Union County Entrepreneurs, formerly Waxhaw Entrepreneurs, is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit business incubator located in downtown Mineral Springs, with a focus on supporting and catalyzing small businesses across the Tri-W area. Union County Entrepreneurs director and team leader Karen Johnson describes the organization as a place where members can co-work, develop their businesses and meet clients; a workspace, she said, that allows entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and ideas without the financial burden, and commitment, of purchasing or leasing a permanent brick and mortar location.
The organization offers much more than a location as well. They provide opportunities to make organic, in person, connections, with events like their monthly Terrific Tuesdays networking meeting, and their monthly tea, on the first Friday afternoon of the month. Union County Entrepreneurs offers a range of marketing opportunities for members, including logo animation services, website promotion, and onsite business promotion. Outside of practical specifics, the organization offers a rare combination of entrepreneurial spirit, and a desire to promote artistic expression.
After closing as a workspace for the weekend, the location acts as a community center of sorts, hosting events like last Sunday’s concert reading of Lois Collins Sims: A Century in Waxhaw, by Judy Simpson Cook. The reading, presented by The Storefront Theatre, and performed by the author, saw the flex space of Union County Entrepreneurs transformed from a co-working area into a theater. Johnson said that they plan to add a green screen to the flex space for media production, and plan to host more artistic events in the future.
Union County Entrepreneurs even offers entrepreneurial guidance to a younger crowd, with their Kidpreneurs class beginning in March. The monthly class features lessons from the book Kidpreneurs: Young Entrepreneurs With Big Ideas, by Matthew and Adam Toren, which focuses on teaching children the principles of money management through creative, engaging and easy to understand lessons and activities. After each class, Johnson said, students will be assigned to create and perform a type of job that they will present in a trade show at the end of the program.
With something to offer the entire community, Union County Entrepreneurs aims to bring the whole of Union County to life by nurturing the entrepreneurial and artistic ideas that provide the backbone for our community’s development. With their move to Mineral Springs, in the heart of Union County, they will be sure to leave a lasting impact on the direction of the culture of the Tri-W area.
They are located at 5910 Waxhaw Highway, Suite D, Mineral Springs, 704-219-8765.
