Calling all West Dayton entrepreneurs!

The Greater West Dayton Incubator will hold virtual listening sessions June 23-25 as new leaders seek to best understand your needs.

Your voice, perspective, and vision is critical to the planning and success of the GWDI, which seeks to serve Greater West Dayton founders, entrepreneurs of color, and women entrepreneurs.

A dispatch from KeAnna Daniels, Audrey Ingram, John Owen

The Launch Dayton partnership believes everyone, regardless of their background, should have the opportunity to determine their own economic prosperity. This community exists to support and inspire all Daytonians who are building businesses.

Launch Dayton is the brand for the informal, collaborative effort to support the Dayton region’s entrepreneurs & to tell the stories of our region’s thriving startup community.

We — KeAnna, Audrey, John — are the Wright State Applied Research Corporation (WSARC) team that serves our local entrepreneurs. Through our team, WSARC is a proud partner of the Launch Dayton community.

We helped craft this Launch Dayton mission statement, the result of a year+ of conversations between local service providers seeking to better collaborate to support our region’s founders & business owners. Diversity & inclusion was an early & integral focus of these conversations.

When entrepreneurs are locked out of opportunities because of their race (or any demographic), the whole community loses out on the ideas, talents, voices, products & services these founders have to offer.

We are committed to building spaces for entrepreneurs that are welcoming and inclusive of our historically underrepresented founders.

One part of our team’s ongoing diversity, equity & inclusion strategy is to provide cultural competency training (including work on implicit bias & micro-aggressions) to partners & resource providers across the entrepreneurial community this fall.

One way we will measure success of the Launch Dayton partnership’s work is if we can build an entrepreneurial ecosystem where the demographics of the founders we serve matches the demographics of our city & region.

We know there is a lot of work yet to do, but we will continue to charge ourselves with making this space more equitable, equal and inclusive.

One immediate way you can support our founders of color is to shop this crowd-sourced list of black-owned businesses in the Dayton region. We coordinated this effort in response to direct social media calls for such a resource. We plan to continue building on this effort to create a more sophisticated resource to support all of our Black & Brown founders.

We’ve seen several calls across social media for a directory of Black-owned businesses you can shop & support today. While this list is by no means exhaustive, we’ve tried to pull together businesses we’ve met/engaged with through Launch Dayton programming/events.

UPDATE: We’ve started adding additional businesses tagged in social media comment threads, & we’ve tried to group businesses into some basic categories to make the list easier to navigate and shop. Thank you all for sharing!

Missed our Thirsty Thursday Cash Mob last night? Or were you so busy listening to our awesome local entrepreneurs pitch that you didn’t do as much shopping as you wanted?

Have no fear, we’ve got you covered! Below you’ll find shopping links & socials for participating businesses so you can catch up with them this weekend to follow through on those support pledges you made to shop & share!

When you get (& love) your products, tell your friends & give the local businesses some online love, too, with a social media shoutout or review. & feel free to tag us @Launch Dayton so we can amplify that local biz love through our platforms, too.

YOUR SHOPPING LINKS! —

• Tender Mercy / The Idea Collective, cofounded by Chris Dimmick, a new bar, temporary bodega, maturing content factory;
www.tendermercy.com
Fb & IG @tendermercydyt

• Baba Love Organics, founded by Vaniti Byrd, offering plant-based beauty + body care essentials:
www.babaloveorganics.com
FB & IG: @babaloveorganics

• Space Three, founded by Lindsey Deck, Dayton’s newest boutique fitness studio offering barre, TRX and dance cardio classes;
www.spacethreedayton.com
FB & IG: @spacethreedayton

• Simply Savory by Rachel, founded by Rachel Blanks, offering handcrafted seasoning blends for every inspired meal:
www.simplysavorybyrachel.com
FB & IG: @simplysavorybyrachel
TW: @savorybyrachel
#simplysavoryswitch

• Liv Naturally Co, founded by Hannah sermons, offering organic beauty & health products:
https://livnaturally.co
FB, IG & pinterst: @livnaturallyco

• Empowered Mathematics, LLC, founded by Emily Laidler, offering math tutoring for students from first grade through college;
https://www.empoweredmathematics.com
[email protected]

• Savorista Coffee, founded by Kait Brown, providing shockingly great craft decaf and low caf coffee for people who want a caffeine conscious lifestyle:
https://savoristacoffee.com/
FB & IG: @savoristacoffee

• Corvus Audio, a podcast production and editing company that also specialized in audio restoration and sound design:
Website underway, contact [email protected]
To support the Cold Storage audio drama project, visit: https://ko-fi.com/coldstoragepodcast
FB: @corvusaudiollc
IG: @corvus_audio
TW: @corvusaudio

• Ella Bella Gluten Free, founded by Mandy Groszko, offering GF baking mixes to whip up goodies in your kitchen:
www.ellabellagf.com
FB: @EllaBellaGlutenFree
IG & Pinterest: @EllaBellaGF
TW: @EllaBellaCookie

In June, Montgomery County will launch a new small business grant program to help small businesses that experienced losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additional CARES Act funding programs are being created to help education, agriculture, and healthcare industries, as well as to provide housing and rental assistance to individuals and families.

The retail boutique is located at 1109 West Third Street in the Historic Wright Dunbar Business District.

Chanta Winston, owner of The Entrepreneurs Marketplace, saw a growing need for a retail store for local entrepreneurs, as the space and slots to fill the Entrepreneurs Marketplace quickly ran out, after opening in December.

The Entrepreneur’s Shoppe will have clothing, fashion accessories & art featured by local entrepreneurs. The Entrepreneur’s Marketplace at 13 N. Williams Street will continue to have food, desserts, juice, candles, health & wellness items & skincare items. Chanta Winston, has been doing Entrepreneur events and pop ups at event centers since 2016. She also owns and operates the Fashion Remedy Fashion Truck and was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Dayton Young Black Professionals in 2019. The Ohio Secretary of State’s office recognized The Entrepreneur’s Marketplace as the featured Small Business in February 2020.

The Entrepreneurs Shoppe will have a soft opening and ribbon cutting on Sunday, May 31^st 2pm-5pm. The grand opening will be held on Thursday, June 4^th.

For more information please contact Chanta Winston at 937-540-5286 or [email protected]

Looking for an easy way to #ShopLocal & #SupportLocal? Attend the Launch Dayton community’s virtual Thirsty Thursday Cash Mob THIS THURSDAY!

Launch Dayton is a community of regional entrepreneurial support organizations that exists to support all Daytonians building businesses. The Thirsty Thursday Cash Mob features small, local startup businesses with products or services available online.

• Tender Mercy / The Idea Collective, a new bar, temporary bodega, maturing content factory;

• Space Three, Dayton’s newest boutique fitness studio offering barre, TRX and dance cardio classes;

• Simply Savory by Rachel, offering handcrafted seasoning blends for every inspired meal;

• Empowered Mathematics, LLC, offering math tutoring for students from first grade through college;

• Savorista Coffee, providing shockingly great craft decaf and low caf coffee for people who want a caffeine conscious lifestyle;

• Corvus Audio, a podcast production and editing company that also specialized in audio restoration and sound design.

These businesses are located in the Dayton area, are less than 3 years old, and have products/services available for less than $25. Stay tuned as we add a few more companies to the lineup this week!

Continuing the local biz support, the Thirsty Thursday Cash Mob will be immediately followed by a virtual Music Bingo event in collaboration with Liftoff Entertainment, Sportcial and several area young professional orgs — all the prizes will be purchased from area small businesses.

“Our goal is to directly connect our small businesses to paying customers,” said John Owen, Wright State Applied Research Corporation program manager.

In a traditional cash mob, a group of people visit a designated store on a specified date & time, committing to spend a minimum dollar amount in the store. For the virtual Thirsty Thursday Cash Mob, business owners will give short pitches about their companies via Zoom between 4 & 5p; virtual attendees are asked to commit to purchase at least one item from one of the featured businesses’ e-commerce websites during the event.

“It’s been a challenging few months for many of downtown’s small businesses,” Downtown Dayton Partnership Economic Development Project Manager AJ Ferguson said. “This is a fun way for them, especially the new businesses, to share their stories and find a few new customers.”

The Launch Dayton partners collaborating to produce this virtual cash mob event include Wright State Applied Research Corporation, Downtown Dayton Partnership, The Entrepreneurs Center, the Miami Valley Small Business Development Center & The Entrepreneurs Marketplace.

Immediately following the virtual Thirsty Thursday Cash Mob, Launch Dayton partners are joining forces with area young professional organizations including Generation Dayton, the South Dayton Young Professionals, the Springboro Young Professionals, the Dayton Young Black Professionals & Sportcial to host a virtual Music Bingo event produced by Liftoff Entertainment. Attendees will have a chance to network with young professionals across the region & win prizes purchased from local, small businesses.

• Attendees can snag a free ticket (the Launch Dayton partnership believes everyone, regardless of their background, should have the opportunity to determine their own economic prosperity, and one way the partners act out this mission is to keep programming free whenever possible) or

• Attendees can snag a $10 ticket if they want to contribute $10 to the pool of prize money that will be spent with area businesses.

The Thirsty Thursday Cash Mob will run from 4-5p. Music Bingo will kick off immediately after at 5p.

Zontaye Richardson, owner of TheZe DealZ – a Thrifty Boutique, the only thrift shop on Dayton’s west side, re-opened her store over the weekend.

Zontaye closed her doors March 17 to wait out the COVID-19 pandemic. The re-opening marked her business’s third anniversary and her highest day of sales in the store’s three-year history, she shared on Facebook.

• All customers and employees are asked to practice social distancing and stay 6 feet apart. We have placed 6ft floor markings throughout the store

• All employees are required to wear masks, and customers are strongly encouraged to wear masks

• Temperature checks at the beginning of every shift for employees. Employees who are sick are encouraged to stay home

• Increased cleaning and sanitizing of frequently touched items including shopping carts, door handles, etc.

• We ask that all donations are cleaned prior to dropping them off. We are not accepting donations of customers who have contracted COVID.

Theze Dealz will be open Friday, May 29, 11a-7p & Saturday, May 30, 11a-6p. Regular Wednesday through Saturday hours will resume June 3.

Thursday night, NaAsiaha Simon, founder of NaAsiaha Simon & Associates won her Early Risers Academy cohort’s virtual pitch night, taking home $1K.

NaAsiaha Simon & NaAsiaha Simon & Associates is a public relations and planning firm that represents businesses and organizations, using strategy and innovation to promote and protect each client’s brand and reputation. She has worked with national brands including Basketball Wives of LA, as well as local brands including Canary Consulting, The Oregon District Business Association, Arcani Coil Care, Wilberforce University & the Dayton Young Black Professionals.

“This is the best crash course I’ve ever taken in my life,” NaAsiaha said of the Early Risers Academy pre-accelerator program. “I recommend every business owner to do it.”

Early Risers Academy is a free, 10-week, pre-accelerator program designed to take participants from business idea to business launch. It is run by a team from Launch Dayton partner Wright State Applied Research Corporation.

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.

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.

“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.”

Spend $25 on a gift card to your favorite downtown business, and receive a bonus $15 card to another business

As part of relief efforts to help downtown businesses navigate new operational constraints, the Downtown Dayton Partnership (DDP) has launched the Downtown Dayton Gift Card Bonus Buy program, offering customers an incentive to support the small businesses community in downtown Dayton. For every $25 gift card purchased through the program, the DDP will include an additional $15 bonus gift card (up to a maximum of 4 bonus cards per household) to spend at another downtown business.

“We know this has been an exceptionally tough year for our businesses, and want to do everything we can to support them through this trying time,” said DDP President Sandra K. Gudorf. “For every gift card purchase made, that money will go directly back to our downtown businesses.”

This gift card purchase bonus campaign is a way to leverage the public’s support of their favorite participating downtown businesses while helping support and promote additional downtown businesses. The DDP has set up an online ordering system where customers select which participating business they’d like to purchase a $25 gift card from. With each gift card selection, the DDP will offer a bonus $15 gift card to a surprise downtown business, up to a maximum of 4 bonus gift cards per household. All gift cards will be mailed to customers within 30 days of purchase.

More than 60 downtown businesses, including restaurants, coffee shops, salons, retailers, bars, and arts and entertainment venues are participating in the program. Gift cards can be purchased at www.DowntownDayton.org/BonusBuy starting today. The number of available bonus buy gift cards is limited, and the program will continue until the fund is exhausted.

“We have seen the tremendous support the Dayton community has already given to their favorite downtown establishments, and we hope our gift card bonus buy program will be another way patrons can show restaurants, bars, salons, and retail shops even more love,” Gudorf said. “The $15 bonus gift card will encourage downtown enthusiasts to explore new businesses, which further supports our mission at the DDP to promote our downtown in creative ways.”

The gift card program is one of several initiatives from the DDP and community partners in recent weeks targeted to assist consumer-based businesses, which have proven to be the most vulnerable during the COVID-19 crisis. Last week the REOPEN Downtown Dayton grant program was announced, which is accepting applications until 5 p.m. on Friday, May 22.

The DDP would like to thank the program partners and sponsors whose assistance have made these reopen initiatives possible: CareSource, The Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, and CityWide Development Corp. In addition to the DDP’s financial support of $200,000, the CareSource Foundation has generously supported downtown businesses with a $500,000 contribution to the REOPEN Downtown Dayton fund.

The DDP has also supported downtown businesses with complimentary professional services, including help navigating online sales and Small Business Administration loans.

Those who wish to make bulk (more than four) gift card purchases, or companies that would like to donate to support the gift card bonus buy program should contact Laura Woeste at [email protected] or call 937-224-1518 ext. 229.

A dispatch from KeAnna Daniels, Audrey Ingram, John Owen

The Launch Dayton partnership believes everyone, regardless of their background, should have the opportunity to determine their own economic prosperity. This community exists to support and inspire all Daytonians who are building businesses.

Spend $25 on a gift card to your favorite downtown business, and receive a bonus $15 card to another business

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