This article was originally posted on Cincinnati Business Courier and written by Managing editor, Bill Cieslewicz on 16th April, 2017.
The Cincinnati Minority Business Collaborative has recognized two early successes of minority-owned businesses with significant growth potential.
Orchestrate Technologies and SureFire Innovations, two emerging minority-owned businesses in Greater Cincinnati, have received investment support totaling $250,000. The support comes from the L. Ross Love GrowthBridge Fund, an investment initiative of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s Minority Business Accelerator.
The accelerator was created to boost the development of sizable minority business enterprises and strengthen and expand the regional minority entrepreneurial community.
Orchestrate Technologies in Reading implements simplified, cost-effective cloud-based technologies that lower cost and increase productivity for businesses.
“Within the last six months, Orchestrate has doubled its staff and we’re opening a new office in the up-and-coming Reading business district,” Vincent Williams, co-founder and partner of Orchestrate Technologies, said in a statement. “The CMBC laid the foundation for Orchestrate to scale and grow to the next level.”
SureFire Innovations in Norwood, also a service-disabled-veteran-owned small business, provides network infrastructure services to companies around the U.S.
"SureFire has a big vision for growing our business and creating jobs in the Cincinnati region,” Robert Luft, its president, said in a statement. “The CMBC mentors, empowers and invests in us to turn SureFire’s plans into reality.”
The CMBC, launched in late 2017, provides capital and customer readiness support to high-potential minority businesses in the Cincinnati region. With nine partner organizations, the CMBC’s level of collaboration is unprecedented in the U.S. The primary objective of the CMBC is to identify, support and provide resources to at least 10 high-potential minority businesses annually, or 50 over the next five years that have:
- The ability or vision to achieve $5 million in sustainable annual revenues within three to five years
- A vision to create at least 15 permanent jobs within three to five years to stimulate broader economic and employment growth.
"We’ve designed the CMBC to mirror the rigorous development and business readiness efforts preferred by investors,” said Darrin Redus, Cincinnati Chamber vice president and leader of the CMBA. “We hope to fully leverage this process to create a vibrant pipeline of high-potential minority-owned businesses.”