Who We Are
Since January 1, 2026, Venture Incubator (VI) has operated as an initiative of the Community Leadership Consortium (CLC), working in partnership with the MC School of Business Center for Faith, Service, and Ethics. Together, we provide faith-based entrepreneurship education, business coaching, mentoring, and venture-development support grounded in practical skills, ethical leadership, service, and responsible stewardship.
VI is committed to creating economic opportunity in rural communities across Mississippi, with special emphasis on the Mississippi Delta and Mississippi’s Appalachian region. Our work is expanding to include entrepreneurship education for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals, as well as church- and community-based programs serving youth and adults in Jackson and Hinds County.
Our approach reflects the belief that lasting change comes from equipping people—not simply meeting an immediate need. Through Self-Employment Training (SET), MARC, SET, GO!, Faith Start, and related initiatives, VI helps individuals develop the skills, confidence, relationships, and resources needed to create opportunities for themselves, support their families, and serve their communities.
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
—1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)
Our Mission
The Venture Incubator’s mission is to help Mississippi entrepreneurs get in business and stay in business.
Our Vision
With the new trend of “necessity entrepreneurs” and the increase in micro-business start-ups, Venture Incubator provides small business owners with valuable resources already available but largely untapped in rural Mississippi. Our challenge is to train local entrepreneurs with little or no experience in business in the skills necessary for success. The ultimate goal is to help create a culture of entrepreneurship in Mississippi’s rural communities by unleashing the power of micro-entrepreneurs who provide the majority of jobs in our state.
Our Value Proposition
The Venture Incubator promotes a culture of entrepreneurship by working through existing local economic development organizations to deliver quality training, coaching, mentoring and consulting to those interested in starting a new business or those who need help in growing their business. We recruit and train local business counselors who have already been successful and want to give back to their communities. We also act as a catalyst to leverage the wealth of resources already available from both the public sector and the private sector in a effort to help business owners tailor an affordable plan of action that builds wealth for them and for their local communities.
Our Method
Since we operate as a virtual incubator, a Venture Incubator staff member can come to your location, work with you from the offices of participating economic development professionals or you can participate in individual and group coaching sessions from your home or office. Our first contact with a community may be a talk about entrepreneurship to your civic club, your church, economic development group or other local organization. Once we have established a partnership with a local economic development organization, we will go to work establishing a local network of business counselors and identifying those interested in building a culture of entrepreneurship. We will facilitate classes on “How to Start and Manage Your Own Business” workshops to train future business owners how to get into business. We then establish continuing relationships with those new business owners as well as existing business owners so that we will be available to help them stay in business should difficulties arise.