Embracing an abundance mindset in Kansas: How new collaborations are creating a stronger small business ecosystem

There are many effective programs and leaders in Kansas that support small businesses. However, as is the case in a lot of places, it can be difficult for entrepreneurs to find the specific or comprehensive support they need.

Take a step back, however, and a different picture emerges: An ecosystem with a rich and diverse set of resources for entrepreneurs. These different perspectives shaped the two main questions of the fifth Mastercard Strive USA Summit of 2025, which was held in Lawrence, Kansas, on December 4th in partnership with the Kansas Department of Commerce and Actuate Consulting Team. First, how can small business stakeholders in Kansas work together to build a more connected, collaborative, and cohesive support system for small businesses? And second, what are best practices from other regions that can be applied in Kansas?

The opportunity in Kansas

Speakers who were based in Kansas emphasized their shared goal of making all 105 counties in the Sunflower State more supportive environments for entrepreneurs. The reason was simple: Small businesses are the lifeblood of local communities.

“Wherever you go when you are traveling in Kansas, people will tell you to check out this small business or that small business,” said Amber Sellers, a city commissioner in Lawrence and one of the first speakers. “Small businesses are the heart of every community, and we need to do everything we can to support them.”

Summit participants presented the different tools and services they had developed to support entrepreneurs in Kansas, from visuals detailing market opportunities, to ecosystem maps, to new technology platforms such as the K-State 105 and All Things Kansas platforms which leverage Kansas State University’s expertise, data, research, and network to support small business growth across the state. These tools and services provide enormous value to entrepreneurs, but the presentations and subsequent discussions were also a means for starting to build new partnerships among different organizations.

“There are some incredible people and organizations supporting small businesses in Kansas, but they often do not work together — or even know about each other,” said Taylor Overton, the director of small business development and entrepreneurship at the Kansas Department of Commerce. “Kansas is a big state, which can make it difficult to collaborate, but we have to do it because there are opportunities we can work on together that none of us can do alone. That is why we are here today. As a community, we can embody our state motto: ‘Ad Astra per Aspera’ — To the Stars through Difficulties.”

Eighty-seven unique organizations attended the summit, including 69 Kansas-based entities representing all 105 counties. Attendees included local Chambers of Commerce, Economic Development Districts, Entrepreneurial Support Organizations, Community Development Financial Institutions, representatives from the Small Business Administration, local private and philanthropic sector leaders, and many others.

Leveraging best practices on technology and access to capital

A few speakers shared best practices from around the country that could be applied locally to strengthen the small business ecosystem. Community Reinvestment Fund, USA (CRF), a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that builds and deploys technology for small business lenders, entrepreneurs, and others, spoke about both the power and limits of leveraging emerging technology.

“It should not be the small business’s job to navigate the alphabet soup of public and private resources that are out there,” said Patrick Davis, Senior Vice President for Platform & Technology Services at CRF. “Technology can really help solve that problem. However, technology cannot take you everywhere you want to go by itself. It is a tool that people use, and so our job is to start with the problem and the people who are working to solve that problem.”

Others highlighted the important role CDFIs can and should play in the ecosystem given their focus on underserved communities.

“One of the reasons why CDFIs are so critical is because their explicit purpose is to serve underserved communities, people who have historically been denied access to capital or struggled to access it,” said Joyce Klein, Senior Director of the Business Ownership Initiative at the Aspen Institute. “They also do more than just provide capital. They provide technical assistance to small businesses to help them to access and effectively use that capital.”

CDFIs are different from traditional finance institutions, but there are opportunities for them both to work more closely together, said Theodis Watson, Director of Business Banking at CrossFirst Bank and the president of the Urban Financial Services Coalition.

“We have a lot of partnerships with CDFIs, but the processes, people, technology, and regulations we have in place can make it challenging sometimes because our processes are designed typically for larger loan sizes. But it all starts with intentionality — if you can start with the intention to do more with CDFIs and updating your existing products and services, you will receive the results from your products and partnerships.”

How to build effective partnerships in complex ecosystems

Ecosystem challenges are inherently complex, and building new partnerships within such an ecosystem can be too, given the diverse and sometimes competing array of stakeholders. But it becomes less complex once you realize everyone has a similar mission.

“It is always important to remember we are all fighting the same fight, just doing it in different ways,” said Jannae Gammage, CEO & Founder of Cyphr, a fintech company focused on simplifying access to capital for underserved small businesses. “For me, talking to people about collaboration is never a difficult conversation, it is always an exploratory conversation,”

Scale Link approaches partnerships with a keen sense of self-awareness, seeing themselves as an enabler in the background and putting CDFIs and their small business clients at the forefront of every collaboration. The organization buys loans from CDFIs and sells them to traditional banks so that CDFIs can do more lending.

“If we approach potential partnerships with humility and an openness to being self-critical, that can make a huge difference when you are talking to other people and trying to get a deal done,” said Jonathan Brereton, chief strategy and finance officer at Scale Link. “You need to be self-aware about what you do well and what you do not do well, and whether those strengths and weaknesses really match up with different opportunities.”

The power of networks — and what comes next

The opportunity to collaborate with the Kansas Department of Commerce to help drive new partnerships within the small business ecosystem in Kansas fits squarely with the mission of Mastercard Strive USA. The program’s work focuses not only on specific interventions but, more importantly, on supporting the individuals at the heart of these ecosystems who are working to drive lasting change in Kansas — and beyond.

“Today we are talking about access to affordable capital, we are talking about networks, and we are talking about digital transformation. But it is ultimately about people and relationships who use these tools to advance prosperity and a brighter future for all,” said Sandy Fernandez, vice president for social impact at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. “Our hope today is that this event and the conversations here will help build bridges, both within Kansas and elsewhere, so that entrepreneurs in Kansas can thrive.”