KCSourceLink Names Becca Castro as New Director Who Will Champion KC Entrepreneur Ecosystem
KCSourceLink, an organization in the Kansas City region that helps aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned business owners connect with resources to start and grow businesses, has named Becca Castro as its new director and network builder.
In her new role, Castro will work beside the 230+ business-building organizations in the KCSourceLink network to make resources more visible and accessible to entrepreneurs and small business owners and to improve the capacity and resiliency of Kansas City’s entrepreneurial support nonprofits. She will also do the same on a statewide scale for MOSourceLink. KCSourceLink and MOSourceLink are programs of the University of Missouri – Kansas City Innovation Center, which houses a suite of organizations and programs that elevate entrepreneurs to help them succeed.
“I’m thrilled to join such a remarkable organization dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship and connecting our region’s business owners with the resources they need to accelerate their success,” Castro said. “Elevating entrepreneurs and promoting inclusivity have been central to my career, and I look forward to continuing these efforts with a team that creates opportunities and meets the needs of doers, dreamers and makers.”
As a network builder with KCSourceLink, Castro will focus on civic engagement, relationship building and community partnerships to advance entrepreneurship across the region and further develop one of the most well-connected entrepreneur ecosystems in the country. Through the KCSourceLink hotline (816-235-6500), she will manage thousands of incoming requests from entrepreneurs and business owners as well as corporate and community leaders who want to connect with Kansas City entrepreneurship.
With over two decades of experience, Castro comes to KCSourceLink from the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, where as the director of entrepreneurship she led LaunchKC, a nonprofit entrepreneurship support initiative of EDCKC and the Downtown Council. During her tenure, she redesigned the grants program that provides funding, office space, education and mentorship to pre-seed and seed-stage tech startups. Previously she was vice president of Workforce Development at Skilled KC, a Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation initiative.
“Becca brings a deep knowledge of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and a passion for helping entrepreneurs reach the next level so they can create opportunities in our communities and elevate Kansas City to be the most entrepreneurial city in America,” says Maria Meyers, executive director of the UMKC Innovation Center. “We are excited to see how we can further leverage the collective power of the 230+ business building organizations and their partners in the Kansas City region to make entrepreneurship more accessible to more people and elevate our metro.”
Castro’s appointment comes at an exciting time for the Kansas City regional ecosystem as it has just completed a strategic planning process to determine how Kansas City can be a place “where everyone is empowered to pursue their passion through entrepreneurship, advancing an innovative and prosperous community.” To attain that vision will require a collective effort by the KCSourceLink network, entrepreneurs and the community.
