The first Winter storm of 2024 was hours away, but that didn’t deter four Iowa City South District Market business owners from attending a mini-Venture School class Jan. 8, according to a UI press release.
The mini-Venture school is sponsored by the University of Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (Iowa JPEC) and is a one-time event. It’s a scaled down version of Iowa JPEC’s actual Venture School, which is primarily for unproven business ideas. Taught by Scott Swenson, adjunct instructor at the University of Iowa, and Paul Heath, regional director of the Small Business Development Center, the Jan. 8 curriculum focused on marketing so the companies could capture market share and build revenue.
The four businesses – Early Bird Café, Cachua Cakes, Artesanis Mar & More, and Royceann’s – are located at 947 US-6 on the south side of Iowa City in a building owned by SouthGate Companies, which is part of the South of 6 Business District, a self-supporting improvement district known for bringing people and ideas together to create change. The four businesses are functioning lifestyle businesses, and are all operated by minority owners.
“They are much stronger working together as a group than they are individually,” said Mr. Swenson.
Janet Marceleno runs Artesanis Mar & More, where she imports artisan crafts that her cousins and friends make in southern Mexico.
“I learned how to manage my business, especially marketing,” Marcelno said through an interpreter. “I learned how to use Facebook to promote my business and how to make more events to promote the south district.”
After cooking in the community for more than 20 years, Royceann Porter opened her soulfood restaurant, Royceann’s, in March 2023. On Jan. 7, her business promoted Soul Food Sunday and sold out of everything. For Royceann’s customers, it’s all about fried chicken, fried catfish, and fried pork chops. She also serves greens, macaroni and cheese, candy yams, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, and green beans.
“I have also done red beans and rice with cornbread dressing,” Porter said. “That’s a southern, southern, southern meal.”
The mini Venture school gave Ms. Porter some tips on how to continue with her success.
“The strategic planning for the marketing of your business,” she said. “To know, to grow, and to keep. Just knowing what it is that I need to do to be successful is good.”
“Watching them put their heads together (and) collaborating on these events, in terms of making them more viable, was nice to see,” said Mr. Swenson. “They have to create their own attraction because they are new and learning to connect with the neighborhood and appeal to diverse cultures.”
Iowa JPEC fosters entrepreneurship and innovation across the state of Iowa by providing a range of educational and training programs and support services for entrepreneurial ventures and existing small-to-medium size businesses. Iowa JPEC is dedicated to nurturing the growth of new ventures and assisting them in reaching their full potential.
