Another 20 Dayton-area entrepreneurs have joined the ranks of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses (10KSB) graduates after completing the second cohort of the rigorous 14-week virtual program lead by Sinclair College.
Congratulations:
The 20 graduates from across the region represent multiple industries including healthcare, information technology, body care, real estate, remodeling, marketing, pest control, construction, mentoring, insurance, and transportation.
“Entrepreneurs and small business owners play a vital role in growing jobs and the local economy. This innovative partnership between Sinclair College and Goldman Sachs provides practical strategies, along with an arsenal of resources, tools, and ideas, for participants,” said Kandise Bobo, Program Manager – Sinclair Workforce Development.
Program participants receive one-on-one business advising and learn alongside peers from a variety of industries. Graduates leave the program with a specific 5-year growth plan tailored to their business and is immediately implementable.
The program is offered at no cost to selected business owners who receive a full scholarship funded by the Goldman Sachs Foundation.
According to the Goldman Sachs Foundation, 67% of the program’s alumni reported increased revenues and 47% added new jobs within six months of graduating.
Sinclair Workforce Development is currently recruiting for the next Goldman Sachs 10KSB Program class which will begin in May 2022. The program looks for applicants who are passionate about growing their business and creating jobs in their communities, and generally meet these criteria:
To learn more about the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, contact Kandise Bobo at [email protected] or visit https://www.10ksbapply.com/ohio
Sinclair Community College will once again partner with Goldman Sachs in 2022 to elevate the efforts of small businesses and entrepreneurs in the Dayton region.
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses (10KSB) has helped strengthen over 11,600 small businesses in all 50 states since its inception in 2009. It provides business education, wrap-around support services and pathways to capital for growth-oriented entrepreneurs.
Participants gain practical skills to take their business to the next level, with topics like financial statements, negotiations, and marketing. They also develop an actionable growth plan for the business with the help of business advisors and like-minded entrepreneurs.
Key highlights of the program include the following:
10,000 Small Businesses looks for applicants who are passionate about growing their business and creating jobs in their communities, and generally meet these criteria:
Visit 10KSBapply.com/Ohio to learn more and apply.
Learn more at an upcoming info session:
If you have any questions about the program or application, please contact Kandise Bobo, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program Manager – Sinclair Community College at (937) 416-6336 or [email protected].
Michel’le Curington, founder of Fail Me Not Tutoring, is helping students not just catch up academically, but slay their math, reading and writing tests.
And on Thursday night, Michel’le took first place in her Early Risers Academy cohort’s culminating pitch competition, winning $1K to infuse into her business.
“Entrepreneurship is not easy. I was really stressed and depressed a year ago,” she recalled. “Thank you for seeing my vision and recognizing the work that I’m currently doing.”
Michel’le is seeking funding for laptops, additional tables and chairs, STEM kits and tools. Watch her pitch here, and connect with her at [email protected].
Participants complete Kauffman FastTrac coursework from the nationally-renowned Kauffman Foundation, receive pitch coaching and hands-on mentoring, weekly discussions with successful entrepreneurs and experts, & access to Dayton’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The bootcamp is designed to take aspiring entrepreneurs from idea to business launch. These workshops can also be valuable for founders early in their small business journey, or who jumped right into their business without formally developing the plans behind it and are now discovering they need some of that paperwork in place to grow.
Other spring 2021 cohort graduates included:
“Early Risers Academy is designed for aspiring founders in any industry,” Project Manager KeAnna Daniels said. “We’re particularly excited to work with more women and minority founders.”
You don’t have to look a certain way, operate in a particular industry, pursue specific education, grow up in a particular household, or spend your free time nurturing any particular hobbies — entrepreneurs grow from all walks of life.
In a new video series we are excited to launch today, entrepreneurs, founders, and small business owners from across the Dayton Region share their individual stories in order to break down those pervading stereotypes about who can or can’t be an entrepreneur.
They proudly declare, “I Am an Entrepreneur” — and you can be, too.
Amber Tipton was 43 years old when she began culinary school with her youngest daughter, a journey that ultimately led her to launch The Neighborhood Nest Gluten-Free Baked Goods.
The Fairborn bakery is dedicated to gluten-free goodies, and also accommodates individuals who are dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soy-free, vegan and keto, she said.
“We’re very focused on the people that can’t just eat the regular food that’s out there every day,” Amber shares.
The dedication is personal for Amber. While she was in culinary school, her middle child was diagnosed with Celiac disease and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. A year later, Amber was diagnosed with Celiac disease as well.
“At that point, I knew what was out there, and I was not eating that way,” Amber recalls.
She had one pastry class — her only pastry class — left to complete in her final semester. Her professor allowed her to bring in about 70 pounds a week of gluten-free flours and alternative ingredients.
“At the end of the 16 weeks, if I plated my things the same as everyone else and slipped them into the lineup, no one could pick mine out,” she said.
Neighborhood Nest was born.
Neither baker or entrepreneur was on the list of things she thought she’d be when she grew up — a list that included counselor, race car driver and mortician, among others, she said. But as her family grew and she found herself hosting birthday parties and family gatherings and church pitch-ins where attendees always asked for her recipes, an idea began to form.
And as her youngest daughter grew out of homeschooling age, Amber found herself looking for something new to do. She planned to open a diner — instead she opened a bakery.
“After our diagnosis, I really experience what it was like to go out and eat and try to be safe,” she said. “Cross-contamination is such an issue for people. It can lead to anything from a distended belly and discomfort to vomiting that can leave you in the hospital. I wanted to give people a space that they can come into and have absolutely everything at their finger tips.”
It’s giving people back something they miss, she continues.
“One of my very first customers, it was the first time in 22 years that he’d had a strawberry cake for his birthday,” she recalled. “That is why we do this.”
Amber doesn’t yet take a paycheck from her business, so that feedback from customers who haven’t had their favorite treat in so long and tell Amber that hers is even better than they remember is what keeps her going, she said.
“My goal is not to be the best gluten-free bakery in Dayton,” she said. “It’s to be the best bakery in Dayton.”
Her advice to other dreaming moms or older women who want to do something different? Don’t limit yourself — just start.
“There’s no rules to life,” she said. “We’ve been told there’s a lot of rules to life, but there’s really not, and you don’t have to know everything to start, just start. Have a plan and a goal, be a little tenacious, and just do it. I don’t know enough to be afraid of what I take on usually, and so, I just do it.”
“I’m Amber Tipton, and I’m an Entrepreneur.”
By Katie Aldridge
On Jan. 23, 2005, six members of the New York Fire Department responded to a fire in a four-story apartment building. While searching for trapped occupants on the fourth floor, it gave way beneath their feet, forcing the firefighters to jump out of the building. Two men died that day, and all sustained life-threatening injuries.
The team could have taken their standard repelling gear up with them, but they didn’t want to carry the extra 50-60 pounds.
Enter Bailout Systems.
Winner of the 2021 Launch Dayton Startup Week Pitch Competition’s innovation category, Bailout Systems offers a hands-free, pocket-sized repelling device that uses a 6mm line and can hold 5,500 pounds.
Founder Michael Ragsdale is also a graduate of the OEA Defense Accelerator, a program funded by the Department of Defense OEA and managed by Launch Dayton partners Parallax Advanced Research and the Entrepreneurs’ Center.
We recently caught up with Michael to learn more about his company and his cohort experiences.
I am retiring from the military this year. When I was in Hawaii, I figured that I wanted to take products to markets. I applied for the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, and somehow, I got in. I started there in 2011. During that time, we were just redesigning things that people don’t really need.
The idea for this repelling device began with a block of wood, nails, and a string. Over the course of eight years, I have built a team of engineers who helped me take this technology I was working on and put it into something that will fit in your pocket and actually work for hands-free descent.
Yes and no. I like adventure. When I was a kid, I was always getting into crazy stuff. Then, I wanted to be in the Navy. When I lived in Hawaii, I watched a woman give a talk about how to start a company and bring products to market. The adventure, the unknown, and the scary part of starting something that will probably fail appealed to me right away. I didn’t want a safe job; I love the idea that you only get paid if you create value. It’s the adventure of it that appealed to me, but I never saw myself as a businessperson.
I’m risk adverse. The role of my job as a Navy diver, and eventually, supervisor, was putting guys in the water. I had to make sure that everything was set up before they went in the water to make it safe for them. Once they’re in the water, there’s not much you can do. A lot of it is being able to identify things ahead of time. Business is a lot like that, especially entrepreneurship.
Getting out of my own way. I am a firm believer that we get in the way of our own success. Success is pretty easy in and of itself. One of my favorite authors says, “what’s easy to do, is also easy not to do. Successful people do the easy things.” So, my barrier is me.
I love people. I love constantly engaging with people, and I like meeting new people. I also love the experiences I’ve gotten to have. Right when COVID hit, I was in New York City, and I spent three different nights in three different firehouses. I’ve met elite firefighters, and I actually went on one of the fire runs with them. Where else would I get to see that if I wasn’t doing this?
I always try to encourage people, if you have an idea, let the market tell you if you have a good idea. I’ve had higher-ups tell me that I don’t have a good idea, and I’ve had others tell me that I have a gold mine. Make sure you don’t quit just because one person tells you you don’t have a good idea or because you lost a pitch competition. I’ve lost more pitch competitions than I’ve won, but I’ve never quit.
How they helped our team position itself, and what I learned through them, is what started everything. Lauren Tiffan was amazing. They are very serious about not only helping startups, but also creating opportunities and resources for the community. They have the synergy, which I think is the biggest thing here.
I’m trying to build out the team. There are people who have insights that I don’t have. It would be great to have someone on the team who knows how to do the business and financial side of things.
Learn more about Bailout Systems and connect with Michael here.
The summer 2021 Early Risers Academy general cohort will see 8 founders pitch their budding companies for prize money and support this Thursday at 5:30p at The Hub.
The Early Risers Academy program is managed by Launch Dayton partner Parallax Advanced Research with funding from the Department of Defense Office of Economic Adjustment & Ohio Third Frontier’s Entrepreneurial Services Provider program.
“From Air Force and university research labs to urban kitchens and garages, innovation is a force in the Dayton region,” program manager KeAnna Daniels said. “Our diverse entrepreneurs are developing new technologies and processes, and we’re excited to offer these bootcamps to help them reach the world.”
The free, 10-week business-building program leverages Kauffman FastTrac coursework from the nationally-renowned Kauffman Foundation. Participants also receive pitch coaching and hands-on mentoring, weekly discussions with successful entrepreneurs and experts, & access to Dayton’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
This week’s pitching entrepreneurs include:
Register here to attend the pitches virtually or in-person!
Early Risers Academy is designed for aspiring founders in any industry. We’re particularly excited to work with more women and minority founders.
These workshops can also be valuable for founders early in their small business journey, or who jumped right into their business without formally developing the plans behind it and are now discovering they need some of that paperwork in place to grow.
Learn more & apply for an upcoming Early Risers Academy cohort here.
KeAnna Daniels, program manager for Launch Dayton partner Parallax Advanced Research, has been tapped by the Dayton Business Journal as a 2021 Outstanding Diversity Champion.
“I wake up every day with the goal to eliminate barriers for Black and Brown people and with an emphasis on Black and Brown entrepreneurs,” KeAnna said. “In everything I do and every conversation I have, I promote the importance of access to resources and guidance on how to use those resources. I create opportunities to connect people to people, and people to resources. I challenge discriminatory conversations and behaviors, and I hold people and organizations accountable.”
A Dayton native, KeAnna returned home in 2017 after working in the St. Louis, Missouri startup community. She quickly created the Gem City Entrepreneur Resource Fair, which convened Dayton’s business support organizations with more than 150 Black and Brown entrepreneurs and business owners, connecting diverse entrepreneurs with existing resources they needed to grow their companies.
KeAnna then worked closely with these resource providers to develop the collaborative Launch Dayton brand. She joined the Parallax team in 2019 to develop and roll out the Early Risers Academy business-building bootcamp program and the Launch Dayton Mentor Network.
Her commitment to championing diversity and inclusion helped increase the percentage of women and minority founders served by Parallax’s Launch Dayton team. Prior to her arrival, participants across the board in Parallax’s Launch Dayton programs were 15% women and 26% minority. Now, the diversity of participants in these programs is more representative of the makeup of the Dayton community, with 48% women and 43% minority.
“True and intentional diversity helps organizations be more innovative and cutting-edge because of the differing perspectives they have represented on their teams. It allows an organization to be transdisciplinary. Diversity also builds rapport and support with communities and residents, which creates an opportunity for the company to be more human-centered,” KeAnna said.
Congratulations, KeAnna!
Read the full story on KeAnna’s well-deserved award here.
The University of Dayton-led Greater West Dayton Incubator announced Monday that Whitney Barkley has been named the new director of the GWDI.
Whitney is the founder and Chief Creative Officer of Speakerazzi, an Ohio-based content marketing firm which creates custom content to help speakers, authors, coaches and public figures expand their online visibility and influence. She is a marketing and outreach expert with a passion to support underrepresented entrepreneurs, small businesses, and nonprofits.
“It is my honor and mission to lead the University of Dayton’s charge to support Black, woman and untapped entrepreneurs,” Barkley said in a statement. “Knowledge about the resources in the community is power, but my goal is to help our entrepreneurs access and apply that knowledge to create visible, profitable and sustainable businesses that secure legacies for years to come.”
She succeeds Karlos Marshall, who is now the Dayton Metro Library’s inaugural chief diversity officer. Whitney was chosen after an extensive search from a committee that included West Dayton entrepreneurs, community leaders, and University of Dayton faculty and staff.
“Whitney’s energy and enthusiasm about the Greater West Dayton Incubator is evident and makes even people who have been working on this initiative for over a year more excited,” Stacy Thompson Speare-Hardy, senior vice president at KeyBank, told the Dayton Business Journal. “Combined with her experience working with stakeholders in minority business development, she will serve the incubator and community well.”
The GWDI was launched last year to help the Dayton’s historically underrepresented entrepreneurs access working space, consulting, training, capital and other resources. Last week, the incubator opened applications for its new Cultural Capital microlending program.
Whitney’s role in the incubator will be to connect businesses and entrepreneurs to resources at UD and in the broader community and promote the GWDI initiative to UD students and faculty to build engagement. Whitney will also support the Crotty Center/SBA’s DE&I initiatives in alignment with the university’s anti-racism policy.
Welcome, Whitney!
You don’t have to look a certain way, operate in a particular industry, pursue specific education, grow up in a particular household, or spend your free time nurturing any particular hobbies — entrepreneurs grow from all walks of life.
In a new video series we are excited to launch today, entrepreneurs, founders, and small business owners from across the Dayton Region share their individual stories in order to break down those pervading stereotypes about who can or can’t be an entrepreneur.
They proudly declare, “I Am an Entrepreneur” — and you can be, too.
“I like to be known as the hero for entrepreneurs,” says Tae Winston, founder of the Entrepreneurs’ Marketplace, Entrepreneurs Shoppe and Entrepreneurs Connection trio of Dayton retail storefronts. “I got here by just stepping out on faith and starting a boutique and started hosting events.”
Tae’s storefronts offer a range of retail shelf options for budding entrepreneurs, from pop-up space to long-term booth space. Most of the products in her stores are handmade, created with love in someone’s living room rather than on a factory floor, she said.
“You’re shopping small and it’s going right back into that family and into the community,” she said.
Tae first began helping others sell their wares at community garage sales her family hosted while she was growing up. Instead of one family selling items in their yard, 20-30 families would sell side-by-side in in big grass field.
“It’s my passion, I love it,” she said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve always had that love for entrepreneurs, and when I started hosting events, seeing how good entrepreneurs did just from setting up with me, I wanted to make a career out of it.”
But that career didn’t happen overnight, she said.
“A lot of people see Tae now and think it happened overnight,” she said. “I’ve been doing this for 7 years. I’ve been told ‘no’ a lot, people not seeing the vision, I’ve had a lot of doors closed on me. I set up spaces I wasn’t welcome, which is why I wanted to create a safe space where anyone can come, no matter how you are, what race, I’m opening my doors to you. My lowest place is where people made me feel small. It motivated me to open my doors for everyone.”
You have to give up your fun nights for awhile to see that success, she said. She credits her autistic son for her motivation to push through.
“I had my eye on the prize. It was hard to keep hosting events, still going to work, having an autistic son and working in mental health, it came time I had to break free. But you’ve got to be willing to do the work,” she said. “I just took my first vacation in six years. I haven’t hung out and partied in a long time, but I knew what I wanted. Fun will be there.”
A born-and-raised Daytonian, Tae is excited to run businesses that funnel money back into her community.
“Dayton is where the love is, where family is, where support is,” she said. “I sat back and chilled and watched everyone else make money, and that made me excited. I know God will take care of me, just give back and do things from the heart, and you’ll get where you need to be.”
Her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs? Take notes, and think about those lessons from your childhood.
“Put all that back into starting your business right now, and you can make it happen. That’s where I started, so I’m proof that you can do it,” she said. “My name is Tae Winston, and I am an entrepreneur.”
Watch Tae’s video | Explore the “I Am an Entrepreneur” Series
Applications are open for the Cultural Capital microlending program, championed by the Greater West Dayton Incubator in partnership with Flyer Consulting and Citywide.
“One of the biggest reasons why businesses have a hard time growing is due to lack of access to capital and high interest rates that come with loans,” the GWDI states in a Facebook post announcing the program.
The Cultural Capital microlending program is designed to combat historical power imbalances in our local community and provide access to funds and resources to underrepresented businesses. Recipients will be eligible for $500 to $20K in low-interest loans. Preference will be given to minority-owned businesses in the Greater West Dayton area.
A student-led team will provide capital development, loan application assistance, and support services to business owners. The program will award $250K in total, in amounts ranging from $500 to $20,000 to approved applicants, with payback periods ranging from 12 to 48 months.
Passion
Persistence
Planning
Download the application here!
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