FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 8, 2001 CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 DRAKE SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER TO HOLD OPEN HOUSE FRIDAY, MAY 11 The Drake Small Business Development Center and John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at 2429 University Ave. invites visitors to stop by on Friday, May 11 to meet new staff members and learn about new services and programs. The open house, which is free and open to the public, will run from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Drake Small Business Development Center, 2429 University Ave. "We've made lots of changes in the past few months and we'd like to show them off," said Sherry Shafer, director of the Drake SBDC and the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center. The Drake SBDC offers workshops for beginning entrepreneurs as well as those who are already in business. The center also offers Inventure, a program that helps inventors develop valid ideas into marketable items, as well as the Iowa Family Business Forum, which provides the resources families need to build, support and grow their family business. In addition, the center is co-sponsoring the Growing Your Small Market Farm program and the Shaping Your Pharmacy Future program. The Drake SBDC is one of only two of the 16 SBDCs in Iowa that offers New Horizons, a statewide program to assist Iowa companies in discovering new business opportunities through exporting. All of the staff members at the Drake SBDC have experience owning and running their own small businesses, Shafer said. "That experience gives them an empathy with our clients. They understand the joys, the sorrows and the fears that entrepreneurs have, whether they're just developing a business plan or trying to figure out how to stay in business with huge increases in their utility bills." The John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at Drake provides $10,000 seed capital grants to current students and recent alumni involved in new ventures. This center also supports and operates the Drake Kauffman Internship Program, which provides students with an experience-based learning opportunity in entrepreneurship by placing them in new and emerging firms. This program, funded by a $39,600 grant from the Kauffman Foundation and matching funds from participating businesses, has just been renewed for a second year. Drake also has received the Drake Kauffman Internship Program Award from the Kauffman Foundation for training, educating and encouraging future entrepreneurs in Iowa. Reservations are requested for the open house on Friday, May 11. For reservations, call (515) 271-2655