Thrive Here: Cedar Rapids Entrepreneurs Enjoy Stellar Support

Here's why you should consider launching a business in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

By Brianna Williams on January 9, 2024

Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance

Cedar Rapids entrepreneurs with big ideas may have the creativity and motivation to get started, but as for the logistical side of getting those big ideas off the ground? That’s where Cedar Rapids’ strong entrepreneurial support system comes in. 

For all entrepreneurs – from longtime locals to newcomers from across the sea – Cedar Rapids, IA, is known as a place that wants small businesses to grow. And it does more than just want it; the city puts that desire into action through a number of resources that provide connections, support, mentorship and even financial assistance. 

Space for Big Ideas 

One such passionate entrepreneur with big ideas is Mo Nasraddin, who immigrated to the U.S. from Sudan when he was 10. After his mother told him to “open a restaurant” when he asked how to convince her to eat healthier, he made it his mission to help others heal their bodies through food. 

Nasraddin is the founder and CEO of The KETO Kitchen, a restaurant and meal prep business that was able to open in downtown Cedar Rapids, thanks to the Downtown District’s Race for the Space program. 

The Race for the Space program provides local entrepreneurs a chance to win $20,000 toward opening a space in downtown Cedar Rapids. Thanks to the program, The KETO Kitchen was able to open a larger space and increase its offerings. 

“The increased space makes us able to create better gourmet options, and we’re seeing better results because gourmet foods make it easier to leave the bad food behind,” Nasraddin says. 

Tripod Studio/Shareef Madani

A Welcoming Place 

NewBoCo – or the New Bohemian Innovation Collaborative – is an organization that provides resources for Iowa’s startup community, aptly based in Cedar Rapids’ New Bohemia District. 

The local nonprofit aims to help entrepreneurs and is particularly focused on making sure there is a welcoming space for every business owner, no matter where they fall on the socioeconomic ladder or what they look like. 

“We want everybody to benefit in the end because so much comes from that,” says Kaitlin Byers, NewBoCo’s capital access manager of Kiva Iowa. 

One such way that NewBoCo helps all business owners is through a partnership with global microlending platform Kiva, which allows entrepreneurs to access early-stage capital more easily through private and public fundraising that provides loans with a 0% interest rate. It can open doors for entrepreneurs for whom it is particularly difficult to obtain that capital, including women- or minority-owned businesses and low- or moderate-income entrepreneurs. 

“For many, this is the first step in starting a business,” Byers says. “We help apply for the loan, facilitate the entire process and provide wraparound business support.” 

Local woman-owned home improvement business Kehes To Your Home, for instance, utilized NewBoCo’s Kiva lending program to purchase additional equipment for the 2-year-old company. Thanks to the loan, Kehes To Your Home was able to invest in new painting equipment and lumber. 

Apart from its partnership with Kiva, NewBoCo also administers coaching and mentoring for entrepreneurs, partners with The Global Good Fund to offer a leadership-focused program for business owners, and even provides a coworking space to facilitate collaboration and community. 

Also located in the New Bohemia District is NewBo City Market, an incubator and space for food and business retail startups to take root. Startups like Shawnniecakes, a specialty treat shop offering goods like toffee butter cookies and specialty cupcakes, got their start at the market. After arriving at NewBo City Market in 2019, the business was able to expand earlier last year. 

Up-and-coming businesses aren’t the only ones that call NewBo City Market home; however, it’s also a spot for small businesses that want to form long-standing connections with the community. 

La Reyna Mexican Restaurant, a local family business, has called the district home since the opening of NewBo City Market in 2012. “It’s like family at this place,” says Carmen Legaspi, who owns the business alongside her husband Carlos. 

Along with the many resources and programs that Cedar Rapids offers its entrepreneurial community, everyday customers provide entrepreneurs with an invaluable springboard. 

Nasraddin says that the community has proved supportive from the very beginning. “Cedar Rapids has always been awesome,” he says. 

A Bright Future in Hospitality

Students in the hospitality management program at Kirkwood Community College train side by side with industry experts at The Hotel at Kirkwood Center, which is located on the Kirkwood campus. 

The Hotel is a AAA Four Diamond Award facility that accommodates traveling customers and also serves as a learning laboratory for the hospitality program students. The two-year program includes students actually running a department in the hotel when they are nearing graduation. 

“Students learn all aspects of the hospitality industry, including food and beverage, front office management, housekeeping, and more,” says Greg Krawiec, Kirkwood associate professor and hospitality management program coordinator. 

Krawiec says after their first year, students also take intern positions at hospitality locations throughout the U.S. In the Cedar Rapids region, Kirkwood students have interned at properties including the DoubleTree by Hilton, Cedar Rapids Country Club, Cedar Ridge Winery, Riverside Casino and Lost Island Waterpark. 

Justin Hunt is a former Kirkwood student who graduated from the program in 2018 and today is operations manager at The Merrill Hotel in Muscatine, Iowa. 

“I’m an Illinois native who picked up a Kirkwood pamphlet while in high school and eventually visited the campus,” Hunt says. “I was amazed at how friendly, helpful and hospitable the Kirkwood people are.” 

Hunt says during his time as a Kirkwood student, he had interests ranging from baking, cooking and culinary arts to banquet serving, bartending and banquet captaincy – and ultimately hotel management. 

After graduation, he became the banquet manager at The Merrill Hotel, which had opened in Muscatine (about an hour south of Cedar Rapids). He was promoted to operations manager in January 2023. 

A special occasion will bring him back to Cedar Rapids early next year. 

“My fiancé, Gretchen, and I will be married in January 2024 at Cedar Ridge Winery, and we will stay that weekend at The Hotel at Kirkwood,” he says. “It will be a great weekend with great memories.” 

– Staff Writer Kevin Litwin contributed to this article.