December 14, 2007

An Inventors, Investors and Entrepreneurs Club (I²E Club) is being organized in southeast Nebraska to provide a supportive network and forum for members of all ages. The group's first meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 22. Subsequent meetings will be held on the second Tuesday of every month.

All meetings will be held at UNL's Kimmel Education and Research Center in Nebraska City. Each session will begin with a a networking social at 5:30 p.m., followed by an educational session or guest speaker at 6:15 p.m. Each evening will end with an asset inventory exercise and question and answer session designed to help participants promote their expertise while locating solutions and resources.

Current opportunities exist to market the positive attributes and traditions associated with Nebraska's heritage by creating a "Buy Nebraska" trend that consumers can trust. The I²E Club is a platform for promoting this trend.

The I²E Club is part of a larger regional effort dedicated to improving economic development and vitality in southeast Nebraska. This regional effort is being organized by River Country Economic Development Corporation (RCEDC) and is supported by individuals, organizations and communities throughout the area.

Regional economic growth in rural areas is dependent on establishing an entrepreneurial culture that embraces self-sufficiency, change, risk taking, innovation, invention, entrepreneurship and local investing. The he I²E Club is designed to help fulfill this mission through collaborative work and ventures and the sharing of innovations and creativity.

Organizers are currently scheduling guest speakers and looking for speakers to share their stories, inventors to move their ideas forward and entrepreneurs who want to start and grow businesses. They also are looking for sponsors for the networking socials before meetings and are hoping to add a distance-delivery component to the program.

If you would like to be involved with, participate in or support the I²E Club, contact Connie Reimers-Hild, extension educator at the UNL Kimmel Education and Research Center in Nebraska City via phone (402-873-3166) or e-mail (creimers2@unl.edu).