Entrepreneur Spotlight: Hermes Ortiz of Ortiz Art Drafts Designs

Like much in life, entrepreneurship often depends on knowing the right people. In Northeast Ohio’s Hispanic-Latino business community, the old adage rings especially true. Hermes Ortiz, owner of Ortiz Art Drafts Designs, is purposefully intertwined with his community. These days, Hermes is an established business owner, and he serves as an ambassador of sorts for

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Small Business, Big Conversations: James Barnes of Immaculate Cleaning Co.

James Barnes is building an empire, one mop bucket at a time. A Cleveland-area native, James’s entrepreneurial spark ignited early, propelling him into a journey of creating a business centered around his customer’s every need. It wasn’t long before 2011 saw the rise of Immaculate Cleaning Co., quickly becoming the gold standard for janitorial services

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Celebrating Black Brewers Day: A Toast to Ohio’s Brewing Pioneers

In the heart of Ohio, where the craft beer industry thrives, there’s a brewing revolution quietly gaining momentum. It’s a movement driven by passion, innovation and dedication to breaking barriers. This movement is embodied by the Black brewers who have been reshaping the brewing landscape in the Buckeye State. JumpStart is proud to join the

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How Collaboration Catalyzed JumpStart’s Impact Over 20 Years 

The challenges and opportunities to catalyze economic transformation through entrepreneurship have been my focus at JumpStart for the last 20 years. As I prepare to pass the torch to a new CEO, I want to highlight entrepreneurship’s significant role in reshaping our economy and how this progress has only been possible through collaboration. JumpStart helps

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Mentoring Minute: A Conversation with Courtney Gras

Courtney Gras serves as Startup Community Lead at Amazon Web Services where she manages the strategy and operations for a global community of over 6,000 startup CTOs. A former cleantech founder herself, Courtney mentors tech startup founders in Northeast Ohio with Burton D. Morgan Mentoring Program and is the author of The Student Startup Guide,

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Celebrating Black Business Month 2023

Every August, Black Business Month invites us to champion the more than 3 million Black-owned businesses across the nation. Black Business Month was created to not only highlight Black-owned businesses in the United States, but to raise awareness of the unique challenges Black entrepreneurs face and to help shape and inform policy decisions that affect

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Breakthrough Science, Based in Cleveland: Afif Ghannoum of BIOHM

Afif Ghannoum calls himself an ignition entrepreneur; he thrives on turning ideas into reality. As CEO of BIOHM, an innovative microbiome company, he has done just that. Founded on his father Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum’s discovery of the important role fungus plays in digestive health, Afif converted biotechnology into commercial opportunities. Born and raised in Lebanon,

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Building Solutions For Enterprise Influencers: Joshua Reid of Inphlu

No matter what, Joshua Reid goes all in on his ideas. Be it developing a fitness program, setting up a coworking space or running a digital marketing agency, this drive has fueled his passion projects and built businesses from the ground up. Most recently, Joshua founded lnphlu, an Ohio-based social media automation platform that enables

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Making Hiring Personal: Beth Potratz of Drive My Way

As a seasoned HR professional, Beth Potratz is passionate about helping people find jobs that fit their lifestyles. But the way people work has changed drastically in recent years – and Beth understood that the hiring process needed to shift as well. While consulting for a large carrier that needed drivers, Potratz realized that the

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Partnerships Fuel The Future: Read Our 2023 Community Impact Book

For years, entrepreneurship has fueled economic growth in Northern Ohio. Building on a groundswell of community support for local startups and small businesses, entrepreneurial service organizations like JumpStart are helping accelerate this regional transformation. In 2022, the businesses JumpStart serves created nearly 11,000 jobs and generated more than $1.3B in economic impact. But beyond the

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Mentoring Minute: A Conversation with Mark Hoersten

The Entrepreneurship Education Consortium (EEC) is ramping up for its Spring 2023 Tech Side Hustle. Offered each semester to member colleges and universities in Northeast Ohio, Tech Side Hustle is an extracurricular program designed to attract, coach, and fund student entrepreneurs. Participating student cohorts are paired with experienced local mentors like Mark Hoersten, who guide

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