(Radio Iowa) – The Carroll County Growth Partnership is getting 200-thousand dollars from the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) for a proposed first-of-its-kind rural business resource center known as HUB 712. Partnerships Executive Director, Kimberly Tiefenthaler, says HUB 712 has been in the works for quite some time, and once up and running, it will provide entrepreneurs with resources that are not readily available in areas outside larger cities. “All the entrepreneurial centers are in the middle of the state, however out here, there’s enough population, there’s enough entrepreneurship and there’s certainly enough people that have that entrepreneurial mindset and certainly people that have that an idea that needs to be developed,” she says.

The state award will be used to cover some of the initial costs of the project like outreach efforts, contract specialists, and hiring personnel. Tiefenthaler says HUB 712 will centralize resources in a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs in Carroll, Calhoun, Sac, Crawford, Shelby, Audubon, Guthrie, and Greene Counties. The Small Business Development Center is one of the partners in the project. “Advance Iowa is a partnership that we struck about a year ago, and now that we’ve got this in place the Exit Planning and also the employee Co-Op piece, that is something that we’re going to be encouraging in the business continuity piece. And then the impact callus program that is the platform that we are piloting with I-E-D-A and we will be collecting data through that program, but it is also a platform in place to assist startup businesses and existing businesses,” Tiefenthaler says.

Tiefenthaler says with the state grant in place, the project will really start to pick up speed. “We’re definitely excited and this is where the rubber meets the road and we roll up our sleeves and go work, right. We’ve been talking about it and now with a 200-thousand dollar award we can put things into motion for sure,” she says. Tiefenthaler expects to be ready for a soft launch sometime in the next few months — with a full launch planned for later this summer.