San Diego Sport Innovators (SDSI), the nonprofit that has traditionally supported Southern California’s sports and active lifestyle (SAL) economy, has lifted geographic limitations and now offers Active Lifestyle business expertise to any company in the SAL Industry.
“We are well aware that the Sport and Active Lifestyle that we live, work and play in extends beyond the beaches, mountains, and deserts of Southern California. If you’re looking to get somewhere – the best teacher, coach or guide is always someone who’s on their way back from where you want to go. Through our SDSI mentoring programs alone, we’ve helped kickstart more than 100 companies; 80 percent of these amazing companies are still in business, and we’ve helped create nearly 600 jobs,” said SDSI Executive Chairman of the Board, Bill Walton. “With the huge shifts and disruption we’ve seen in our world recently, our community and the team are critical for success. And technology makes the SDSI community readily accessible outside of Southern California for all the help you’ll ever need. We are an anytime, anywhere organization – SDSI—where dreams germinate, bloom and become reality!”
“Since March, we’ve seen our membership of 100 SAL businesses of all sizes come together in really impactful ways,” explained SDSI’s Executive Director, Bob Rief. “We’ve always emphasized the importance of belonging to a business community, but seeing everyone pull together to access funding, share knowledge and devise solutions among so much confusion and uncertainty really demonstrated just how important the power of the collective is.”
The SDSI Mentor programs were in full swing when the world shut down including the 15th cohort of the 20-week Accelerator program. Not only did the programs continue virtually, but all the participating companies, with the guidance from their mentoring teams, executed huge pivots. They graduated with operational businesses and actionable plans for the new future. The successful transition to virtual mentoring demonstrated that SDSI can effectively support SAL businesses regardless of geography.
“We are enthused by this potential to reach more companies of all sizes. Business consulting help is easy to find, but expert industry knowledge that helps Active Lifestyle Businesses level up – that only comes from SDSI,” said Rief.
This expansion beyond Southern California includes SDSI’s membership community and all its offerings including its mentoring programs. SDSI Mentoring Program’s include, SDSI Masters for established businesses as well as SDSI’s longest-running mentor program, the SDSI Accelerator. Applications for the next Accelerator cohort will open on August 3, 2020.
