SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO)– SDSU’s Ness School of Management and Economics officially opened an outpost in downtown Sioux Falls Friday.

The knowledge the university is hoping to share with the Sioux Falls business community in tonight’s Your Money Matters.

“We needed to be where the people are, one third of the people in South Dakota are in the metropolitan area of Sioux Falls,” SDSU President Barry Dunn said 

It’s why South Dakota State University began exploring a way to share the economic and business work happening at the Brookings school with the larger business community in Sioux Falls.

“Just bringing the knowledge from the Ness school to the Sioux Falls area and disseminating it that way,” SDSU Business Law professor Brittany McKnight said.

SDSU’s Ness School Downtown Outpost is a permanent office space inside Startup Sioux Falls, but it’s largely about their events open to the public.

“Bringing programming down to the space,” McKnight said. “Today we have our first program, its Westside Story, featuring Dillion Kjerstad from Phillip, SD, telling his experiences, he’s also an SDSU alum.”

“My wife and I are part of a group of eight pharmacies that go from Custer out to Redfield, South Dakota,” Banker and Entrepreneur Dillon Kjerstad with Dakota Country Pharmacy said.

Kjerstad says sharing the challenges and opportunities they’ve experienced in their company is a great way to help other entrepreneurs grow their own businesses.

“It’s about sharing knowledge, if we want the up-and-coming generation to be entrepreneurs and run businesses, they need the knowledge to do that,” Kjerstad said.

From entrepreneurship to economics, ag business, accounting, real estate, finance and more, the Ness School is planning to host many more free public events covering a wide range of topics for the Sioux Falls community.

“Whether it’s through these types of events with speakers or workshops with our faculty members, we may even bring students down here to network with other professionals that are already in the area,” McKnight said.

The new Ness School outpost will host monthly events inside Startup Sioux Falls’ MarketBeat theater. The next event is scheduled for October 30th.