Generation E: Growing the next generation of entrepreneurs

In September 2022, stakeholders from the city of Monroe had a conversation with the Michigan Municipal League (The League) about local entrepreneurship and how to better support small business owners. After a year-long exploration, The League determined that Monroe’s entrepreneurs needed more access to training, technical assistance, capital, child care, transportation, and housing. Other challenges for entrepreneurs included unclear regulations, lack of move-in-ready business spaces, and help with marketing and human resources.

This focus on entrepreneurship makes sense considering what Monroe’s younger generation is up to. Students in Monroe Public Schools can take part in Generation E, a program that, according to its website, “ignites the entrepreneurial spirit with community programs that inspire and guide creative thinking to compete in tomorrow’s economy.” Serving youth across the country, the Generation E nonprofit was founded in Kalamazoo and moved its offices to Monroe Public Schools in 2018.

The Generation E program for student entrepreneurs is a collaboration among the city of Monroe, its small businesses, and Monroe Public Schools. The program cultivates confidence, leadership, communication, creativity, and soft skills that improve employability.

“Generation E builds more than business acumen — it cultivates confidence, leadership, communication, and creativity,” says Generation E’s former executive director, Dr. Julie Everly. “Students learn to develop ideas, pitch them, and test them in real markets, often resulting in ventures that showcase their unique talents.”

Former Monroe Public Schools teacher Holly VanKlingeren now leads Generation E as executive director. 

“In my tenure teaching the program, I witnessed students not only become involved in entrepreneurship, but also paying attention to their local community,” VanKlingeren says. “They took a look at their community to see what problems existed and how they could grow a business to solve that problem.”

In the classroom, students have an opportunity to look at entrepreneurship through many academic lenses, for example, social studies, civics, communications, and math. This helps them connect what they learn in school to their lives in their communities and the world.

“These experiences instill lifelong skills such as financial literacy, teamwork, and problem-solving — attributes that extend well beyond the classroom,” Everly says.

Monroe’s small businesses collaborate as mentors, hosts, and coaches. Students learn how to start a business as resilient, curious, and adaptable entrepreneurs. Monroe is home to La-Z-boy, Monroe Shocks and Struts, and Mid-American Group. Any one of the student entrepreneurs could be Monroe’s “next big thing.”

Kids also master soft skills that help them succeed as entrepreneurs or employees: Time management, attentiveness, and confidence to make eye contact when delivering a pitch or dealing with customers.

“Students learn how to become smarter shoppers, because they have to purchase raw materials to create their product. They then have to price that product correctly,” VanKlingeren says. “When they go out into our community and see brand new small businesses pop up, there is a beautiful appreciation for the price point, the time that it takes to create these products.”

City and small businesses on board

Monroe’s small businesses collaborate as mentors, hosts, and coaches, grounding what the students learn in real-world relevance.

“This two-way collaboration ensures students learn not only how to start a business but also how to think like entrepreneurs — resilient, curious, and adaptable,” Everly says. “One community leader said it best. ‘Students are not only becoming entrepreneurs. They are learning what traits employers look for in their best employees.’”

The city of Monroe is another major collaborator in Generation E.

“We’ve got a really great relationship with them, and have for a long time,” says Mark Cochran, Monroe city manager. “Our main role is supporting them and looking for ways we can move them forward in growth and expansion.”

In the spring, the city hosts the Generation E Young Entrepreneur Showcase at its Education and Event Center for River Raisin National Battlefield Park. In the morning, business professionals, city leaders, and other supporters present tips on entrepreneurship. In the afternoon, students showcase and sell their products to the public. 

“It’s a tremendous day where everybody from kindergarteners through seniors in high school get to come and set up their businesses, and the community gets to come, support them, and buy their products,” Cochran says. 

The mayor and other city staff also serve as judges, selecting students’ businesses for awards in different categories, for example, best business plan or most creative. 

Throughout the year, city staff work to provide insight and guidance to the teachers developing the curriculum.

The City of Monroe hosts the annual Generation E Young Entrepreneur Showcase where business professionals, city leaders, and other supporters share their experience and the community shops student goods and services. Throughout the year, city staff work to provide insight and guidance to the teachers developing the curriculum.

“Generation E is a great program because it’s training tomorrow’s entrepreneurs today,” Cochran says. “We also know that there are people in our community right now, adults who may want to be entrepreneurs, chase their dream, and open their business. We’re working to find some opportunities to expand Generation E into a program that also supports adults.”

Cochran says small businesses are the backbone of any community, and, in Monroe, the small businesses far outweigh the major employers. He sees the city’s role as supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses along the way as they build their “lattice of entrepreneurship,” starting with the school district.

“It’s very important that the ecosystem supports these young folks who are really doing some brilliant things and coming up with some really creative businesses,” Cochran says. 

The next big thing

New entrepreneurs and their small businesses find a good fit in the city of Monroe and Monroe County.  More than 90% of businesses here are small, with under 50 employees. Many have fewer than 10. Most employees of Monroe businesses live within Monroe County. And as a city with a great history and heritage of entrepreneurship, Monroe is home to La-Z-boy, founded over 90 years ago in the city of Monroe, and Monroe Shocks and Struts. 

“Chances are, if you drive a car, you’ve got a Monroe shock or a Monroe strut,” Cohran says.

Keith Masserant started a global industrial engineering firm, Mid American Group, out of his farm north of Monroe.

As Monroe increases development in its downtown, fills vacant spaces, and pursues development like the planned renovation of its 16-acre St. Mary’s Academy site into mixed-use, Cochran wonders who among the student entrepreneurs will be the next big thing that comes out of Monroe.

“We’re working within our department, with the support of the city council, to look at ways we can bring students back here after they graduate from college or high school,” Cochran says. “We want them to come back and open their small business here.”

The Michigan Municipal League/City of Monroe Opportunity Report found Monroe’s entrepreneurs needed more access to training, technical assistance, capital, transportation, housing, and move-in-ready business spaces. One project underway as a result of the report, St. Mary’s Academy is being transformed into mixed-use entrepreneurial spaces, housing, theatre, and museum.

Photos by Nick Hagen

This story is made possible with funding from the Michigan Municipal League Foundation, a nonprofit association dedicated to making Michigan’s communities better by thoughtfully innovating programs, energetically connecting ideas and people, actively serving members with resources and services, and passionately inspiring positive change for Michigan’s greatest centers of potential: its communities.