Congratulations to the Goldman Sachs 10K Small Businesses graduates

December 22, 2020

The inaugural cohort of Dayton’s Goldman Sachs 10K Small Businesses program graduated last week — congrats, founders!

The 15 week-long program teaches small business owners how to scale, from how to lead and hire, to how to prepare financial documents to seek funding, to how to marketing, sales & operations tactics. Originally slated to be delivered in person, the workshops went virtual this year in light of COVID.

The program is free to participants — a roughly $7,500 value per business owner, said Kandise Bobo, workforce development manager at Sinclair Community College. Sinclair administered the Goldman Sachs program, which Kandise previously described as a “crash course MBA.”

According to national program statistics, 67 percent of these business owners increase revenues & 47 percent of these owners create new jobs within 6 months of completing the program.

Graduating the first cohort were:

  • Olatokunbo Awashakin, CivicLife International
  • Gail Johnson, Cognitians
  • Dan McBride, Insignia Display Signs
  • Errin Siske, Spark Space Creative LLC
  • Leslie Edmunds, Clem&Thyme Nutrition
  • Dabriah Rice, Divine Catering & Events
  • Lauren White, Indigo Life
  • Daniel Cyphers, Skyward, Ltd.
  • Timothy DeHart, AAA Wastewater
  • Lana Rucks, The Rucks Group, LLC
  • Clarece Richardson, Rich Taste Catering Co.
  • Margery Murphy, Acadia Lead Management Services
  • Palmer Jason, Good Shepherd Academy
  • Cynthia Stemple, Coffee Hub Xenia, LLC
  • Helaine Wilson, HumbleBee Childcare Services, Inc.

Applications are open for next year’s cohort, slated to begin May 17, 2021. Applicants should be owners or co-owners of a business that has been in operation for at least two years, made at least $75K in revenue in the most recent fiscal year, and has at least four employees (including the owner). These employees do not have to be full-time. Most important, Kandise emphasized, is a desire to grow the business.

Apply here by Feb. 1.