The South Bend Entrepreneurship and Adversity Program is celebrating the opening of its new Collaboration Hub Oct. 2.
The hub is designed to provide support to graduates of the 11-month SBEAP Initiative. The facility will serve as a space where entrepreneurs can access resources to grow their businesses.
The hub was established with support from a $35,000 grant from the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County. Trained University of Notre Dame students will offer consulting services to program alumni. The students will provide marketing, operations and business development guidance.
The hub is equipped with tools to help entrepreneurs overcome some of the day-to-day challenges they face. Resources include desktop computers, offering entrepreneurs — many of whom operate their businesses on mobile phones — access to a computer for business operations. Entrepreneurs will also have access to a label maker to help professionalize product packaging, as well as a books and research tools to support learning.
The hub will also host regular training workshops. Recent sessions included “Leveraging AI for the SBEAP Entrepreneur” and a “Social Media Sprint” led by Notre Dame students. The workshops combined training and hands-on application to enhance participants’ online presence.
The Collaboration Hub will eventually move into the former South Bend Tribune building. Notre Dame, which owns the building, is renovating the structure as part of a downtown tech and talent hub. The project is being undertaken, in part, with support from a $30 million Lilly Endowment grant.
SBEAP is a program of Notre Dame’s McKenna Center for Human Development and Global Business. To date, the program has served 358 local entrepreneurs.
The grand opening event will take place 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 2 at 805 Lincoln Way West in South Bend.
