The key players who made the Urban Entrepreneur Partnership a reality have reason to smile during the kick-off luncheon at the Ponderosa Steakhouse on King Drive. Participants in the announcement are (left to right): Ralph Hollmon, Milwaukee Urban League; Steve Preston, SBA, Cory Nettles, Quarles and Brady; Tina Kelly-Beckett, Stella Love, owner of Ponderosa Steakhouse; Daniel Heath, associate director of the White House’s National Economic Council; Cong. Gwen Moore, Jim Connelly and Daryl Williams, Natl’ Director of the Urban Entrepreneur Partnership. (photo by Harry Kemp)

On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Urban Entrepreneur Partnership (UEP) officially begins working with local business, civic and community leaders to focus resources on addressing impediments to minority business formation and growth.

The Milwaukee UEP fosters wealth creation, job creation, and the economic health of minority and urban core communities by increasing the number of successful and sustainable minority and urban businesses.

"The Urban Entrepreneur Partnership will put a national spotlight on the work we are doing in Milwaukee to create family-supporting jobs and generate economic growth," said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. "We worked hard to bring the partnership to Milwaukee and we will continue our commitment to making our great city a nation-wide competitor on every level."

Like its national counterpart, the Milwaukee UEP will encourage a network of contacts and mentors, and evolve to meet changing needs. The Milwaukee UEP will provide business training, coaching, access to financing, and procurement opportunities to new and existing minority and urban business owners.

"By bringing together the knowledge and resources available in the Milwaukee community, as well as tapping the expertise of national partners, the Milwaukee UEP represents a new model of business-driven partnerships that can make an immediate impact on urban and minority business communities," said Cory Nettles of Quarles & Brady.

Nettles, the former Wisconsin Secretary of Commerce, is part of the coalition of business and community leaders who worked to establish the UEP in Milwaukee.

The Milwaukee Urban Entrepreneur Partnership today also announced the Franchise Diversity & Development Initiative, a partnership between the Metropolitan Business Collaborative and the International Franchise Association to help vet potential minority franchisees, identify financing opportunities and provide additional support to ensure operational success.

Through this initiative and others, the Milwaukee UEP aims to unleash the untapped talent of the local labor force and the entrepreneurial energy of the greater Milwaukee community.
"As an advocate for minority and small businesses, I see the establishment of Milwaukee Urban Entrepreneurship Center as an opportunity for the city to accelerate small business growth, which will expand job creation in the inner core. Small businesses create nearly 75 percent of all new jobs and account for 99 percent of all employers," said Congresswoman Gwen Moore.

"I am also proud that as the Fourth District’s representative in Congress I could secure $150,000 in federal funding for the Center."

The Milwaukee Urban Entrepreneur Partnership will operate out of the new Urban Entrepreneur Center located at the Milwaukee Urban League’s offices in Bronzeville at 435 West North Avenue.

The Center will be run by the Metropolitan Business Collaborative, Inc. Tina Kelly-Beckett, formerly Manager of Supplier Diversity for Miller Brewing Company, serves as the Executive Director of the Milwaukee UEP.

The Center provides a one-stop location with resources for businesses seeking partnerships in the greater Milwaukee area. It will be run with a rigorous private-sector, results-based and performance-measured approach. The Center will utilize the Kauffman Intrusive Coaching Program and the FastTrac program.

Milwaukee joins the five pilot cities of the national Urban Entrepreneur Partnership: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Jacksonville and Kansas City. National partners for the Urban Entrepreneur Partnership are the National Urban League, Business Roundtable, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Federal Government.