Bloch School Preparing for Debut of Entrepreneur Hall of Fame

UMKC’s Bloch School of Management is preparing to roll out the first class of its Entrepreneur Hall of Fame with a private induction ceremony Friday at 4 p.m.

The invitation-only ceremony will recognize 20 Kansas Citians for their entrepreneurial spirit and business success. Names of those honorees will be released to the public on Monday.

The program fits in with one part of the Bloch Schools mission to support entrepreneurship in Kansas City and help it claim the title of “America’s Most Entrepreneurial City.” The university, in announcing the ceremony, said the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame was underwritten by a gift from Joe and Judy Roetheli, founders of the Lil’ Red Foundation. “It was their vision to have a three-dimensional physical presence for the hall of fame–a place where students and visitors could come for inspiration,” the university said in a news release.

It said the hall would serve as a teaching tool, providing role models for UMKC students, graduates and the community to emulate. Selected individuals either founded or substantially grew a for-profit business, gave back to the community in a meaningful way, and live in or have ties to the Kansas City region.

The inductees  will be recognized with a display that showing their faces, their history of value creation, and an artifact that represents their success. Exhibits will include an interactive touchscreen featuring inductee biographies, educational kiosks, artifacts from the lives of the entrepreneurs, a QR-code-enabled mobile video experience and words of inspiration from the entrepreneurs themselves.