On June 26, 10 local entrepreneurs gathered with ACCESS Growth Center staff, advisory board members, partner organization representatives, family and friends to celebrate their graduation from the Growth Center IGNITE advanced business training program. The businesses represented by the cohort ranged from a logistics company to a collectively-owned coffee shop.
Perhaps the most important individuals in attendance were the entrepreneurs’ family members who, as Growth Center consultant Faris Alami stated, “sacrifice their time with the entrepreneurs once a week for six weeks during the course of this program.”
The graduation program kicked-off with a presentation by Tyler Paxton, co-founder of Are You a Human, a tech start-up company in Detroit. Paxton shared his experience as an entrepreneur and spoke openly with the graduates about the challenges they face, including investing time, resources and passion into a business idea.
Lindsay TerHaar and Sara Bohan presented Sleeping Giants Coffee Collective, a business idea they started discussing with friends in 2013. The women envision a community-owned, community-involved coffee shop in Detroit that offers quality, locally and ethically sourced products. They said that the IGNITE trainings helped them to visualize the next step for their business and to incorporate market research into the next stages of their business development.
Bianca Hamilton unveiled her dessert catering business that she has been running out of her home, Stuck Up Sweets. When Bianca heard about the Growth Center, she had been baking and designing edible arrangements for friends and family and wanted to expand her business in order to be able to work from home and take care of her Type 1 diabetic son. Bianca plans to expand her business to provide sugar-free treats for those with diabetes.
Spencer Hodges is in the process of designing sports equipment with a focus on safety, and he shared at the graduation ceremony that the connections he made in the IGNITE program with his fellow entrepreneurs and partner organizations were invaluable.
Spencer said that, in addition to the training and business coaching, the BizGrid tour of Detroit’s entrepreneurial support centers and co-working spaces was helpful and inspiring.
Growth Center Manager Hassan Bazzi reminded the IGNITE graduates of their courage and resolve. He noted that there are many challenges on the path to business ownership, but that the rewards are tremendous. Bazzi said the graduates clearly demonstrated that they were up for the challenge.
IGNITE is a six-week advanced business training series, including two-hour training sessions, one-on-one business coaching and an on-the-road tour of various BizGrid partner organizations.
The next IGNITE series will take place from Aug. 7 to Sept. 18.
For more information, call Lindsey Palar, 313-945-8159, Ext. 269.
