About Innovative Business Resource Center (IBRC)

Welcome to the Innovative Business Resource Center (IBRC), a Kansas Not-for-Profit organization dedicated to empowering local businesses in our community. Founded in February 2010 as the Independence Business Resource Center, we underwent a transformation in November of the same year to better encapsulate our mission and extended reach.

In 2012, IBRC became a local partnering organization for the Network Kansas initiative called Entrepreneurial Community, or E-Community. Locally, we are the Montgomery County E-Community. With funding assistance from Network Kansas, we provide programs to help build and foster an entrepreneurial ecosystem in our county and region.

Some of the local funding and support that have been possible through the IBRC include:

• Gap financing, in conjunction with bank and other public financing, for start-up and expansion use by local/area businesses. (More than $1.46M since 2013)
  
• Support for facilitation and registration cost reduction for Entrepreneurial Mindset class featuring the Ice House Entrepreneurship program. (Approx. 150 participants since 2012)
• Support for Jon Schallert’s Destination Boot Camp, a marketing and strategy course. (Approx. 30 participants since about 2015)
  
• Sponsorship of the annual Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, a business competition where youth grades 7 through 12 pitch a business. Some are existing businesses operated by the youth part time. The youth compete for $2,250 in cash prizes for the top three places as determined by local judges.

Our board members, all business owners or retired business owners, volunteer their time, demonstrating a genuine passion for seeing businesses flourish. Your contributions, whether in the form of financial support, equipment, or materials, are fully tax deductible and play a pivotal role in fueling the growth of our local business landscape.

Our current Board of Directors includes:

Contact: Jim Correll, 620-252-5349, jimc@ibrcenter.org