After 11 years working for other people’s companies, Ryan Swenson decided he wanted to be his own boss.

With most of those years spent in cities where he couldn’t see the stars at night, Swenson made another decision: He wanted to go home.

Swenson, a Kansas State University mechanical engineering graduate who grew up on a Concordia farm, wasn’t sure how he was going to do both. Concordia, population 5,200, wasn’t exactly flush with mechanical engineering jobs.

Meanwhile, little did he know, a Concordia family nearing retirement age was wondering what would befall the business they’d spent the last 35 years nurturing from the ground up.

Swenson and that family finding each other took a matchmaker: the Kansas University School of Business RedTire program.

Ryan Swenson holds the scissors during a ribbon cutting ceremony for Duis Meat Processing in Concordia, Kan., in May 2015. Through the KU School of Business RedTire program, Swenson purchased the plant from the family that started it in 1978.

The initiative — which KU believes is the only one of its kind in the country — connects small-town business owners who want to retire but have no one to take over with younger professionals who, like Swenson, want to be their own bosses.

RedTire launched in July 2012 and completed its first official sale, after months of study and negotiations, in February 2014.

Three years in, RedTire is doing even better than initially hoped, said Wally Meyer, director of entrepreneurship programs at KU, who came up with the idea. “We’re thrilled.”

According to Meyer:

• RedTire has closed seven sales to date, with another pending now.

• Another six to eight business sales are in negotiation and hoped to close in the next nine months.

• Purchase prices for businesses sold so far add up to about $4 million.

• 85 jobs have been “saved” by those businesses being purchased instead of closed.

There are an estimated 1.3 million small and medium-size businesses across the United States — 30,000 of them in Kansas — that, without a successor, will shutter in the next five to 10 years, Meyer said. Many of them provide critical services to their communities.

“This is a real problem,” Meyer said. “Particularly in rural areas with the depleting of the population base and the increasing number of business owners — baby boomers — getting to retirement age, more and more folks … are looking to retire but can’t find a buyer.”

If a pipeline for potential new owners existed, Meyer figured it would be universities.

In addition to general networking within all Kansas Regents universities’ graduate and alumni circles, RedTire partners directly with schools including KU’s School of Pharmacy, K-State’s College of Veterinary Medicine and University of Missouri-Kansas City’s School of Dentistry to find aspiring business owners.

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Chris Hansen, a K-State vet grad, bought the the Atchison Animal Clinic, where he already worked, with help from the RedTire program.

Hansen said one of his career goals was always to own his own practice. He threw away a couple letters from RedTire before giving the program a closer look, and is glad he did.

Hansen looked at several practices but ultimately decided the Atchison clinic was the best fit. He’s now a partner with the practice’s two longtime owners, who expect to phase out ownership and retire in the coming years.

“The whole idea of it just makes so much sense,” Hansen said. “It seems like everyone’s trying to create new businesses … but then we kind of fall asleep when established businesses are looking for a transition.”

It was a different scenario when Atchison’s only jeweler retired not long ago, Hansen said.

“His business is now closed, because he couldn’t find anybody to take it on,” Hansen said. “Now we don’t have a jewelry store.”

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Businesses that need buyers are vetted to ensure they meet RedTire’s qualifications, then posted on the RedTire website, RedTire.org.

Meyer said businesses must be profitable, generally have at least $500,000 per year in sales and provide essential services to their communities. Outgoing owners must also agree to “redefine their retirement” — hence, the name RedTire — by remaining an employee for a negotiated amount of time, usually six to 18 months, to pass on knowledge and help ensure the business’s continued success.

RedTire prepares an independent financial assessment of the business and — once a match is made — leads both sides through the complex process of negotiating, financing and ultimately completing the transaction, all for free, though businesses are advised to involve their own attorneys and accountants.

Rural businesses can be tough sells, which sometimes dissuades traditional business brokers from taking them on, Meyer said.

A U.S. Economic Development Administration grant and KU’s School of Business fund the RedTire program.

Its employees are program manager Denton Zeeman and a handful of KU business students, who work as paid interns. Meyer said there will be four interns this fall, up from three in the spring. RedTire board members also offer pro bono advice.

Overhead cost is low, Meyer said, but the program has made an economic impact.

“This works in Kansas,” he said. “There’s not a reason in the world why it wouldn’t work in another 49 states. Our expectation is we can help other university centers be able to duplicate the RedTire success where they are.”

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In Concordia, Keith Duis and his late brother Ron, along with their wives, built the Duis Meat Processing facility in 1978. In 1985, they expanded their business to include a retail store in Salina. The business has 14 employees.

Ron Duis died a year and a half ago after an extended illness, and Keith Duis, at 61, is thinking about retirement.

Keith Duis said the family decided they wanted to sell but didn’t know where to start, or with whom. Meanwhile, Duis Meat Processing was as busy as ever.

?”We had built our business, but we had no idea how to sell our business,” Duis said. “There’s just not a lot of local-type buyers.”

After receiving a RedTire mailing, Duis sent RedTire his financials and soon had an assessment complete.

Swenson had been looking for businesses to buy for about six months when he came across RedTire, and then pre-vetted Duis Meat Processing.

“We’ve known Ryan all his life, so it was quite a shock when we found out who was looking,” Duis said. “He’s gone to our church. He was in my daughter’s class.”

Things moved quickly. They started negotiations in October, and Swenson took over in March.

Duis is staying on for at least a year to help teach Swenson the trade.

So far, so good, both said.

“Selling a meat processing facility — it takes a special person that wants to do that,” Duis said. “Ryan is just fitting right in perfect.”