Stronger Economies EO Summit

301 West 13th Street,Kansas City MO 64105

24 April, 2023

Description

Employee ownership is a proven approach to retain and grow small businesses, save the jobs they support, and give working families opportunities to build wealth. This single-day, invitation-only event is for Missouri-based business service providers (advisors, attorneys, accountants, brokers), chambers of commerce, and cities to learn about how to keep businesses and jobs local using employee ownership. Join the Missouri Center for Employee Ownership together with the Democracy at Work Institute, AltCap, and equity2 to hear from leading experts about innovative strategies for retaining your community’s beloved longstanding locally-owned businesses. These “legacy” businesses often have owners that are near or at retirement age and many don’t have succession plans. We will share tools and approaches to help retiring owners assess their options and provide training to support selling to their employees if that’s the right fit. This dual-track, single-day summit will prioritize in-depth learning for implementation, equipping attendees with actionable tools for local economic benefit. The Cities Track, for local governments and economic developers, will equip city and community leaders with tactics to leverage employee ownership in rebuilding resilient, equitable local economies. The Business Ecosystem Track will provide a crash course on how to support worker cooperative transactions to help retain and grow small businesses with fewer than 20 employees. This summit is free to attend thanks to generous support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Great Game of Business, and the Employee Ownership Expansion Network in collaboration with the National Center for Employee Ownership. Attendees will gain: Analysis and lessons from national experts implementing local employee ownership strategiesIntimate knowledge of how leading employee ownership initiatives workFramework for leveraging existing partnerships and resources to support legacy business retentionA simple toolkit for supporting employee ownership as a legacy business retention strategyFoundational technical expertise on how to structure employee ownership transactionsNew relationships with investors, service providers, and government employees doing similar workThe Cities Track What can local officials, chambers of commerce leaders, and economic development professionals do to keep businesses and jobs in their community when owners retire? This track will answer that question through data, case studies, and conversations with municipal leaders. Cities, EDOs, and chambers of commerce will leave the session with a simple roadmap for integrating business and job retention using employee ownership strategies. The Business Ecosystem Track Business service providers are often short on options when working with a retiring owner of a business that can’t find a buyer and is too small for ESOP transitions. This track is for attorneys, accounts, SBDC advisors, capital investors, and other service providers to discuss the fundamentals of supporting worker cooperative transitions, opening the door to an entire market of business transactions for our state and region. This summit is a pre-conference event of the National Center for Employee Ownership’s Annual Conference which brings together the national employee ownership community to share knowledge and build connections. We encourage anyone interested in taking a deeper dive into employee ownership to register for the conference. Schedule Breakfast will be served at 9:00 am with welcome remarks beginning at 9:45 am. The event ends at 4:30 pm with a cocktail reception to follow until 6:00 pm. A more detailed agenda will be sent in the coming weeks. Travel and Hotel Accommodations Attendees should plan to arrive either the morning of the event or the night of Sunday, April 23rd and prepare to leave no earlier than 6pm on Monday, April 24th. Our partner, the National Center for Employee Ownership, has secured blocks of hotel rooms within walking distance of our event location. Use this link to book your room if required. DAWI will cover travel to and from the Stronger Economies EO Summit and up to one night of lodging. Reimbursement details will be provided closer to the event. About the OrganizersMissouri Center for Employee Ownership (MOCEO) The Missouri Center for Employee Ownership (MOCEO) is a Kauffman Foundation funded nonprofit dedicated to educating business owners and their advisors (lawyers, bankers, accountants, wealth advisors) on the benefits of employee ownership via Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), worker cooperatives, and Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs). MOCEO provides resources, case studies and articles, and a list of service providers who can assist with employee ownership transitions. MOCEO serves the entire state of Missouri as well as eastern Kansas. Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI) The Democracy at Work Institute expands the worker cooperative model to meet the needs of workers locked out of good jobs and business ownership opportunities, especially BIPOC, recent immigrants, and low wage workers. The Institute brings a birds-eye view of the national stage and a hands-on understanding of cooperative business and its benefits, making sure our growing worker cooperative movement is rooted in worker cooperatives themselves and reaches new communities of worker-owners. equity2 equity 2 is an impact investment firm committed to deploying capital in inclusive and equitable ways. By financing a diversified portfolio of projects, the equity 2 Impact Fund provides a unique opportunity to invest in operating businesses and community-enhancing real estate projects in underserved, overlooked neighborhoods. We invest in minority and women-led companies as well as in projects that provide sustained social and economic benefits for residents of surrounding low-income communities. AltCap Founded in 2005 with a mission to provide fair access to capital, AltCap is a critical source of alternative debt financing for communities and entrepreneurs that fall outside the financial mainstream. We are mission-driven and community-focused. To date, AltCap has deployed nearly $250 million in capital, financing small businesses and real estate development projects that were overlooked by traditional financial institutions. Questions about summit logistics or registration? Contact Keith Davenport, MOCEO Executive Director at [email protected] and Zen Trenholm, DAWI Senior Director of Employee Ownership Cities and Policy at [email protected].