SCCF to host national entrepreneurship conference

Shenandoah Community Capital Fund is hosting a national entrepreneurship organization’s summit in Harrisonburg, marking the first time the bi-annual event has convened in a rural area like the Shenandoah Valley, says Anika Horn, who directs SCCF’s entrepreneurial ecosystem-building efforts. The Startup Champions Network (SCN) Spring Summit runs April 30 through May 2.

Staunton-based SCCF applied to host the conference in October 2023 and got the nod in December.

Horn expects roughly 100 entrepreneurs and supporters, lenders and ecosystem builders from all over the United States. Previously, the conference, which was held in cities like Phoenix and Washington, D.C., has drawn about 80 to 120 attendees. “We are on par right now with our big counterparts,” she says.

The location choice demonstrates how well the Shenandoah Valley’s entrepreneurial culture has developed, says Peirce Macgill, Harrisonburg’s deputy director of economic development: “They’re saying, ‘Let’s go there and learn what they’re doing.’”

Macgill wants to show off efforts such as B-Cubed, a minority-oriented, business growth program funded through grants and private donations, and Launch Harrisonburg, a 10-week class helping entrepreneurs test an idea’s viability before jumping into business.

Conference participants often form lasting relationships, says Chris Cain, chief lending officer at Peoples Advantage Federal Credit Union in Petersburg. Cain, who has forged several professional ties through the SCN summit, met Horn at the 2007 conference in Fargo, North Dakota. She’s still in touch with panel members from across the nation whom she met at past SCN conferences, including a tech investor and other entrepreneurial advocates. “Some of my closest professional relationships have been made through SCN,” she says.

Along with participating in panel discussions, interactive workshops and taking deep dives into problems like access to capital, attendees will go on an “innovation” tour, Horn says, visiting entrepreneurs in Harrisonburg, Waynesboro and Staunton. They’ll call on Virginia Metalcrafters and Commonwealth Crush, a wine incubator for independent growers lacking on-site winemaking equipment. They’ll also check out the Manufactory Collective in Harrisonburg, a new incubator focused on manufacturing startups.

Horn wants conference visitors to experience the valley like a local, she says: “We are hosting dinners with locals, inviting community members to dine with conference attendees in Staunton’s community spaces … [with catering] by local restaurants. We really believe in breaking bread with our participants and building relationships through these types of ‘collisions’ [of ideas and collaboration] we’re creating.”