From the JAYwalk
Joint Entrepreneurial Center Planned
Ohio Wesleyan University is joining with Delaware County and the city of Delaware to create the Delaware Entrepreneurial Center, a business accelerator for local businesses and an entrepreneurial education resource for students. The center is believed to be the first of its kind as a business-assistance partnership among a college, a city, and a county.
The center will be housed in the Stewart Annex (below), 70 S. Sandusky St., and will include rentable office space for emerging start-ups, conference rooms with digital features, and shared workspaces so students can work and learn alongside new small business owners. It is expected to open in August.
OWU’s Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship will contribute $100,000 to the center’s remodeling and will provide overall leadership of the Center. The city and county will each contribute $250,000. In turn, city and county officials can have offices inside the Center to assist budding businesses.
University President Rock Jones said the joint venture will “enhance the education of Ohio Wesleyan students across all disciplines and enrich the vibrancy and economic vitality of our community across all sectors.”