Developing New Businesses and Social Ventures
The Greater West Dayton Incubator is a joint venture between the University of Dayton's L. William Crotty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and The Entrepreneurs' Center’s Entrepreneurial Service Provider program. The initiative provides UD students with a unique, hands-on learning opportunity in developing new businesses and social ventures. It will engage students in an effort to lead the creation of a broader, more inclusive ecosystem and allow them to leverage their skills in an effort focused on serving the common good.
The GWDI was created at the intersections of UD's strategic visioning process and conversations with Greater West Dayton leaders to mitigate power imbalances between the city’s predominantly Black neighborhoods and the Catholic, Marianist university. This strategic initiative is part of UD’s plan-of-action to become an anti-racist institution and provides opportunities for students to work alongside entrepreneurs to start, scale, and sustain businesses and social ventures.
Benefits for the Community
Located in West Dayton — home to the vast majority of Dayton’s African-American population — the GWDI serves as a pathway for neighborhood entrepreneurs and innovators into the region’s startup ecosystem.
The GWDI offers micro-lending services, networking opportunities, training and education, consulting services, and additional resources to startups and underrepresented firms. The GWDI also provides a connection for neighborhood entrepreneurs and innovators to the University and its resources, as well as a pathway into the region’s startup ecosystem.
Benefits for UD Students
The GWDI demonstrates to UD students how anchor institutions like UD can be a catalyst for action in the community. By engaging with local partners, students have the opportunity to help lead the effort to create a broader and more inclusive startup ecosystem in the Dayton region. Not only will they help lead the effort, but they'll see first-hand the impact of that effort. Through the GWDI, students will develop a true appreciation for community leadership and engagement through a unique lens of innovation and entrepreneurship. The hands-on opportunity to practice community leadership teaches UD students its value and provide them with an experience they can carry forward to impact their communities.
By engaging with the Greater West Dayton Incubator, UD students will engage in an effort for the common good. They'll have an opportunity to leverage the knowledge and skills they learn in the classroom to serve “Main Street” businesses and social ventures that are ignored in many startup communities. They'll learn that by serving these entrepreneurs and innovators, they are helping to support others who are lifting up a neighborhood, and how one positive impact with one entrepreneurial or social venture can provide a positive impact for all. As a result of these cross-cultural experiences, students will enhance their capacity for working effectively across multiple dimensions of diversity.