|
At E CITY alumni events and in the hallways of
Cleveland schools, we often hear about E CITY students who are still
running their businesses. We are thrilled by that news, and so are
our volunteers! Lately, we have heard from:
Anntwinette Martin,
graduate of Summer 06 BizCamp, was E CITY's
fourth Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner.
Erica Maines, graduate of the E CITY program at Success Tech
Academy, is making and selling custom gift baskets. Known as "AmErica's Givings", she
sees her business as a way of giving her creativity to the community
at an affordable price. Her grandmother taught her to create the
baskets, and she has turned the hobby into a business by making
baskets in keepsake containers and designing them to suit the
buyer's tastes. Thanks to Erica's mom, who displays the baskets in
her workplace, Erica has a relatively steady business, but she’d
love to have more customers! To reach Erica, contact Nicole
Lawrence at E CITY.
Blaine
Mickens, graduate of
E
CITY program at Whitney Young School, is operating "Lawngroomers" :
"We make your lawn look as good as you
do." He reports that his business is growing and that he needs a
computer and database. You’ll also remember Blaine from E CITY's
Awareness Breakfast- he and his business partner, Derric Studamire,
were our "comic emcees" for the raffle ticket sales.
Chris Carter, E CITY's 2005 NFTE
National Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner and founder of
a small business known as TUBA Group LLC (a MEMS technology business
that surpassed even our understanding!) wrote to us from Ohio State
University:
Hey E CITY!
I just wanted you guys to know I haven't forgotten about you. It's just been really busy
down here. I'm currently concentrating on Journalism as my major and
I intend to start up some small business plan consulting in the near
future. I work at Blockbuster right now and I enjoy the teamwork
atmosphere here. Not much else is going on but that's a handful as
it is. How's the new Entrepreneur Academy going?
Yours,
Chris Carter
Ariana Smith-Bland won second place in
one of this year's summer BizCamps, then won first place in our
Intermediate BizCamp, and that gained her a spot in the NFTE/Smith
Barney national business plan competition, which will be held in
late October. She’ll travel to New York City for the competition
with her mom and E CITY Director of Programs, Nicole Lawrence. In
the meantime, she’s getting business plan coaching from Smith
Barney’s Brad Boeckman, here in Cleveland. Ariana makes and
sells fabric covers for tissues through her business, "Monai Enterprise".
Currently, they are being sold at "Fabulous Boutique", a store near
E. 131st Street and Miles. Thanks to her E CITY coach,
Greg Ferrazza and our Intermediate BizCamp instructor, Katerina
Zacharia (NFTE), she is expanding her product line to include covers
for other common items such as i-pods and baby wipe containers.
Fantashia Stevens polished up her
E CITY business plan and submitted it to the "Plan for the
Future" youth business planning competition for high school and
college students. The competition was sponsored by BizFilings
and the National Federation of Independent Business. Fantashia
was one of eight students to win a $1,000 prize. That's quite a
return on investment! Congratulations, Fantashia! |
