Contact Info
Phillip Smith, Director
70 S. Sandusky St.
Delaware, OH 43015
Delaware, OH 43015
P 740-203-6011
E ptsmith@owu.edu
E ptsmith@owu.edu
The Delaware Entrepreneurial Center at Ohio Wesleyan University
The Delaware Entrepreneurial Center at Ohio Wesleyan University is a first-of-its-kind collaboration among Ohio Wesleyan, Delaware County, and the City of Delaware, creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem and education center that develops the mindset and knowledge base focused on creating unique solutions to problems and opportunities that change the world. DEC OWU is an ecosystem that develops a mindset and knowledge base focused on creating both unique solutions to problems and opportunities that change the world.
Collaborative, Innovative, and Imaginative
The Delaware Entrepreneurial Center at Ohio Wesleyan's mission is to create an ecosystem that develops the mindset and knowledge base focused on creating unique solutions to problems and opportunities that change the world.
DEC OWU is housed at 70 S. Sandusky St., in Delaware, Ohio, and includes rentable office spaces, a shared work area for center members, a conference center with digital meeting capabilities, and educational programming to support entrepreneurial understanding and success.
Center members have access to Ohio Wesleyan student-interns, through the OWU Connection, for assistance with product research, marketing strategies, budgeting, graphic design – and other needs to help them build their businesses.
The Delaware Entrepreneurial Center at OWU is the nation's first such collaboration among a small liberal arts university and the surrounding city and county.
This entrepreneurial ecosystem ignites creativity!
Find YOUR spot to expand your dream! We have unique spaces for entrepreneurs at all stages of business creation: Nine offices, 60 co-working locations, and a conference room.
Interested in being a member? Fill out this form for more information
Learn more about the Delaware Entrepreneurial Center at Ohio Wesleyan University.
A Perfect Partnership
Ohio Wesleyan
Forbes magazine has recognized the University as No. 1 in Ohio and No. 17 in the United States among "America's Most Entrepreneurial Colleges."
Money Magazine has named OWU as one of the nation's "Best Colleges for Your Money" based on "educational quality, affordability, and alumni success."
The Delaware Entrepreneurial Center will have access to campus resources including an accomplished faculty, forward-thinking students pursuing degrees in more than 70 majors, a media center, and OWU's innovative Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship.
Delaware County
Delaware County is recognized routinely as one of Ohio's fastest-growing and finest communities, with low unemployment, strong schools, and a desirable quality of life.
The county is ranked as the No. 1 best place to live in Ohio and No. 50 best place in the nation, according to niche.com's 2024 rankings. In 2019, Delaware County was ranked No. 1 in Ohio for growth in business locations with a 129% growth rate from 2001 through 2018, based on a 2019 Columbus Dispatch analysis.
More information about entrepreneurship in the county – including Enterprise Zones (EZ), Community Reinvestment Areas (CRA), and Tax Increment Financing (TIF) – is available from the Delaware County Economic Development Office.
City of Delaware
The City of Delaware has been recognized by Money Magazine as one of the "100 Best Places to Live in America" and by WalletHub.com for being in the 70th percentile of America's best small cities based on economic health, affordability, quality of life, safety, and education and health.
The city's historic downtown – steps away from OWU's campus – offers a wide variety of shopping and dining as well as seasonal farmers' markets and monthly "First Friday" celebrations.
More information about entrepreneurship and business-building – all with the help of the city's dedicated "business concierges" – is available from the City of Delaware Economic Development Office.
