The following is an excerpt from The Beat, Minne Inno's daily newsletter covering tech and startups in the Twin Cities. Sign up to receive news about local entrepreneurs and their businesses.
Apparently this is the right week to announce new incubator/fellowship classes. ICYMI WeWork and Bunker Labs released the names of the local entrepreneurs in its first Veterans in Residence program earlier this week. And today, we have news about the first Finnovation Fellows.
Wait, the who?
(*Cue flashback*) Earlier this year, a local coworking space, Impact Hub, and a Twin Cities brewery, Finnegans formed a unique partnership to empower “impact” entrepreneurs in the area. If you’ve passed through downtown Minneapolis recently, you may have seen Finnegans’ new tap room just off 35W (RIP) in the Elliot Park neighborhood. Just two floors above that is Impact Hub’s swanky new coworking space. So the two businesses are very close neighbors, but they share more than just space.
What does that mean?
Together, Impact Hub and Finnegans launched the Finnovation Lab, a collaboration that includes community workspace and a social business incubator. The first program to officially come out of the Lab is the Finnovation Fellowship. Five entrepreneurs have been selected for the nine-month-long program, which comes with benefits like a $50K living stipend, a $3K healthcare stipend, a one-year Impact Hub membership and access to a curriculum that aims to help early-stage startups jumpstart their business. A program like this is a big win for impact entrepreneurs in the area.
Ok, so who are they?
The five fellows were chosen from hundreds of applicants, Finnovation said in a release. Here they are, along with the idea they hope to bring to life over the next nine months:
- Juanita L. Flowers: frozen cookie dough to increase hope, awareness and funding for domestic abuse victims.
- Michelle Tran Maryns: reservation tool to increase small business and customer community impact.
- Mimi Aboubaker: connecting low-income students to needed financial resources and support.
- Nicholas Alm: supporting LGBTQ entrepreneurs through a venture capital firm that provides support, technical assistance and business planning.
- Prescious Drew: natural and affordable skincare solutions through upcycling.
Learn more about the new fellows here.
Ever heard of a coworking space and a brewery collaborating on something other than happy hour? Me neither. But it’s happening.
More on that here.
