- Date published
efactory partner dedicated to Innovate SOMO and development of southern Missouri.
Many of the fastest growing careers and companies in Missouri are in tech. Throughout the more rural areas of the state, though, the resources and technical services to equip entrepreneurs and workers for these opportunities aren’t available.
Recognizing these gaps, codefi and efactory partnered to build Innovate SOMO, a regional initiative to develop more digital skills and tech entrepreneurs.
Today, codefi, based out of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, announced it is expanding its reach and expertise into the southwest Missouri area by opening a satellite office at efactory’s newest office space in Brick City 3.
Dr. James Stapleton, co-founder of codefi, will be relocating to Springfield with his wife, and building teams to ensure seamless implementation of their programs in Springfield and throughout southwest Missouri.
“We’ve seen tremendous demand for our tech startup and workforce programs and services in the Springfield area over the last year,” Stapleton said. “What better way to ensure that we build a world-class team and work closely with our partners at efactory than to lead the effort myself.”
This new home for codefi will be in addition to the software training lab they occupy at the Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center.
“We love our software training lab we’ve had at the efactory for the last year, so when we saw the space at Brick City 3, we thought it was the perfect home for our new tech startup and venture fund teams,” he added.
Growth and programs
In addition to Stapleton, the expanded Springfield codefi team will include several new positions and new members of their tech startup, venture investment fund and software training teams.
These teams will begin offering new programs in coming months.
Meanwhile, codefi will still offer its current scope of programming in the region, which includes:
- Code Labs, an adult software training program
- Youth Coding League, an after-school coding education program for 5th-8th graders in dozens of schools across southwest Missouri.
Stapleton plans to be operating from Coworking @ Brick by Aug. 14.
Innovate SOMO
“Innovate SOMO is expansive in scope but simple in its mission – to equip people with the skills and resources they need to improve their livelihood,” Stapleton said.
The partnership between codefi and efactory has grown over the years to break down barriers for people who want to build their skills or venture into business ownership, noted Rachel Anderson, executive director of efactory.
“Pairing codefi’s extensive expertise in coding education, software development and tech startups with efactory’s business support and talent development programs, we’re able to do so much good for southern Missouri,” Anderson said. “When we don’t care about who gets the credit and solely seek positive outcomes, everyone wins.”
