Thursday, August 26, 2010 | Follow Us:
Myers Motors, Cleveland. Photo | Bob Perkoski
Myers Motors, Cleveland. Photo | Bob Perkoski

Entrepreneurship

New companies are vital to Ohio's long-term interests, and dreamers are what keep us moving. From one-person outfits to partnerships employing hundreds, entrepreneurs – matched with the industry sectors that have the most potential for success – are vital to Ohio's economy.

Entrepreneurship Features

Business plan competitions give flight to fledgling ideas

There are good ideas and then there are good ideas with a plan. The former often die on the vine, having nowhere to go. The latter create companies. More and more Ohio entrepreneurs with good ideas are now developing their business acumen through university business plan competitions. They are turning heads. And creating the kinds of enterprises that lead to jobs.read on…

For these prodigal entrepreneurs, Ohio is home sweet home

If home really is special – offering a combination of the personal and professional fulfillment you crave – one day you'll come back. These entrepreneurs did.read on…

Q&A: Melvin Gravely's view at the crossroads of race and business

Melvin Gravely II sits at the intersection of race and business -- an important place to be as the nation's minority populations rise within a rapidly changing economy. Founder of an engineering firm, author of seven books and a sought-after keynote speaker, Gravely is managing director of the Cincinnati-based Institute for Entrepreneurial Thinking, which works to bridge the gaps in reasoning that hinder minority entrepreneurship and community access to talent. hiVelocity asked Gravely about his work.read on…

Small town entrepreneurs prove success not hinged on city lights

Big business doesn't always have to mean life in the big city. Some of Ohio's fastest-growing companies are proving that, becoming leaders in high-tech and service fields far from the outer-belts of Ohio's urban centers. And they plan on staying there.read on…

Q&A: David Beck helps us sift through CIFT

Since 1995, the Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT) has helped companies involved in some of Ohio's largest and most economically significant industries: food production, processing, packaging. But the center's work reaches all across Ohio's agribusiness universe and it seems no part is left untouched, from research, to local food initiatives to advanced energy. David Beck, CIFT's president and CEO, spoke to us about some of the work CIFT is doing. read on…

Immigrants emerge as growing economic force across Ohio

In the wake of the Arizona immigration law rancor and anti-immigration rhetoric, Cleveland civic activist and author Richard Herman finds himself shaking his head a lot these days. "Contrary to common perception, immigrants aren't a drain on the economy. They're what fuels growth."read on…

Hackerspaces give tinkerers room to work out 'next big thing'

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates once said his biggest competitive fear was "someone in a garage who is devising something completely new." Now, across Ohio, collective tinkering is taking place in hackerspaces -- for all practical purposes, modern, uber-garages where trained engineers, tech enthusiasts retirees and casual DIYers, work on what could be the "Next Big Thing."read on…

Q&A: Cool Cleveland's brain trust tells how it all happened

Every Wednesday, tens of thousands of inquisitive folks open up their email inboxes to find the latest e-blast from Cool Cleveland. Started in 2002 by Thomas Mulready, the newsletter has become a trusted guide to Cleveland-specific events and activities. A lot has changed in the past eight years, and Thomas Mulready's Cool Cleveland has been one of the few constants throughout that time.read on…

For these serial entrepreneurs, it's lather, rinse, repeat

The risk of starting a new business is great, the rewards uncertain. But some people enjoy the process. These "serial entrepreneurs" do it over and over again. Lather, rinse and repeat.read on…

Laid off? This entrepreneur says, "start a business"

Are you laid off from work in the middle of the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression? Start a business.That's some of the advice given by entrepreneur Mike Hooven, who in 1994 at the age of 38, took $22,000 in stock options from his comfortable position at Ethicon to start his first company.read on…
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