Motorcycle enthusiast/aspiring entrepreneur Gary Green � who has worked in manufacturing for 35 years � combined his love of bikes and ambitions for business when Access-O-Ride Technology, opened in Tallmadge recently.
Green had developed a way to manufacture durable fiberglass parts, but needed help to launch his business. He found it last fall when, after hearing a talk at a library, he learned about JumpStart, a Cleveland-based non-profit organization that provides resources to promising early-stage companies.
Darrin Redus, president of JumpStart Inclusion Advisors, which focuses on minority and women-owned businesses, and Entrepreneur-in-Residence Johnny Hutton, helped Green get involved with The JumpStart Launch100 Initiative, a collaboration of their group and the Ohio Department of Development Minority Business Enterprise Division. Launch100 is a statewide program to create a pipeline of 100 high potential minority and inner-city based businesses in Ohio over the next five years.
Redus found that AORT "has a patented, scalable product and a team with the right background and know-how to lead it through the growth process." He and Hutton helped Green develop an investor plan and funding strategy that enabled him to enter the market he'd identified.
Green said his JumpStart mentors helped him "round the rough edges" of plans and presentations to get better results. He said AORT and JumpStart learned "to trust each other's judgment."
AORT has begun making saddlebags and fenders already with six employees. Green hopes to hire up to 50 and eventually move into the automotive and marine segments.
Source: JumpStart
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs