CSUB receiving over $1 million to establish entrepreneurship center

SeedCore, Skeet Varner foundations each commit $500,000

By California State University, Bakersfield

December 2^nd, 2021

California State University, Bakersfield is receiving significant support for an effort to transform the economic landscape in Kern County.

The university has recently received two $500,000 commitments, one from the SeedCore Foundation and the other from the Skeet Varner Foundation, to support the establishment of a Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation on campus that aims to spur business growth in the region.

“Our community has identified the need to both facilitate small business startups and sustain them as they grow. Yet currently, there is no comprehensive support system for these efforts in the area,” said Dr. John Stark, interim dean of the School of Business and Public Administration. “These gifts will help make it possible to launch the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and to make the dreams of future entrepreneurs and small business owners come true.”

Half of each gift is being given to CSUB this year to help get the center going, with the rest coming in subsequent years.

Associate Vice President for Development Heath Niemeyer says the gifts are just the latest example of the incredible amount of support CSUB has received over the years to help students become successful community leaders.

“Kern has a history coming together to move our community forward. These gifts to CSUB are a part of that heritage,” he said. “The SeedCore and Skeet Varner foundations are leading the way, bringing us together to move our community forward.”

J.P. Lake founded the nonprofit SeedCore Foundation with his wife, Ingrid, and is on the Board of Directors for the CSUB Foundation. Lake said he and his wife wanted to provide the gift because the center will help create new businesses in Kern County.

“Establishing a Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is another piece of the puzzle that we need in our ecosystem to help people start companies and grow them,” he said. “It’s been my belief that the economy in Kern County needs to diversify, and one of the best ways to do that is to create our own companies and jobs of the future rather than trying to recruit businesses to the area. I don’t think, as a community, we have been talking enough about entrepreneurship as a way to do that.”

Jacob Panero, secretary for the Skeet Varner Foundation, said the center is a great opportunity for CSUB students to learn how to take risks.

“Without people understanding how to take risks with the education that they are able to garner at places like CSUB, they won’t know how the world works and how to take those business opportunities,” he said. “We think a center for entrepreneurship can encourage new ideas and potentially lead to paths of success that can help our entire region. We’re proud to be able to provide this gift to CSUB and support this effort.”

SeedCore Foundation founders J.P. and Ingrid Lake

Skeet Varner Foundation Secretary Jacob Panero

These gifts aren’t the only support CSUB is receiving for the center. Jim Burke Ford has recently committed $100,000 to the university for the center, which will be provided early next year.

“Our dealership has deep roots in Kern County, and our support for CSUB goes back to the early 1970s, when Jim Burke was a founding member and chair of the CSUB Foundation. This gift is a continuation of that legacy,” said President Joe Hay. “Establishing this center is the perfect combination of our company’s long-term support of education, along with encouraging the skills necessary to help our students and broader community compete in the 21st Century. As our local economy changes, we want to be at the front of encouraging the next great idea for long term success.”

Earlier this fall, businessman and CSUB alumnus Chris Hayden also donated $100,000 for the center in addition to $150,000 for athletic scholarships.

These gifts will help fulfill two of the priorities that CSUB has established with its first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign, which was announced on Oct. 1. It will support future leaders and build the community by helping create the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The goal of the campaign is to raise $55 million by July 2024.

Creating future leaders

The center will feature a venture accelerator through which a cohort of entrepreneurs will be paired with mentors who will help them develop a business plan. It will not only be open to students, but faculty, staff and the community as well.

J.P. Lake said the accelerator will focus on several areas of study, including design thinking and marketing.

“Some of the most common challenges that I see entrepreneurs facing in our community is understanding how to drive revenue and do marketing when you have a new company,” he said. “Design thinking helps you pinpoint what customers’ problems are and how to solve them.”

In addition to an accelerator, the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is also expected to have a passport program in which students who participate in a series of entrepreneurship-related activities on campus will receive a certificate.

Other features that are planned for the center include a speaker series, internships, competitions and a summer program for high school and community college students.

“Kern County and Bakersfield have lots of people that have a passion for entrepreneurship and a commitment to the region but haven’t had a real chance to connect those dots together,” said Associate Dean and Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy Dr. Seung Bach. “With resources behind us, this is a great moment to give our best shot to our entrepreneurship students.”

The current plan is to start offering a few programs and activities through the center sometime in the spring. Dr. Bach estimates that within the next calendar year, most of the programming will be in place.

“We’re going to build some traction and start at a smaller scale,” he said. “This is the first step of a big plan. We want everybody to get excited and hear about what’s going on.”

Lake is confident that the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation will inspire more people to start a business and that the region will see significant growth from that, which will attract even more people to open businesses here.

“It can start to change the perception of Bakersfield as a place to live and to work. It’ll help us recruit more talent to the area and will also give more people who were born and raised here more of a reason to stay,” he said. “If we have just a couple of companies emerge out of this, that would be a huge win. You can’t underestimate how powerful that would be over a decade.”

Lake said CSUB is in a unique position to support the local economy and quality of life in the area through this center, in part because it is a young university with a lot of room to grow.

“They’re really one of the only institutions that has the scale and resources to move needle on that,” he said. “We really are lacking in some of the entrepreneurial support systems and resources you find in other regions of similar size to Bakersfield. With the scale, the breadth and depth that the university has to offer, there is no other institution like that here.”

President Lynnette Zelezny believes the gifts the university is receiving demonstrate the community’s commitment to supporting Kern County’s future business leaders.

“When we dare to dream, we move our region and people forward with the power of our ideas and ingenuity,” she said. “The Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation advances our community’s proud tradition of discovery and innovation by identifying our next generation of entrepreneurs and visionaries and giving them the freedom to think big. Thank you to our community supporters for believing that, together, we can have the future we imagine.”

ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN

Runners on the Rise is the first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign at California State University, Bakersfield. The campaign is centrally focused on what is most important at CSUB: students. This ambitious effort aims to raise $55 million by July 2024, helping our students — and in turn the entire region — reach new heights of success. Join us on this upward trajectory atcsub.edu/rise.