ABBEVILLE, La. - The Rural Economic Development Innovation Initiative (REDII) Roadshow is making a stop in Abbeville, offering community members a hands-on opportunity to turn their ideas into real-world projects and potential businesses.
Abbeville is the first of 13 cities to host the workshop. The initiative is designed to spark innovation in rural communities by providing resources, education, and support to aspiring entrepreneurs.
Chad LaComb, director of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Office of Innovation Management, says the goal of the workshop is to help people take early-stage ideas and develop them into marketable products.
“Bringing it out, teaching people how to take something that they’ve come up with, a new idea or invention, even if it’s in the very formative stages, and take it to a project that can be marketed and sold,” LaComb says.
LaComb explains that while many people in rural areas have innovative ideas, they often lack access to the tools needed to grow those ideas.
He encourages anyone with an interest in innovation or entrepreneurship to attend the workshop.
“We have a lot of innovative and creative people all throughout our rural communities,” LaComb says. “They’re all coming up with new and unique ways of doing it, and how do they turn that into something that could be a business or a career for them.”
During the workshop, attendees will learn how to start a rural business, gain hands-on experience with machine manufacturing, and explore ways to mass-produce parts.
“It’s providing the support to the new companies or people looking to start a company, and also encourage them to, you know, take a chance,” he says.
The REDII Roadshow will be held at the Vermilion Parish Library’s Abbeville branch on Feb. 11 at 10:30 a.m.
