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Hopewell businesses get boost after pitch competiton
Downtown Hopewell Partnership awards funds to local startups
Jonathan Montiel and his business partners Phillip and Lexi Hughes bought a building in downtown Hopewell and then asked community members what they needed. Their answer: more restaurants. That’s how City Point Ice Cream & Burgers was born, and it’s why the trio think they won the $15,000 first prize in the Homegrown for Hopewell
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Entrepreneurs Unite
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Starting and growing a business can feel like a lonely journey. But no one needs to go it alone! Join us for Entrepreneurs Unite (VIRTUAL)! This is an opportunity to learn, network, and brainstorm your business ideas with fellow entrepreneurs. Held on the first Thursday of every month. Each month a local business owner will
Bio-plastic startup wins Lighthouse Labs pitch contest
Ourobio was shark favorite from accelerator's spring 2022 cohort
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While pitching to the sharks, entrepreneur Alec Brewer told them, “I do have white powder in my pocket,” before quickly clarifying that it wasn’t an illicit substance: “It’s PHB! It’s PHB!” Brewer passed the vial over for the sharks’ inspection during his Lighthouse Labs Demo Day pitch Thursday for his company, Ourobio, of which he
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ODU’s Strome Center to host tech entrepreneur weekend
3 Day Startup program is "speed run" of starting a business
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Old Dominion University’s Strome Entrepreneurial Center will hold its 3 Day Startup weekend entrepreneurship program, where participants develop and pitch a product, from Feb. 4 to Feb. 6. ODU previously held the program in 2018, 2019 and 2021. This year’s event is focused on technology solutions. Attendees form groups on Friday afternoon and begin to
Startup Virginia to host Idea Factory workshop
Six-week program helps aspiring entrepreneurs with products, plans
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Richmond-based nonprofit business incubator Startup Virginia is hosting its fifth Idea Factory — a six-week, largely virtual program to help aspiring entrepreneurs test, improve and validate their business ideas — from Feb. 28 to April 4. The program focuses on technology-driven or manufacturing-based business ideas and starts with an onboarding meeting before moving into five
U.Va. alumni make $5M gift to fund professorship
Tadlers' donation will support entrepreneurship study
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University of Virginia alumni Donna and Richard Tadler made a gift of $5 million that will be used to create a professorship of entrepreneurship at their alma mater, U.Va. President Jim Ryan announced earlier this month. The gift will be matched with $5 million more from the university’s Bicentennial Professorship Fund, for a total investment
JMU student and alumni entrepreneurs get boost from program
Startups Gewd Botanicals, Handicans and Tow Ninja will receive $5k each
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The James Madison University Bluestone Seed Fund announced Monday that it would provide three startup companies with $5,000 each in its inaugural investment cycle. The Gilliam Center for Entrepreneurship manages the donor-backed fund. The three chosen startups are Gewd Botanicals, Handicans and Tow Ninja. Malique Middleton, a 2021 graduate, founded Gewd Botanicals, a shop that
Shenandoah Community Capital Fund to get $1M as part of federal program
U.S. SBA selected SCCF for Community Navigator Pilot Program
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The Shenandoah Community Capital Fund (SCCF) will receive $1 million in American Rescue Plan funding as part of the Community Navigator Pilot Program, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced Thursday. The program is an initiative meant to reduce barriers that small businesses, especially those owned by veterans, women, people from rural communities and communities of
Program aims to boost Latino entrepreneurship
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Arlene Guzman had a small restaurant in Puerto Rico, but “I never felt like I had the training” to be an entrepreneur, she says through a bilingual interpreter. “This is why I sought this opportunity.” A mother of two and grandmother of two, the 52-year-old Richmond-area resident is in the inaugural class of Richmond’s Latino
JMU entrepreneurship center hires new director
Suzanne Bergmeister comes from the University of Louisville
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James Madison University announced Thursday that Suzanne Bergmeister has been named the next executive director of its Gilliam Center for Entrepreneurship. She comes from the University of Louisville’s Forcht Center for Entrepreneurship in Kentucky, where she has been the full-time entrepreneur in residence for the past 15 years and assistant director for four. Bergmeister, who