More than 150 Akron entrepreneurs, small business owners and potential investors gathered at House Three Thirty in the West Hill neighborhood Thursday to make connections and build local enterprises.
“SEEDS for Growth,” sponsored by the Akron Urban League and Huntington Bank, was designed to connect under-resourced small businesses with capital and resources.
“This initiative is crucial for fostering economic growth and providing opportunities for entrepreneurs who may not have access to traditional financial avenues,” according to the event website.
“You’re seeing daylight and you’re trying to get [to] the next level. If you’re that seed in the ground, you need the ground, you need the water, you need the light,” Akron Urban League CEO and President John Williams told the crowd.
He said when building a business, this translated to having a CPA, business plan, credit, and support from groups like the League and others. “We’re like the fertilizer, to nourish growth. The bank is the water.”
Attendees were able to connect with local business and industry leaders throughout the four-hour program. The event started with networking and a panel discussion centered around starting new businesses.
Entrepreneurs share advice, ideas for growth
Moderator Andre Bryan, a senior management consultant and business adviser with APB & Associations a Cleveland-based business consulting firm, led the nearly one-hour conversation with three Northeast Ohio business leaders.
The panelists included Halle Capers, owner and president of Halle’s Engineering & Design LLC; Rodney Griggs, CEO of Kingdom Construction and Builders; and Andrea Boyd, business adviser with the Ohio Minority Business Development Agency.
“We didn’t have the funding [when we started],” Griggs told the audience. “You bootstrap… that’s just the way it was, you started very small.”
Griggs also advised attendees to have something to show before seeking funding from banks and investors.
“Find somebody who can advise you not to make the small mistakes. It will save you thousands of dollars,” he said.
Fighting discrimination is common thread
Bryan asked panelists about the challenges of building a business while fighting racism and discrimination.
Capers, who started her company four years ago, talked about being a Black female in the business world. “I made sure I have all my ducks in a row, period. That’s the beginning and the end of it,” she said while stressing the importance of building strong business partnerships.
Griggs said you just have to know who you are when fighting against discrimination. “Character counts,” he said.
Capers told the audience she is excited about 2025 and plans on expanding and adding staff. Her main advice to attendees was to network and build “two-way” relationships. “You’re going to learn something from everybody you meet,” she said.
Griggs advised finding people already doing the work and learning from them. “Don’t go in there being the voice, go in there being the sponge,” he said.
Boyd encouraged attendees to find somebody in the room and connect with them. “We can go farther and be stronger together,” she said.
Pitch contest highlights new ideas, businesses
The “Two-Minute Pitch” contest featured six entrepreneurs competing for a $5,000 prize.
In “Shark Tank” style, the entrepreneurs took up to two minutes each to try to convince a three-judge panel that their enterprise was worthy of winning the seed money. The judges peppered the business owners with questions before leaving to deliberate.
The ventures included mobile notary services, a marketing and brand agency, massage therapy, and a nonprofit group with a mission to create a free grocery store.
Bryan acknowledged the strength of all six contestants before announcing two winners. “Making sure your product or service can impact as many people as possible” is a key part of any business Bryan said before announcing the awards.
Organizers awarded first place and $5,000 to Imokhai Okolo and People Feeding People. Second place winner Ashlyn Symone, Signatures Brand Design Studio, was awarded $2,500.
Winning pitch seeks ways to feed people
“We’re extremely grateful to the Akron Urban League, Huntington Bank, our partners Freedom Bloc,” Okolo told Signal Akron after winning the award. “This award will help take People Feeding People to the next level and to spread our message across Akron and to challenge food apartheid and to really power to take care of our neighbors.”
“Our slogan is ‘Feed people, feed the land,'” Okolo, said noting that more than half the population of Akron can’t afford the monthly cost of living.
Other pitch contest finalists included:
- Dana Lewis, Sweetest Massage & Therapy LLC
- J’Waun Miller, JRM Mobile Notary Service
- Stephanie Singleton, Drive-Thru Weddings & Notary LLC
- Kiara White, Peace and Pigments
Other event sponsors included the Ohio Department of Development Minority Business Assistance Center and the Minority Contractor Capital Access Program (MCCAP), a collaboration between the Akron Urban League and the Western Reserve Community Fund.
