By Abigail Wright
NKyTribune staff writer
Local entrepreneurs, aspiring business owners and students gathered on Monday at the Kenton County Public Library’s Covington branch for the 2026 Small Business Resource Fair, an event designed to connect the region’s business community with free resources, training and networking opportunities.
Hosted by the Economic & Community Development Institute (ECDI) Women’s Business Center of Greater Cincinnati and the Kenton County Public Library, the fair featured over 20 organizations offering support for entrepreneurs at every stage of business development.
Representatives from Square1, Covington Business Council, African American Chamber of Commerce – Greater Cincinnati & Northern KY, U.S. Small Business Administration, Aviatra Accelerators and City of Covington Economic Development were among those in attendance.
The free event included training sessions on topics ranging from securing a first commercial space to using artificial intelligence for marketing and social media. Attendees also had opportunities to network with business professionals and resource providers throughout the day.
“This resource fair is about introducing people to resources they didn’t know were there,” said Ella Frye, director of the Women’s Business Center of Greater Cincinnati.
The event marked the third overall year of the resource fair and its second year in Northern Kentucky. It was also the first year that ECDI partnered with Kenton County Public Library to host the event.
According to Frye, ECDI serves entrepreneurs across Ohio, Northern Kentucky and parts of Indiana through free one-on-one business coaching, training, education and access to capital.
In addition to helping business owners navigate the startup process, ECDI works with clients to become loan-ready and connect them with financing opportunities.
“I enjoy doing it because I love working with entrepreneurs because each one has a different story, a different journey, and a number of them, they have what it takes to be an entrepreneur, but they need guidance, and that’s what we like to do with our community partners,” Frye said.
More information about future ECDI events can be found here.
A new addition to this year’s fair was the Teen-Trepreneur Track, a program aimed at students 12 to 18 interested in entrepreneurship and innovation.
The track was led by Keith Schneider, president and founder of Square1, an organization that teaches entrepreneurship and innovation in schools throughout Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati.
According to Schneider, Square1 works with 30 to 50 schools annually, supplementing classroom instruction with entrepreneurship-focused programming.
“We just go in and kind of supplement either what they’re learning in the business class or, if they’re learning STEM, we teach them how that relates to the business world and then build a pitch around it,” Schneider said.
Square1 hosts Shark Tank-inspired pitch competitions and awarded students approximately $18,000 in prize money along with scholarships to Thomas More University last year. The organization also operates entrepreneurship clubs in about a dozen schools, a number Schneider hopes to double this year.
During Monday’s session, students explored how technology and innovation can help businesses stand out in competitive markets.
“We focus on innovation and technology,” Schneider said. “We want to talk about how can you innovate, how can you differentiate yourself using innovation and technology so that you’re not just another storefront; you’re really something different, something new, something special, that you can continue to iterate and make things better and more attractive to customers.”
Schneider also said the program emphasizes leadership, communication and interpersonal skills.
“If you’re going to take something on, you need to have not necessarily the charisma, but you need to know how to keep people in line, to be able to communicate really well,” Schneider said. “That’s a huge one. How do you communicate? How do you talk to a team? How do you communicate to the customers?”
Students also learn everything from presentation techniques and brainstorming strategies to networking skills and how to ask for financial support for their ideas.
“We see ourselves as an opportunity creator,” Schneider said. “We just want to give students opportunities to show their leadership skills and develop new skills, develop entrepreneurial skills, as they go through high school, so that they build a great college resume, or hopefully some of them actually start a business.”
Among the students attending was Luke Nienaber, an incoming sophomore at Covington Catholic High School who is working to establish a Square1 club at his school.
Nienaber has already started DJ and landscaping businesses and said he hopes to help other students explore entrepreneurship through the club.
“I’ve learned anything you put your mind to, you’re going to get,” Nienaber said.
He acknowledged that building a business can be challenging, especially for young entrepreneurs.
“There’s going to be some hard things throughout learning and growing the business,” Nienaber said. “But there’s not many teenagers doing what we’re doing”
Nienaber said a strong work ethic has been key to his success and is something he hopes to pass along to other students interested in starting businesses of their own.
For more information about Square1, visit their website.