New Entrepreneurial Partnership Between Awesome Inc and Lindsey Wilson College

Duane Bonifer, Lindsey Wilson College
April 15, 2025
COLUMBIA, Ky. — Entrepreneurship at Lindsey Wilson College received a major boost on Monday, April 14.
The college's Center for Entrepreneurship, which is part of the School of Business and Communication, received a $7,500 grant from Awesome Inc of Lexington, Kentucky.
The grant will be used to support an entrepreneurship club at the college, according to business faculty member Linda McKinley-Grider, who is also director of the Lindsey Wilson Center for Entrepreneurship.
AwesomeInc is a nonprofit dedicated to supporting entrepreneurship in Kentucky.
"Our goal is to help people live their definition of awesome," said Mackenzie Hanes, partnerships manager for Awesome Inc. "We do that primarily through education -- educating people what it is like to be an entrepreneur. We do it through technology -- helping entrepreneurs to connect to the technology they need to be successful. And we do it by holding pitch events."
McKinley-Grider said that Lindsey Wilson appreciates Awesome Inc "for believing in and supporting our entrepreneurship efforts here at Lindsey Wilson College."
"We are so fortunate to have this relationship with Awesome Inc and their belief in our college," McKinley-Grider said. "But, more importantly, it's wonderful to have their belief in our students' potential to be entrepreneurs and for our students to pursue every opportunity to be problem-solvers and creative thinkers who will come up with the next big idea."
Hanes said that Awesome Inc fervently believes in "the power of entrepreneurship, and we believe in the power of community."
"We know that entrepreneurs are in every single corner of Kentucky, and we want to make sure that we are providing all of those entrepreneurs the help to be connected," said Hanes.
Lindsey Wilson College is a vibrant liberal arts college in Columbia, Kentucky. Founded in 1903 and affiliated with The United Methodist Church, the mission of Lindsey WIlson is to serve the educational needs of students by providing a living-learning environment within an atmosphere of active caring and Christian concern where every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being. Lindsey Wilson has an enrollment of more than 4,000 students, and the college offers 28 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and a doctoral program. The college's 28 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams have won more than 120 team and indvidual national championships.