Billed as a place to cultivate solutions while fostering business innovation, Flathead Valley Community College on Thursday opened the doors to the Wachholz Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center. 

The center’s director Eric Harry, whose background includes founding companies and leading strategic operations, says he wants to demystify the term "entrepreneur.”  

"Are you building something or solving problems?” Harry asked during a fireside chat following the grand opening. “Then this place is for you. Our goal here is to really help people build solutions to problems.”  

Serving as a hub for both new and seasoned entrepreneurs, the center will assist in providing knowledge, resources, connections and support to enable the launch or expansion of business endeavors, according to college officials.

Local businessman Paul Wachholz donated $4 million in 2023 to launch the entrepreneurship center on the Kalispell campus. He also helped fund the nearby Wachholz College Center that features a performing arts center, gymnasium, music practice rooms, an art gallery, an outdoor amphitheater and a fitness center. 

Before helping cut the ribbon on the new entrepreneurship center alongside FVCC President Jane Karas, Wachholz took a few moments to reflect on his own business ambitions, starting with a newspaper route and selling laundry soap. Later, he started a lawn mowing business, and one of his clients, a professor at Northeastern Junior College, encouraged him to consider the benefits of higher education. 

Wachholz moved to Kalispell in 1967 and retired from a career in banking before founding a real estate firm. He also started Fun Beverage, which he owned for 44 years.  

Looking out over the conference room inside the 7,000-square-foot center, Wachholz said many people have great ideas, but executing those ideas is the challenge that the center will look to solve.  

“We don’t know what terrific business might come out of here, but I guarantee you that a lot of small businesses will come out of here, and we might be surprised by some major companies that come out of this entrepreneurial center,” he said. “And I look forward to that day.”  

Inside the center is a mix of room sizes. Smaller ones are designed for one-on-one meetings between students and mentors, and larger rooms with conference tables positioned to allow for conversations, sharing ideas and problem-solving. Desks and tables with cozy chairs are tucked into short hallways, making quiet spots for brainstorming.  

The center will be a place to help innovators and provide knowledge and resources for students and the community, Karas said.  

“It’s a place to learn, experiment and grow,” she said. “Our goal is to help turn ideas into opportunities, and that takes courage, creativity and persistence, and the center will serve as home to all three.”  

While the center will focus on helping those looking to start or expand a business, Harry said, it goes beyond students majoring in business or community members who already own a business.  

“It’s about exposing them to what’s possible,” Harry said. “It’s about helping to understand that having the entrepreneur mindset of being innovative doesn’t mean you have to start a business. It could be someone in the nursing program, or in the trades program or in the culinary program. It’s how you create innovative solutions to the problems within the things you care about.” 

The center plans to host programming to connect students, the community and business leaders. A monthly coffee meet-up Brew x Build begins Nov. 12 at 8:30 a.m. Future workshops and mentorship programs are also planned.  

Learn more about the Wachholz Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center at wiecmt.org. 

Deputy Editor Heidi Desch may be reached at 406-758-4421 or [email protected].

    Paul Wachholz, right, along with the help of Flathead Valley Community College President Jane Karas, cuts the ribbon opening the Wachholz Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center on Oct. 30. (Heidi Desch/Daily Inter Lake)
  

    A room inside the Wachholz Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center on the campus of Flathead Valley Community College. (Heidi Desch/Daily Inter Lake)
  

    The Wachholz Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center on the campus of Flathead Valley Community College includes several gathering spaces. (Heidi Desch/Daily Inter Lake)