Kansas City Ecosystem Builder Eze Redwood

Q: What is the change you are seeing or hope to see as a result of your choice or action?

A: I hope to create a template for how we alleviate many of the problems we face as a nation. Many of these problems are not universal. They are a result of decisions we have made at local, regional, and national levels. If I can de-risk the solutions and show that these problems can in fact be solved in a way that makes all community stakeholders happy, that would be what success looks like for me.

Q: What about your life or work would you like other’s to know about you?

A: I want to demonstrate the value of having great ecosystem builders attacking problems that might seem too large for most. There are people out there doing what others can’t every day—there’s no reason why they should have to sacrifice their own financial well-being to carry on the work that serves others. I want to demonstrate that a) one person can create massive change, and b) we as a community, city, and region need to support those people at all costs.

Q: What advice would you give for someone who is wanting to help build greater equity in the entrepreneurial ecosystem/community here in Kansas City?

A: Be prepared to work crazy hours doing things people say can’t be done. Also, build up a great network of supporters that can help refine your ideas, open doors when needed, and show up when necessary.

Q: Can you share an example of how the ecosystem has supported you?

A: I am very thankful to the other ecosystem builders who have always been there when I needed them, and to the Kauffman Foundation for leading the conversation on supporting ecosystem builders. Their prioritization sets the example for what other stakeholders should be thinking about.

Q: What do you consider to be your life’s work?

A: I’ve decided that solving hard problems and helping businesses grow is my life’s work!

Q: What are you most proud of that’s come from the entrepreneurial community work in Kansas City that you’ve been a part of? How has that impacted the community?

A: I think we’ve begun to shift the conversation to one where more people realize that they need to treat entrepreneurship and small business development with the same energy that they do traditional economic development.

In Kansas City,  the small business and local entrepreneurship sectors had been overlooked. At this time last year, a lot of our city leadership still felt corporations were the way they should grow. We had to re-educate them and highlight opportunities for future growth for the city in terms of job creation and tax revenue utilizing the small business/entrepreneur communities. These businesses and startups were, actually, already providing that growth,  but they weren’t being recognized for their contributions. Last year, after these re-education efforts, we were able to secure an additional $350,000 in allocated funds from the city government for entrepreneurial support organizations to assist these small business owners and entrepreneurs!

This year, we continued to come together as an entrepreneurial community to try to attack the barriers and things that make it hard for folks to start their businesses. We identified solutions to those barriers, created a budget for some of the most viable ones and we are now at a point where we need buy in from the new city council. Hopefully we will have good news to share in a few weeks!

Q: What is your ultimate goal or vision for this work?

A: For there to be no need to do it.