This past week I was lucky – my world came to me.
Once a year, SourceLinkers convene from across the nation in Kansas City to rejuvenate, improve the system and share stories. Today I don’t have to travel as the SourceLink network has landed in Kansas City for our annual conference.
Carl Berger traveled here from Alaska. As an executive committee member for AKSourceLink, he is helping to expand the economy of Alaska through entrepreneurship and small business development. Kansas City is far from his home, a distant northwestern point in America.
I asked Carl how he ended up in the most remote area in our country. He said that in the sixties, he decided to explore Alaska and just never came home.
In his area, the economy does not run on a cash basis. Checks are often endorsed over and over again, the list of names growing, but no deposit ever made. Summer salmon is put up for the winter and elk and caribou provide food and fuel. Summer days can last 21 hours and winter temperatures can drop to 50 below.
Like many communities in Alaska, the roads stop at the end of town and access is only by plane, sled or four-wheeler.
Linda Ketcham leads the AKSourceLink network and is a true trailblazer. She is building visibility to the entrepreneurial ecosystem of a state that covers 664,000 square miles with a population of less than 700,000 people making it the # 1 state in size and the 47th in population in the U.S.
In a land of limited road systems, partnering is the only way to go: 16 organizations are participating in the development of AKSourceLink. In the past year over 30 small business development workshops have been conducted in communities of all sizes and populations delivered by many resources partners in both urban and very remote areas.
Rolling out AKSourceLink in a state this huge can mean meeting with U.S. Senator in Anchorage on one day and then jumping into a small plane to reach a remote area and then climbing into an even smaller plane to get out to the remotest of villages. These flights are without in-flight service: just two passenger seats squeezed in behind the pilot. A 4-wheeler awaits at the end of the trek to get to the final destination.
AKSourceLink is growing steadily with 100 resource partners and 50 more to go. The work of Linda and her partners has already been recognized by the University Economic Development Association Excellence in Partnership Award.