others in their entrepreneurial efforts. They include the Wildcat Seed Fund, which provides funding to students in their early business ventures; the Opportunity Quest and Outdoor Weber contests where students’ business ideas compete for prize money and get advice and support from industry professionals; support for Startup Ogden, a high-tech space for entrepreneurs, students and other community members; and the Hall Global Entrepreneurship Center, which is creating a climate to encourage campus community members to take risks and test ideas.

“Entrepreneurship is really starting to blossom north of Salt Lake City, and Weber State has taken a leadership position in fostering new ideas to turn concepts into real businesses,” said Brandon Stoddard, director of the Hall center. “We believe surrounding counties are primed to become some of the hottest areas for entrepreneurship in the country. Weber State is creating the model for what lies ahead.”