Entrepreneurship: Office of Business Resources (City of Madison)

This is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs based in the City of Madison to learn more about the resources available to help your business grow. (Hosted virtually)

We’ll be joined by the Office of Business Resources Manager, Saran Ouk, and the Economic Development Division Director, Matthew Mikolajewski.

Learn more about the Office of Business Resources here.

About Saran and Matt: 

Saran Ouk is the Office of Business Resources Manager for the City of Madison’s Economic Development Division. She is also the Founder and CEO of a nonprofit and LLC. Her nonprofit, conNEXTions guides underrepresented young adults to achieve their financial, educational and career goals through mentoring, networking and professional development. Her LLC, Dream Bigger empowers people to achieve their financial and career dreams. Her parents are from Cambodia and she was born in a refugee camp in Thailand. Thanks to a nonprofit organization, her family was able to come to the U.S. as refugees. Saran grew up in a low-income household and due to limited resources; her family lived off government assistance, utilized food pantries and other services from nonprofit organizations. Her firsthand experience with nonprofits ignited her passion to be more involved with the community which led her to pursue a bachelor’s degree from UW-Madison in Community Nonprofit Leadership. Her passion in giving back to the community is what led her to start her own nonprofit organization, volunteer as a big sister and mentor through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and served on committees such as the Vending Oversight Committee for the City of Madison, Dream Up, ITA and CEOs of Tomorrow.  She is passionate about financial literacy, has over 15 years of working for financial institutions, and uses her financial knowledge to create curriculums and workshops to help underrepresented young adults and those from low-income communities make good financial decisions and educate the community on how to build generational wealth. Her mission in life is to inspire others to give back and help each other succeed.

Matt was appointed as the City of Madison’s Economic Development Division Director in February 2015 after having served as the City’s Office of Business Resources Manager since 2007.  Matt oversees a Division responsible for working with businesses looking to open or expand within the City, all real estate functions of the City, and the City’s Tax Increment Finance (TIF) program.  Matt also works closely with several business organizations on policies and projects impacting the Madison business community. 

Matt is currently Chair of the Board of Visitors of the University of Wisconsin – Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences; as well as past Board President of the Wisconsin Economic Development Association (WEDA).  Prior to his positions with the City of Madison, Matt worked for several suburban Milwaukee communities.  Matt has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and Master of Urban Planning degree from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.  He is a certified Economic Development Finance Professional through The National Development Council.