In a two-day entrepreneurship summit at the Overland Park Convention Center, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon stopped in the heartland to talk small business. The event, The Road to Global Entrepreneurship Summit in the Heartland, prefaces the upcoming Global Entrepreneurship Summit in the Netherlands. On June 4, Pompeo and other world leaders will convene at The Hague in the Netherlands to discuss international…

Five area businesses were among 36 companies to pitch to prospective investors at this year’s InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum. The annual event, which took place March 19-20 at the Westin Kansas City, marked the 20th year for fast-growth companies to connect with potential funders. Each company had up to eight minutes to pitch to investors in one of three industry tracks: food, agriculture and bioenergy; life sciences; and technology. Over…

The U.S. Small Business Administration announced its winners of the 2019 Small Business Persons of the Year — among them, Kansas City’s own Carol Espinosa, founder and president of Freedom Interiors. “It’s a very humbling and exciting experience to win this award,” Espinosa told Thinking Bigger. “Being named Small Business Person of the Year for the state of Missouri means recognition of the hard work and perseverance it takes to…

Throughout the next month, select theaters will screen “Where Students Lead,” a documentary focused on the Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS), which started in the Blue Valley school district in Overland Park and has since spread to districts nationwide. The program was designed as a way for high school students to immerse themselves into the professional world and face real-life experiences while still in school. CAPS provides students the…