Entrepreneurially Thinking: Innovation | Experimentation | Creativity | Business

Sometimes it takes someone (or a few someones!) from the outside to see the potential in your own backyard. Enter the East St. Louis Initiative (ESLI.) You may not know it but for the last two years graduate students from Washington University have been listening to and talking with business owners and folks with startup ideas in East St. Louis. Their goal – to change people’s lives one small business at a time. What that looks like today is a year-long intensive program that matches the passion and enthusiasm of individuals who have a new or existing business with the expertise of graduate students - MSW, JD, MBA and MPH candidates from the university. Gülcan Yayla, originally from Turkey, joins us to tell us more about the ESLI founding story and how Ferguson played a role in its creation. She is joined by her current cohort of entrepreneurs, Brandon Walker, founder of Positive & Productive Innovations and Devon Moody Graham, founder of The Biz Spot. Spend time with us learn what inspires these entrep