About
Our mission is to advance and grow entrepreneurship in the Birmingham region by serving as a centralized information hub helping founders and stakeholders navigate the community landscape. The Bham BizHub is an interactive website developed to help entrepreneurs and small business owners navigate and understand local resources. Currently our website includes three beta resource guides - The Grid, The Map and The System - created using survey data collected from over 70 programs and organizations. The site also aggregates events and workshops around Birmingham geared toward startups and small businesses. In the coming months, the Bham BizHub team will be soliciting feedback on the beta versions, collecting data from additional organizations and working to continuously improve the resource guides. This project is a collaboration between the Alabama Capital Network, the Birmingham Business Alliance, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Special thanks to our community partners who have given invaluable insight and support: REV Birmingham, Create Birmingham, Urban Impact, the Innovation Depot, EDPA, Innovate Birmingham, Alabama Power, and the City of Birmingham.
Team
Daisy Homolka
Virginia Sauer
Emily Jerkins
Lydia Dick
Alabama Capital Network
Innovation Depot
Birmingham Business Alliance
University of Alabama Birmingham
After graduating from Barnard College of Columbia University with a BA in Economics and Mathematics, Daisy moved to Birmingham to work at the Alabama Capital Network as part of an entrepreneurship fellowship called Venture for America. At the Alabama Capital Network, Daisy works to promote economic development through entrepreneurship by connecting Alabama founders to mentors, clients, and investors. Daisy is originally from Asheville, NC.
Virginia is the Community Manager at Innovation Depot and is responsible for working with tenants to facilitate programming that enhances each company’s experience at Innovation Depot. Before Innovation Depot, Virginia worked for the Birmingham Business Alliance as a Market Analyst in Innovation and Technology and has experience in development for nonprofits.
Virginia studied Art History at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA and is a native of Charlotte, NC.
Emily manages the economic development research program at the Birmingham Business Alliance, the regional economic development organization for the seven-county metro area. Prior to this role, Jerkins managed the research program at the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. A native of Bay Minette, Ala., Jerkins graduated summa cum laude from the University of South Alabama with an undergraduate degree in business administration majoring in economics and finance.
Lydia has a BA in Cognitive Sciences from Rice University and moved to the Magic City in August, 2018 as part of the entrepreneurial fellowship program Venture for America. Here, she serves as the Director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Commercialization Accelerator, where she helps undergraduate, graduate, and PhD students launch their entrepreneurial ventures.
