BizStarts Milwaukee will host the grand opening of its BizForge entrepreneur resource hub tomorrow in a public event at Schlitz Park.
Carlo Scissura, chief executive officer of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, will be on hand to celebrate the opening.
Brookyln serves as a model for entrepreneurial growth that BizForge can look to for guidance. Among the business startups Scissura has helped nurture are Makerbot, a desktop 3-D printer manufacturer that sold for $400 million last year, and Steiner Studios, a Hollywood-style production and support facility.
Earlier in the day, Scissura will receive a city tour from Rocky Marcoux, commissioner of the Milwaukee Department of City Development.
“We’re very honored to have Mr. Scissura join us for our grand opening and to see some of the entrepreneurial activity taking place in southeast Wisconsin,” said Dan Steininger, president of BizStarts. “He has witnessed firsthand how a strong entrepreneurial culture can revitalize a local economy through business growth and job development. It’s exactly the type of culture our new BizForge collaborative aims to foster and sustain throughout our community.”
BizStarts is a nonprofit organization that helps entrepreneurs grow their companies. BizForge is in BizStarts’ new 5,000-square-foot office in the RiverCenter building, and will bring entrepreneurs and business leaders from several disciplines together in a collaborative atmosphere. Coaching, programming and other resources will be available to companies to help them launch and grow.
Among BizStarts’ education partners in the BizForge collaborative space are University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, UW-Milwaukee’s Small Business Development Center, UWM faculty and staff, Milwaukee School of Engineering’s Rapid Prototype Center and the Waukesha County Technical College Small Business Center’s Fluid and Power Institute.
Business partners include Manpower’s Right Management, Management Resources Association, Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp., the Small Business Administration, the City of Milwaukee, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce Council of Small Business Executives, Michael Best & Friedrich, Ernst & Young and American Family Insurance.
And early stage investors include Silicon Valley Bank, BrightStar Wisconsin, Wisconsin Super Angels, Silicon Pastures and Capital Midwest Venture fund.
The public grand opening event will be held on Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m. at Schlitz Park.
