Toward a healthy entrepreneurship resurgence in Wichita

Readers of this column will know that in the past I have written about the falloff in startups nationally and in Wichita over the past three decades. But there are green shoots of a comeback in entrepreneurship.

At the national level, the Kauffman Foundation reports that the numbers of new high-growth firms bottomed out in 2013 and since have been rising.

In Wichita, there is entrepreneurial energy around such new initiatives as the e2e business accelerator and the weekly meetings of 1 Million Cups, plus some exciting bioengineering research by professors at Wichita State University.

Another development highlighted to me by the co-organizer of the June Healthcare Innovation Forum, Jon Rosell, is the extraordinary number, relative to our population, of specialty health clinics or facilities. Rosell is in a position to know, since he’s been the longtime executive director of the Medical Society of Sedgwick County.

Just look around: There are specialty spine and heart surgery centers and radiology clinics, not to mention many conventional medical clinics and specialty practices.

Recently, I’ve come across two unusual firms that reinforce the notion that Wichita is birthing health and fitness companies.

One is New Medical Health Care (newmedicalhealthcare.com), a group of about 30 health care professionals that conducts medical pre-employment screening tests for drugs and alcohol for Wichita employers. The company also provides physical exams for employees. New Medical was launched by William Simon.

Another innovative company, also launched by a physician, David Kortje, is in the wellness business, but in an unusual way: through a cutting-edge indoor rock-climbing facility, Bliss, at 28th Street North and Greenwich (climbbliss.com). Opened after Thanksgiving in 2015, Bliss is already attracting people of all ages to the highly demanding sport of rock climbing, 70 percent of them first-timers. Kortje, who recently presented at 1 Million Cups, made a powerful case for the fitness and mental benefits of rock climbing.

His facility, like others that are popping up across the country, offers classes for climbers at all levels. Unlike other climbing facilities, Bliss frequently changes its multiple climbing walls, offering different levels of difficulty. Kortje says this is to ward off the one thing that will turn climbers off: boredom, and “don’t worry, it’s safe.” There are ways to tether climbers so that even if you fall off, you won’t get hurt.

There are, of course, other fitness centers throughout Wichita, including the YMCA system, one of the most active in the country, and Genesis Health Clubs, which continues to expand throughout the state.

Wichita’s entrepreneurial comeback will be led by many different firms in different industries. It doesn’t hurt (pun intended) that one of them is health and fitness.

This story was originally published July 15, 2016 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Toward a healthy entrepreneurship resurgence in Wichita."