Entrepreneur Programs : Featured Stories

The 2011 boom of the mobile eatery is not only feeding Ohioans' bellies, but it's feeding the economy and local entrepreneurs as well.

Serial entrepreneurs can be found in every community and corner of Ohio. Finding a serial entrepreneur-turned venture capitalist is rarer. Rich Langdale is one of those.

Bad Girl Ventures launched in Cincinnati last year as a unique form of micro lender: one focused not just on getting financing into the hands of women-owned startups, but also on providing the education and resources women need to build successful businesses. In the last year, BGV has attracted a lot of attention as it has grown in participation and geography, most recently announcing its expansion to Cleveland. hiVelocity caught up with Candace Klein, BGV's founder and CEO, to ask about the success of her non-profit.

Agriculture Incubator Foundation Chairman Bernie Scott is no stranger to the field of food and agriculture. His devotion to the land and its capabilities grew while participating in 4-H and FFA (then called Future Farmers of America), earning degrees in agriculture and agricultural education from Ohio State University (he was OSU's 2009 Alumni Citizenship Award winner), and working as an ag teacher in the Otsego School District. Here, he fills us in on the foundation and its work with agricultural entrepreneurs.

While personal ingenuity and hard work may be credited for much of Simply Southern Sides' rapid growth, Claude Booker credits a new initiative spearheaded by JumpStart for helping beef up his operations with sound advice and resources.

In August, we told you about The Brandery, a Cincinnati accelerator that wants to give entrepreneurs technical assistance and $20,000 in startup funding in exchange for a 6 percent equity stake in their new companies. SOAPBOX provides an overview in this video.

Elizabeth Edwards is a former venture investor who believes there is no lack of innovation or entrepreneurial spirit in the greater Cincinnati region. What's needed, she says, are more ways to connect great ideas with resources. That's why Edwards left Neyer Holdings to form her own company, Metro Innovation -- and why she initiated programs like InOneWeekend three years ago and the Cincinnati Innovates contest, now it its second year. hiVelocity spoke to Edwards about Cincinnati's entrepreneurial climate.