A project called “Spark Tank” that Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, runs in economically depressed urban areas could go a long way to helping transform communities through commerce.
A St. Louis Magazine article featured a new business that opened this month — not in downtown St. Louis but in the suburb Ferguson, Missouri.
The Garden Kitchen is a coffee shop providing “in-house and outdoor dining options, an art gallery, and gathering spaces for reflection and conversation,” says the magazine. It is also the hub for entrepreneurs looking to break into the business world through the food truck business.
The effort is the work of many community leaders who have one thing in common, said the magazine — they “connected via separate entrepreneurship endeavors through Benedictine College in Kansas.”
Spark Tank — and The Garden — came from a simple concept: Communities need homegrown entrepreneurs to thrive.
“A homegrown business that serves local needs and provides jobs can transform a community,” said Professor Dave Geenens, but too often, “Entrepreneurs in marginalized communities are stuck.”
Geenens is the business professor at Benedictine College who was instrumental in the Spark Tank concept, named for the popular ABC entrepreneurship reality TV show Shark Tank, that offers a way into business to underserved communities.
“It’s exciting to see years of work paying off,” said Geenens. “These new businesspeople can make a significant impact, for generations.”
Geenens is the director of Benedictine’s Thompson Center for Integrity in Economics and Finance, and he believes that Christian principles in general, and Catholic social teaching in particular, have the answers to questions both socialism and secularist capitalism get wrong.
He said that in disadvantaged communities, there is no lack of men and women who have successful “hustles” — moneymaking ventures designed to serve the owner’s needs. What the communities need is a true “business mindset” focused on bringing value to the community and the owner.
But business owners have to overcome two obstacles: A lack of education and a lack of money.
To overcome the first hurdle, Benedictine College offers the Spark Tank.
The college’s Thompson Center provides the education arm of the Spark Tank program that offers entrepreneurs an opportunity to pitch business ideas. The best concepts win the education needed to make them operational. That’s where Geenens comes in.
Geenens is a favorite professor on campus for students with business ideas, or with existing businesses that need help. Now he is able to provide that kind of help in communities where it is most needed — and least available.
The program’s website explains that the Spark Tank winners enter “Entrepreneurial Bootcamp” or a “Preparation Academy,” depending on their level of experience and understanding.
Geenens is also helping with the second hurdle: Finding the money needed to start a business.
Geenens is most excited about the idea of “Venture Philanthropy” and how it transforms communities.
A lifelong entrepreneur, he knows firsthand how hard it is for new businesses to find seed capital.
“Hustles remain hustles and the economic flywheel in marginalized communities like Ferguson, spins slowly, if at all,” he said. “We’re engineering a new network of capital for responsible entrepreneurs.”
How? “We use philanthropic, tax deductible, dollars as the source of capital for entrepreneurs in marginalized communities,” he said. “This is a culture-transforming concept!”
And the whole thing started when a man in St. Louis read a book.
Geenens offers a free online course, “The Reckoning” about how Christian principles in general — and Catholic social teaching in particular — is the right answer to questions both socialism and secular capitalism get wrong. He also wrote about those ideas: Truth and the Transcendent Business.
Spark Tank took off when a financial professional in St. Louis came across Geenens’ work and shared it with a friend. The idea grew from there.
“Jared Ribley at Capstone M&A read the book and then connected me with JT Thomas with Civil Righteousness,” Geenens said. “They had been brainstorming about issues around restorative justice. John Michel with Soulcial Kitchen found the Spark Tank on the internet.”
Together, this new coalition designed ways virtue-centered entrepreneurship could make an impact in marginalized communities.
The Garden Kitchen is just the beginning.
St. Louis Magazine says “The Garden Kitchen addresses economic insecurity and food inequity in North County in a couple of ways.” In addition to serving customers, it connects a cohort of 28 local entrepreneurs. They “meet weekly at The Garden for base-level business education, taught by Benedictine College School of Business professors and other content experts,” says the story.
These entrepreneurs learn how to run food trucks — and start on a new path in life.
This is just the beginning for Spark Tank, Geenens said: “We want to take this model nationwide, breaking the cycle of poverty, reducing dependencies and enjoying the wealth and prosperity earned by adding value within their own community, by their community, for their community."
