Innovation + Job News

Tom Mullin talks to marketing professionals. A lot. “I constantly hear nightmarish stories about creative vendors they are using and have previously used,” he says.

He believes that negative experiences with creative vendors typically come from not having the right person for the job. “Unfortunately, the creative and design profession is highly unregulated,” Mullin explains. “You have a lot of people claiming to offer services that just aren’t in their professional skill set.”

The former Columbus ad agency business-development exec decided to do something about this creative conundrum. He established Connected in May to help provide marketers with the right creative people.
 
Mullin’s goal, he says, is to make marketing professionals’ lives easier and more productive.

Using what he calls a “robust” interview process to identify skill sets, customer service, and pricing, Connected acts as a professional match maker between marketers and creatives.
According to Mullin, the due diligence Connected performs takes the guess work and time spent mulling over options out of the equation when marketers are searching for a creative partner.
 
In addition to streamlining what is typically an arduous process, Mullin says Connected creates an environment built around honesty and transparency. “Marketers can come to me with a need and receive an unbiased professional opinion as to not only who’s qualified for the job, but who’s going to provide the biggest return on their investment,” he explains.
 
Agencies – the creative vendors – hire Connected to match them with marketers who need advertising, marketing and digital services. Connected receives a percentage of what the agencies make.

To date, Mullin has developed a pre-approved list of more than 100 profiled creative vendors.

Mullin started out with one client and now has 15. To his best knowledge, Connected is the only company of its kind.

Philanthropy is an important aspect of Connected’s business model. Mullin donates a portion of his net profit from each project to the marketer’s charity of choice. “I grew up in a very philanthropic environment and was taught to give back whenever possible,” Mullin explains. “It’s my way of thanking the marketer for allowing me to help them build brand loyalty.”
 
Source:  Tom Mullin, Connected
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

As many areas of Cincinnati are being rejuvenated, including OTR and Washington Park, the City of Cincinnati approved a comprehensive approach to focus on development in the city as a whole, not just targeted neighborhoods. 

Last Friday, the City Planning Commission approved and adopted Plan Cincinnati, which was designed with input from residents. The Plan is an opportunity to strengthen what people love about the city, what works and what needs more attention, says Katherine Keough-Jurs, senior city planner and project manager.
 
The idea is to re-urbanize suburbanized Cincinnati; in a sense, to return to the strengths of the city's beginnings. Cincinnati was established just after the American Revolution in 1788 and grew into an industrial center in the 19^th century. Many of those industries no longer exist in the city, which is part of why Cincinnati has become more suburbanized in the past 50 years. One of the long-term goals of the Plan is to bring new industries to Cincinnati.
 
With a new approach to revitalization, Cincinnati is blazing the trail for other cities. With a focus on building on existing strengths rather than tearing down structures and creating new ones, the Plan aims to capitalize on the city's “good bones” and good infrastructure.
 
Cinicinnatians had a huge role in developing the Plan. The first public meeting for the Plan was held in September 2009, when residents offered their insights into “what makes a great city?" and "what would make Cincinnati a great city?” A steering committee of 40 people representing businesses, nonprofits, community groups, local institutions, residents and City Council helped develop the Plan.

The Plan also got support from a grant from the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, which the City received in 2010. The grant allotted $2.4 million over three years to support the Land Development Code, which combines and simplifies Cincinnati's codes, reviews the development process, implements Form-based Codes and considers more creative uses for land. The grant allowed the city to start implementing some of the ideas voiced in public meetings.
 
Visionaries included youth, too. City staff worked with community centers and Cincinnati Public Schools to develop an art project for children. They were given clay pots and asked to paint their fears for the city on the inside and their dreams for the city on the outside. The children saw the big issue was quality of life, just like the adults did.
 
“It was an interesting way to get the kids involved and thinking about the future,” Keough-Jurs says.
 
The Plan aims to strengthen neighborhood centers—the neighborhoods’ business districts. It maps out areas that people need to get to on a daily basis and found that most are within about a half-mile of the business districts. But in some neighborhoods, residents can’t access their neighborhood centers. 

The accessibility of a neighborhood center is based on walkability—not just for pedestrians, but also about how structures address walking. For exampke, if a pedestrian can walk from one end of the neighborhood center to the other without breaking his or her pattern (the window shopping effect), the area is walkable; if he or she has been stopped by a parking lot or vacancies, it’s not walkable, Keough-Jurs says.
 
The neighborhood centers are classified in one of three ways in the Plan: maintain, evolve or transform. Some neighborhoods have goals to maintain levels of walkability, whereas others need to gradually change or evolve. Still others need to completely transform in order to strengthen their business districts.
 
“Cincinnati is at the heart of the region,” Keough-Jurs says. “If we strengthen Cincinnati, we strengthen a region.”

The next step for the Plan is to go before the Cincinnati City Council, specifically the Livable Communities Committee, which is chaired by Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
Follow Caitlin on Twitter

TWIST Creative had been adverse the word "agency" for many years, as the term represented something the Cleveland-based branding firm was not. That all changed eight months ago when TWIST shifted its strategy to target bigger clients, spurring a period of growth that has led to a flurry of new hires as well as new customers.

That's four new hires and about 20 new clients to be exact, says Michael Ozan, TWIST's president and chief creative officer, who in 2000 founded the firm with wife Connie. Add promotions and an overall company realignment to that list and TWIST has had a very busy 2012.

"We looked at our market position and decided to turn in the direction of being an agency," says Ozan. "We needed more people [on hand] to make that change."

In September, TWIST hired a new director of media relations, an art director and two designers. The agency also named marketing director Josh Taylor as its new director of strategy and development, while lead senior designer Chris Oldham is now director of design operations.

To its burgeoning client portfolio TWIST added 20 new brands, including big-name consumer product companies Hoover Vacuum and Hinkley Lighting; aerospace industry manufacturer Voss Industries; and multi-market restaurateur Paladar.

This was an exciting year, but one also full of difficult changes, says design director Connie Ozan. Although the former boutique is now a full-service brand agency, the challenge for TWIST looking ahead is to continue to grow its position within the market.

 "There's been lots of energy over the last eight months," she says. "It will take awhile for the new team to gel, but 2013 is going to be a great year."
 

SOURCE:  Michael Ozan, Connie Ozan
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth

Mike Stanek, president of Cleveland Cycle Tours, is offering the newest way to see Cleveland: A group bike tour. But unlike most group bike tours, this one employs just one vehicle. Nearly the whole group gets behind powering this 15-person, 1,600-pound bike.

“We are a group party bike, a group cycling experience,” Stanek explains. “There’s no motor, there’s no other way to move it except to pedal it.”
 
Ten people pedal Stanek’s 15-person bike, whether it’s a site-seeing tour, a pub crawl, a corporate team-building event or a wedding. Stanek can also haul the bike out to any location a customer chooses. A driver steers and operates the brake. The bike goes four to five miles per hour, and Stanek designs the routes to be mostly flat.
 
Cleveland Cycle Tours has hosted three or four tours since launching in September. Although Stanek applied for the license in July, some red tape kept him from officially launching. For now he is focusing on a successful spring tour season. He’s received a lot of support so far. “We’re building nice relationships with the taverns downtown and in Ohio City,” he says.
 
Stanek got the idea from a group in Minneapolis who brought a similar bike there from the Netherlands. Today that company has seven bikes operating in Minneapolis. Stanek hopes to grow his company in Cleveland similarly.
 
“The ultimate goal is to purchase a second or third cycle for Ohio City and Lakewood,” Stanek says. “The biggest challenge is finding a 10-foot high garage because the bikes are 9-feet, 4-inches tall.”
 
Right now, Stanek operates Cleveland Cycle Tours with his wife, who runs the daily operations, and oldest son, who drives the bike. Stanek hopes to hire and train three or four more drivers by spring.

 
Source: Mike Stanek
Writer: Karin Connelly

Two recent graduates of The Brandery shared how to pitch a startup idea to investors and potential employees at on of the Digital Non Conference’s breakout sessions last week. Hunter Hammonds and Freddie Pikovsky recently pitched their startup ideas at The Brandery’s Demo Day and are now in the process of procuring funds and building teams.

Hammonds is the CEO and co-founder of Impulcity, a city app that makes a night on the town a breeze. Users can buy tickets to shows and view the specials at bars all in one place. Originally from Louisville, Hammonds came to Cincinnati because of The Brandery.

While searching for employees, he realized Cincinnati has a lot of local talent—he hasn’t needed to hire anyone from outside Ohio yet because of the wealth of designers here.

Pikovsky, originally from Brooklyn, is the CEO and founder of Off Track Planet. His startup began as a travel blog three years ago and is now a travel site and mobile app geared toward people in their mid-20s and early 30s. Pikovsky was drawn to The Brandery like Hammonds was, and wanted to be part of the startup ecosystem.

“Right now is an amazing time to be part of The Brandery,” Pikovsky says.

Hammonds and Pikovsky know it’s important to sell their ideas, whether it’s to a potential investor or new hires. In both cases, they have to make sure the startup’s roadmap is clear and focused; otherwise, investors might not be interested and employees won’t know which way is up.

Off Track Planet recently launched its beta version, and in three months, Pikovsky and his team hope to have the full release out. Impulcity will be launching soon and focusing solely on Cincinnati to start with, but Hammonds’ goal is to have it be an app for those living outside of the Tri-State area too.

By Caitlin Koenig
Follow Caitlin on Twitter
Caitlin is an Associate Editor for Barefoot Proximity

Economic development activity is growing at a fast clip in New Albany, a northern suburb of Columbus.

In three years, the town has welcomed 19 new businesses and four existing companies have expanded. Four additional companies, including Bob Evans, which is building its new headquarters here, are slated to put down roots in 2013.
 
“We’ve created more than 3,500 new jobs since 2009,” says Jennifer Chrysler, New Albany’s Director of Community Development. She attributes the city’s success to a combination of good planning and strategic partnerships.
 
New Albany planted the seeds for its growth back in 2007 when it partnered with TechColumbus to create TechStart New Albany. “TechStart helped 51 New Albany-based companies benefit from more than $458,000 in TechGenesis and Pre-Seed Funds, about $310,000 in Ohio TechAngel Funds and more than $1 million in grants and debt financing,” Chrysler notes.
 
New Albany has specifically made a strong commitment to attracting smaller, entrepreneurial businesses and technology startups, she explains. “We subscribe to the cluster theory of economic development, which translates into diversification within our business park.” The park, which Chrysler says is the fastest-growing such venue in the region, comprises four clusters – research and information, retail, medical office and personal care and beauty. 

“Each of the clusters has experienced significant growth,” Chrysler notes. “Our beauty and personal care campus alone has now attracted more than 1,300 new jobs and  realized $144 million in new investment during just the past year.”

In 2011, the city launched two new programs in its business park to stimulate and support entrepreneurial activity. Innovate New Albany is geared toward encouraging public-private partnerships and increasing the number of knowledge workers employed in the city. INC@8000 is a business incubator for startups and entrepreneurial activities, including classes and seminars.

 
Source:  Jennifer Chrysler, New Albany
Writer: Lynne Meyer

Ohio State University is growing the next generation of social entrepreneurs -- inspired, motivated students intent on addressing society's problems in innovative ways -- with a new program aimed at nurturing young talent.

“It was the proudest moment of my undergraduate career and shaped me into the industrial designer I am today,” says Krista Alley, a recent graduate of Ohio State University, of its Social Innovation and Commercialization (SIAC) Initiative.
 
Located within the College of Engineering, SIAC espouses three goals, according to Peter Rogers, Ph.D., a professor in OSU’s Engineering Education Innovation Center and a leader of the program.  “We’re looking to educate students as up-and-coming social entrepreneurs, develop products for people with disabilities to help them become more independent and provide an alternative revenue stream for the non-profit organizations with which we work,” he says.

Engineering, business, industrial design and MBA students are teamed with professionals, such as occupational and physical therapists, on projects.

Alley’s project involved designing an interactive, hand-held device to help children with Down's Syndrome become better organized. “These children can’t grasp the concept of time and time management, “ Dr. Rogers explains. “Getting them up and ready for school is a constant battle for their families because the children can’t remember which tasks come first.” Through the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio, 20 families are now testing a prototype of the device.
 
So far, SIAC has developed two other potential products to serve the disabled – a compression vest for children with autism and programmable exercise equipment for adults with physical disabilities.

While teaching social entrepreneurism in college isn’t new, OSU’s program is unique in its emphasis on commercialization techniques to achieve sustainable growth, Dr. Rogers notes.

“Once the program’s products are manufactured and ready for sale, SIAC’s goal is to have its non-profit organization’s partners help market the products to its local and national constituents,” he explains. Profits will be divided, with a portion going to the non-profits and a portion re-invested back into SIAC to help create OSU’s first completely self-sustaining academic program.  
 
Source:  Peter Rogers, Krista Alley
Writer: Lynne Meyer

Athens-based Ecolibrium Solar has launched Ecofoot2, an update on their base for the installation of solar panels.
 
“The Ecofoot2 supports the corners of solar modules on flat roof and it ballasted to hold modules in place,” explains CEO and founder Brian Wildes. It combines the key components of the original Ecofoot – speed and cost effectiveness – with integrated grounding, wire management and increased weatherability.
 
Research and development for the Ecofoot2 began almost immediately following the successful launch of the original at Solar Power International 2011 in Dallas. Ecofoot was named “most impressive product” by SolarPro and has since been shipped to 18 states.
 
“Our design and engineering team generated 20-plus iterations of Ecofoot2, which were analyzed and optimized using virtual Finite Element Analysis (FEA),” Wildes explains, responding to customer requests. “Prototypes of various concepts were tested, and we then worked with an engineering firm to manage component sourcing.”
 
The final design was submitted to Colorado State University for aerodynamic analysis and Paul J. Ford for engineering to the American Society of Civil Engineers.
 
Wildes says the new design is part of Ecolibrium Solar’s mission to make solar commonplace. “Ecofoot2 is the next step towards grid parity,” he boasts. “We are making solar more cost competitive with traditional energy by offering the lowest price per watt in class, tremendous labor savings with record breaking install speeds, and reductions in overhead through simple products and a streamlined ordering process.”
 
 
Source: Brian Wildes
Writer: Joe Baur

CGI Group, a multinational information technology (IT) firm based in Montreal, has announced its intentions to open an IT Center of Excellence at the Stateside Technology Park in Athens in January.
 
CGI Senior Vice President Lorne Gorber characterizes the decision to open a location in Athens as a no-brainer. Strong partnerships with Ohio University, Hocking College, the Athens County Economic Development Corporation, and economic incentives from the city and state – namely JobsOhio -- were paramount in driving the decision, explains Gorber. For example, CGI will receive a 6-year, 60 percent Ohio Job Creation Tax Credit.

The Athens location will be CGI’s fourth in Ohio with additional offices in Cleveland, Columbus and Mayfield Heights. “CGI’s Onshore Center of Excellence in Athens will provide world-class IT services, such as application development, maintenance, testing, support, and integration to our commercial and government clients throughout the U.S.,” says Gorber. “Because the center is based in a smaller community, our services can be delivered at up to 30 percent savings compared to services delivered in U.S. metro markets.”

Gorber continues, “CGI’s Onshore Center of Excellence in Athens will add 150 jobs by 2016, creating an estimated $6.2 million in new annual payroll and generating additional economic impact in the region.” Candidates interested in applying for a position can visit CGI’s career page.
 

Source: Lorne Gorber
Writer: Joe Baur

Mobile workforce management software company TOA Technologies has spent most of its existence dealing with the "nuts and bolts of American industry," says Jeff Wartgow, vice president of channels and alliances. It's the company's tech, for example, that ensures the cable technician is getting a proper signal so he can complete his work.
 
Thanks to its recent partnership with Racktime Sales & Marketing Services, a Netherlands-headquartered field marketing services provider, TOA now gets a taste of the "sexy" side of the tech industry, Wartgow says. Racktime will be using TOA's  new ETAworkforce and ETAdirect Professional software to optimize its mobile business operations, which include cool stuff like DVD displays and Playstation demo booths.

"Racktime is a fun, young company," says Wartgow. "It's great to see that side of the culture coming into the market."
"Field marketing" represents the distribution or sampling of promotions in the public space. TOA software will assist Racktime in automating assignments, optimizing schedules and providing its customers with real-time visibility and collaboration capabilities.

Field marketing "is a completely new frontier for us," Wartgow says. "We had to find a progressive prospect like Racktime willing to take a risk on us."

Creating a product far afield from its core is exciting, says the TOA vice president. "Our mission is to keep expanding and taking on these challenges," adds Wartgow. "It's energizing to [work in] this part of the market."
 

SOURCE: Jeff Wartgow
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth

When Josh Fendley and four tech-savvy friends left their digital agency to launch a smaller venture, they were looking for a business name that would convey their small staff’s concentrated experience. Ample fit the bill, and is still a point of pride because one of the firm’s selling points is its size.

"Clients realize that if I’m the one selling them on doing the work, they’re going to be working with me the entire time if they choose to engage us," Fendley says. "When we left our last agency, we were all directors of this and that, but decided we wanted to get back to doing work instead of just managing it."

Fendley says the trick of being small is to carefully select experienced employees, with an eye to maintaining company culture. “We have only one relatively young employee, and we belabored on whether or not we should do that,” he says.

Recently, Ample has been pivoting away from marketing to focus on building websites and developing strategic, creative digital projects, including video and websites that easily scale down desktop applications for mobile interfaces and apps. 

"All the sites we create automatically scale and reformat," Fendley says. "Not a lot of people are actually doing that." 

Ample also developed its own content management system.

Along with size and experience, Ample’s culture is shaped by its brainy core. "We love being presented with something we don’t know how to get through. We love to figure out how to do it," Fendley says. 

Ample is primarily a Ruby on Rails shop, but also offers help with strategic planning.

So, when Ample got a call from a New Jersey nonprofit seeking to outfit students with disabilities with human-read audio books, its developers created an iTunes-like app compatible with a variety of devices.

"A lot of our long-time clients pay us to think for them, and I think that’s where we’re most successful,” Fendley says, noting that new business largely comes from referrals, and the team is turning away prospective clients.“Clients are your best salespeople. If you do well by them, them will typically give you some good karma back."

By Robin Donovan

Munchit co-founders Tim Holmes and Jon Dinardo were living worlds apart -- Holmes in London and Dinardo in Los Angeles -- but they had one thing in common: the desire to find a better way to snack.
 
“I was based in London and lived inside the city and ended up eating a lot of junk,” says Holmes, a native Brit. Meanwhile, Dinardo was living a fast-paced lifestyle on the west coast. The two, along with Holmes’ wife (and Dinardo’s sister) Nicole, were craving something better.
 
So the three moved back to Dinardo's Ohio hometown to start Munchit, an all-natural snack company. Munchit sells snack boxes, either on a weekly or monthly subscription basis, in which the buyer chooses from 25 wholesome snacks. Snacks feature things like dark chocolate espresso beans, nuts, cranberries, rolled dates and seed mixes. Each box features four different snacks.
 
“You log in and go through all our snacks,” explains Dinardo. “If you love 18 out of the 25 items we mix it up each time.”
 
Holmes and Dinardo source their products from small, local companies as well as national family-owned suppliers. “All of our food is 100-percent natural, with no preservatives or artificial colors,” says Dinardo. “The snacks are portion sized and are 180 calories.” They focus on environmental issues, keeping packaging to a minimum.
 
They decided to start the company in Cleveland to not only be close to family, but also for economical reasons. “Cleveland is a good area logistically because it’s very close to the hub of business,” says Holmes. “The cost of suppliers is right.”
 
Munchit currently is trying to raise $50,000 by Oct. 25 on Kickstarter. “Our goal right now is to launch and stay afloat in the short term,” says Holmes. “We want to make it past the first year. After that, the opportunities in the market are open to us to grow and expand.”
 
While right now it is a family affair, Holmes and Dinardo predict they will hire people to help with packaging and fulfillment as they grow. Eventually they plan to hire people to help with finance and bookkeeping.

 
Source: Jon Dinardo and Tim Holmes
Writer: Karin Connelly

At the Brandery's third Demo Day Oct. 3, a packed house at Great American Ball Park looked forward to a home run, but not from the field below. 

The stadium's Champions Club had been transformed into a space where founders of 11 startups paced, shook hands and smiled as they prepared to offer their practiced pitches that they knew could net them millions in investment dollars.

This year, there were more than twice as many applicants for the seed-stage startup accelerator in Over-the-Rhine as both of its earlier years, combined, according to Brandery General Manager Mike Bott. 

Only 10 percent of those applicants were local, Bott says. The companies selected for the intensive four-month session in Cincinnati hailed from Seattle and Brooklyn, from Cleveland and San Francisco. One local business, REPP, made the final cut.

As its name implies, The Brandery focuses mostly on consumer products and services. Its strength is in its location and its expertise: the branding giants of Cincinnati help make The Brandery attractive to entrepreneurs from around the world. The latest startup session included plenty of mobile and social applications. 

An example? The first startup to present on Demo Day: CrowdHall.

Crowdhall, a free social platform, collects questions and ideas from a single crowd and helps the members of an audience organize and prioritize them democratically. Matthew Dooley, founder and CEO of Cincinnati's dooley media, made a bold prediction about this startup, which has already created "crowd halls" with NYU prof and Earth Institute leader Jeffrey Sachs, Dhani Jones and PG Sittenfeld. 

Dooley's tweet: "Impressed with @crowdhall pitch at #brandery2012 #demoday. Will be bought out by Twitter within a year. #boldprediction @brandery @jbkropp."

You've read about this Brandery class in Soapbox for months now, from Sostock, which planted roots and intends to remain in Cincinnati, to REPP, the latest big idea from Cincinnatians Michael Bergman, his wife BreeAnna and David Volker, formerly of LPK (where Bergman also formerly worked).

Find a full list of startups here. And more coverage of The Brandery on Nibletz, "the voice of startups everywhere else."

By Elissa Yancey
Follow Elissa on Twitter.

Mixed polymer and rubber waste represent the most robust source of energy available in our waste stream today. Yet, astonishingly, we landfill more than 90 percent of these materials annually.
 
Akron’s Polyflow, LLC, has an environmentally responsible solution. “We design and manufacture energy-recovery systems that convert mixed-polymer waste to fuels and petrochemicals before the waste reaches landfills,” explains CEO Jay Schabel.

The company, which was just established in June of 2012, recently struck a deal with private equity firm Ambassador Enterprises of Fort Wayne, Indiana, to form a new business to commercialize Polyflow’s systems. The new company – RES Polyflow, LLC -- will remain in Akron. The “RES” stands for renewable energy solutions.
 
“The influx of capital will help us scale up efforts to commercialize our technology and create new jobs in the renewable-energy industry in Ohio,” Schabel states.
 
He explains that Polyflow will be producing renewable energy locally and profitably. “Our fuel-conversion equipment doesn’t require excessive sorting, handling or cleaning of mixed-polymer waste and will significantly reduce the need to landfill or incinerate millions of tons of plastic waste annually.”
 
Polyflow’s pilot unit is in Akron, and the company used it over the past four years to prove its process, validate the chemistry involved and provide end-product liquid samples for testing and verification. “We conducted 80 test runs and successfully converted eight tons of mixed-plastic waste into crude oil,” Schabel says.
 
The company is completing fabrication of its first full-scale, continuous-feed processor. The facility is in Perry, Ohio, in Lake County, and will be able to convert polymer feed into the same fuels as the pilot-scale processor but in large volumes.  A grant from Ohio’s Third Frontier Advanced Energy Program in 2011 made this project possible, Schabel notes.
 
“Our goal is to provide licensors of our technology, such as landfill operators, recyclers,  organizations managing large polymer-waste streams and energy-park developers, with the most profitable, efficient and scalable solution for plastic-to-oil conversion. “Energy-park developers put together funding, find a location and jump through the approval hoops to get permits to vet technology for investors in the park,” Schabel explains. “They then build the entire energy park.”
 
The company plans to add technical support staff in 2013.

Source:  Jay Schabel, RES Polyflow, LLC

The new Women’s Business Accelerator in Columbus is gearing up to help women entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.
 
“It’s the region’s first incubator dedicated to mentoring, educating and guiding women as they explore, launch and build small and micro-businesses,” explains small-business consultant Mary McCarthy, who established the accelerator with small-business attorney Caroline Worley.
 
“Women business ownership is growing at a tremendous rate, but we still lag behind male-owned businesses,” McCarthy says. “According to the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Advocacy, women-owned firms trail male-owned firms in such things as annual sales, employment growth and venture survival.”

The SBA specifically reports that the average firm owned by a woman generates only 78 percent of the profit of a comparable business male-owned business.  Also, the four-year survival rate of new women-owned firms is 8.6 percent lower than that of comparable new businesses founded by men.
 
“We want to help close these gaps,” McCarthy states.
 
The new facility is located in a suburb of Columbus and comprises 16 private offices, 12 cubicles, three conference rooms, a training room and two kitchens. Office space is available for rent on a monthly, semi-annual and annual basis. Mentoring and facilitated roundtables are included in the rent, and members get a discount on the educational tracks. Women not renting space may participate in the facilitated roundtable for a small monthly fee and may take the educational sessions at cost.

McCarthy and Worley are self-funding the incubator but anticipate that rent and educational programs will generate revenue. “We’re also seeking sponsorships and grants,” McCarthy says.
 
 Source:  Mary McCarthy, Women’s Business Accelerator