eQED is developing a solar microinverter that will improve the efficiency of solar panels. As with all solar panels, an inverter converts the output from the panel to AC power. Normal setups use one large inverter for an entire string of solar panels. eQED’s technology places one small inverter under each panel, increasing the amount of power gained from each solar panel.
 
The HIKARI microinverter provides improved energy harvesting, is more reliable than traditional inverters, and is easier to install and requires little maintenance.
 
“With the microinverter you can adjust each panel individually to adjust for shade or bright sun,” explains John Patrick, chief technical marketing officer. “This way you can extract up to 15 percent more power in shady conditions and five to 10 percent more power in normal conditions.”
 
eQED’s 250-watt HIKARI solar microinverter earned the company a NorTech 2012 Innovation Award in March. eQED is a partner company of Quality Electrodynamics (QED), a medical imaging company. Both are growing substantially. QED employs 87 people – up from 75 a year ago.
 
“We probably have five or six openings right now,” says Patrick. “eQED has 10 people, but that number will grow quite a bit as we commercialize the product.” eQED is in the final stages of development before sending it to market. Patrick says they expect to conduct testing on several hundred units later this year and begin commercial shipments in early 2013.
 
 
Source: John Patrick
Writer: Karin Connelly

As a designer and illustrator, Nick Pavlak sees the artistic elements of creating a successful business. From website design to a company logo, he founded BABL Media in April 2011 around the philosophy that art, design and creative thinking can build a better business.
 
That thought proved to be accurate. A little over a year later, BABL Media has made a reputation for itself, especially among startup companies. “Typically, we work with startups with planning, design, and social media,” Pavlak, who is the company’s creative director, says. “We work with them on logo, color palettes and everything associated with their brand.”
 
Pavlak started BABL Media based on his graphic design background. “When we started I discovered everyone needs a website,” he recalls. But he soon realized he needed a little more. So when he ran into college friend Robert Clark at a Rochester Institute of Technology reunion, Pavlak asked Clark to join the company as the master developer. Soon after, Andrew Wozniak joined the team as art director. “He’s very good at handling the details,” says Pavlak. This summer, BABL Media was able to hire two paid interns to work on development.
 
Pavlak and Clark have gone on to form FounderSync with two other partners, a matchmaking site for entrepreneurs. The concept is to pair up entrepreneurs with different skill sets to help each other succeed. Both companies are based out of LaunchHouse.

"Our long term goals for the company are to continue to grow and develop our own process and team so as we can build and innovate great ideas," adds Pavlak. "The more brilliant people we can put together, the more amazing products and technologies we can bring to market. Our end goal is to find the one (or several hopefully) disruptive and ground breaking products that can actually change the world for the better."

 
Source: Nick Pavlak
Writer: Karin Connelly

“By 2015, more people will access the web from their smartphone than from their desktops and laptops,” says EXP president Barb Cagely. In Cleveland, numerous app developers are ahead of the curve, dreaming up mobile apps that do everything from enrich your tourism experience to making sure workers in the field have all the resources they need.

In a wide open office at MAGNET, a manufacturing advocacy organization situated on the Cleveland State University campus, groups of students are fomenting new ideas. They include an innovative pothole patch, social media tools for landlords, an information technology startup and a biofuels company.

These emerging entrepreneurs have found a new launching pad in The Beta Space, a business incubator and coworking space that offers entrepreneurial support, mentoring and advice from industry experts at MAGNET. David Crain, Director of Entrepreneurial Services at MAGNET, says that he came up with the idea as a way to help student entrepreneurs start companies in Cleveland.

"Students are comfortable starting businesses in their dorm rooms, and yet while they might hear of all these great resources within the region, they're often not sure where to go," says Crain. "Once you have a relationship with someone here, it's really easy to walk down the hallway, ask a question and get an answer."

Students admitted into the Beta Space program have access to a wide array of resources at their fingertips. Not only can they use the physical space anytime they want, but they also have access to coaching services from MAGNET's mentors. Finally, they can brainstorm with other student entrepreneurs.

"We coach them on what they're up against and help them put together a business plan," says Crain. "The entrepreneurial education taking place at the college level is starting to have an impact, and we're seeing a quantum leap in student ideas."

The Beta Space also offers free legal, finance and marketing advice to any entrepreneur, a resource that Crain says is unavailable elsewhere.


Source: Dave Crain
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The Capital Continuum in Northeast Ohio on Thursday, August 2 will feature a panel discussion to help entrepreneurs find ways to access capital for their businesses.

“I believe we’ve created an ecosystem in Northeast Ohio to help entrepreneurs, both public and private,” says Dennis Cocco, manager of the JumpStart Entrepreneurial Network, manager of the Innovation Fund and associate director at Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE). “Entrepreneurship is doing really great in this region, but accessing capital is not the first thing people think about when starting a business.”
 
A lot of local entrepreneurs are not aware of the funding resources that are available in the area. The Continuum is designed to illustrate all that is out there. “Here we have precious capital we’re trying to dole out to the best entrepreneurs,” says Cocco. “But they’re not like banks, which have big buildings with their names on every corner. It would be a shame if people with a good idea fail because they don’t know we’re out there.”
 
Panel members include Cocco, Ken Marblestone, president, Charter One and RBS Citizens; Daniel Kellogg, managing director, Crystal Venture Funds; Claiborne Rankin, manager of North Coast Angel Fund; and Jerry Frantz, managing venture partner with JumpStart.
 
The free event will be held at JumpStart’s offices. Cocco says about 30 people have already signed up and he hopes for 50 or 60. “If 100 show up I’ll be really pleased,” he says.

Registration is required.

 
Source: Dennis Cocco
Writer: Karin Connelly

How do you export an entire region? That's the question Northeast Ohio's promoters are pondering as the investment in local tourism is projected to reach into the billions of dollars over the next few years. Harnessing the economic power of the tourism industry means telling the world loud and proud, "Northeast Ohio is the place to be."

Bringing the 18-county Cleveland Plus region to the disposable income-flush masses should not be a hard sell these days, says Lexi Hotchkiss, director of communications with Positively Cleveland, the region's tourism and economic development group.

Cuyahoga County alone is undergoing a $2 billion tourism investment revival over the next five years, a confluence of high-profile projects including a new casino, a medical mart and convention center, and the dramatic renovation of Cleveland's illustrious art museum.

"Two-billion is not chump change," says Hotchkiss. "It's a big deal that can have a domino effect [on the area]."

Tourism is bigger business locally than many people realize, adds Hotchkiss. The industry is Cuyahoga County's fourth-largest employer. In 2011, 30 million people visited the Cleveland Plus region, sustaining 163,000 jobs with $13 billion in economic impact. During that same time frame, 14 million visitors decended upon Cleveland, supporting 61,000 jobs.

(Continue reading...)

A healthcare industry vet and resident of Cleveland since 1982, Jim Bennett was hired in April by developer MMPI Inc. to oversee the $465 million medical mart and convention center. The complex is expected to draw 200,000 visitors annually, add thousands of new jobs, and generate about $50-$75 million in economic impact per year.

However momentous they might be, groundbreaking ceremonies typically are not very interactive affairs. Project leaders and public officials give speeches and take advantage of photo opportunities before they pose gripping the symbolic, all-too-clean shovels.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the first publicly funded leg of the Towpath Trail to be built in Cleveland promises to be different. Community members have been clamoring for this project to be completed for years, and trail backers want to give them a chance to participate in the grand occasion. So after the project leaders and public officials take their turn, it's a B.Y.O.S. (Bring Your Own Shovel) event, and everyone is invited to join in.

The event is scheduled for Monday, July 30th at 11 a.m. at 1871 Scranton Road.

"We wanted to figure out a way to involve the many people who have anxiously awaited the project," says Tim Donovan, Executive Director of Ohio Canal Corridor, the nonprofit spearheading the effort with the City of Cleveland, Cleveland Metroparks and Cuyahoga County. "I don't sit on a boatload of shovels, but if you bring your own, then we can capture it. If you can't be there, send us a photo of you with your shovel, and we'll print them up and have them on site."

So far, Donovan has received photos of supporters with shovels from as far away as New Mexico. Those bringing a shovel will be eligible to have their names entered into a raffle to win a $100 gift certificate from Lockkeepers restaurant.

The .6 mile trail will follow Scranton Road from Carter Road south to University Road along the Scranton Peninsula. A portion of the $9.1 million total price tag will be used to restore 11 acres of polluted industrial land. The project will also replace a portion of decrepit river bulkhead with a more natural stone and plant terrace.

The project was funded by the Clean Ohio Conservation Fund, Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the State of Ohio, among other funding sources.


Source: Tim Donovan
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Several Cleveland-based funding organizations have gotten together and pooled their money to help small businesses that otherwise would not have access to the capital they need to grow.

Under the Economic Community Development Institute (EDCI), which officially announced the launch of its Cleveland office on July 17, the City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Huntington Bank, U.S. Small Business Administration, Commission on Economic Inclusion, The Business of Good Foundation, and the Cleveland Foundation have committed $4.6 million in resources.
 
Micro-loans will account for $4 million of the fund while the remaining $600,000 will provide training and technical assistance for Cleveland small businesses. A 2011 study by Friedman Associates, a national firm specializing in microfinance, estimated a need of $38 million for loans under $50,000 in Cuyahoga County, with the greatest gap among minority-owned businesses.
 
“Neighborhood businesses who would not otherwise have access to capital will benefit from these loans,” says Daniel P. Walsh, Huntington northeast Ohio president. “These loans really stabilize neighborhoods with the capital to achieve the American dream. It will reinvigorate those neighborhoods that need reinvestment.”
 
The average loan is between $15,000 and $20,000. Eight area businesses have already benefited from loans through the program, totaling $163,000. ECDI started a similar program in Columbus in 2004 and has made $11.4 million in loans to 700 small businesses, creating or retaining 1,955 jobs.
 
The majority of businesses who will benefit from the loans are five employees or fewer, explains Bob Eckardt, executive vice president of the Cleveland Foundation. “There’s a pretty significant gap in this community and this will support a wide range of businesses,” he says. “We’re trying to do a big-picture thing. It’s important to support the entrepreneurs by getting them the funding they need to grow big or hire employees.”

 
Source: Daniel P. Walsh, Bob Eckardt
Writer: Karin Connelly

The grassroots, pro-Cleveland music collective Cellar Door is launching a new performance space, Cleveland-only record store and office space in the Loftworks building at East 40th and Superior.

The creative space, which features antique wood floors, high ceilings and large windows, is intended to not only foster a "community among listeners" among local music fans, but also to reach people who are unaware of Cleveland's distinctive music scene.

"Local bands like Herzog are taking off nationally, but once you step outside of the in-the-know crowd, a lot of people have no idea," says founder Justin Markert, who has operated Cellar Door as a record label for years with his partner, Rick Fike. "We want to bring not-so-well-known artists to a bigger audience."

Markert says that Cellar Door will also be an eclectic, anything-goes art space featuring films, fiction readings, art shows and candid, behind-the-scenes conversations with emerging bands or artists. Cellar Door also manages a blog that curates the best of the local music scene.

A launch party featuring local bands is slated for Friday, July 27th at 7 p.m. at 1667 E. 40th Street, Suite 2G.


Source: Justin Markert
Writer: Lee Chilcote

What if we viewed Cleveland as a startup? "The ingredients for a successful startup and a successful city are remarkably similar," argues tech blogger Jon Bischke. You need to build stuff that people want. You need to attract talent. And you need capital to get your fledgling ideas to a point of sustainability.

On the heels of two successful biomedical job fairs, Global Cleveland, in partnership with NEOSA, will host a week-long online IT job fair August 20 to 24.
 
The demand for tech people is high. In a recent survey of area technology companies, 82 percent have current job openings and 73 percent expect to hire additional staff this year. The job fair is designed attract qualified technology professionals from not only Cleveland, but across the country.
 
“We are targeting 30 to 35 employers to each post a few jobs openings,” says Global Cleveland president Larry Miller. “It’s great visibility in a short period of time.”
 
Officials at Global Cleveland have found the online jobs fairs to be an effective way to recruit. The biomedical jobs fairs in March and June attracted more than 9,000 people to the site, with nearly 1,800 applications filed.
 
The event is free for job seekers. Employers have two options: For $275 they can post up to three jobs and have unlimited internship postings on the Cleveland Recruiting Company, a private LinkedIn group of 1,200. For $525 employers receive additional access to Global Cleveland’s job search databases.
 
“In the world of recruiting, it’s a very inexpensive way to get the word out,” says Miller. “Every employer we have talked to has told us about the need for talented employees. It’s difficult to find the IT talent they need.”
 
If the IT job fair is successful, Miller says they probably will hold another one in a couple of months.

 
Source: Larry Miller
Writer: Karin Connelly

The Cuyahoga Land Bank and Career Development and Placement Strategies, Inc. (CDPSI) have teamed up to create a pilot program to get formerly incarcerated fathers to work renovating houses. The pilot program, which began in November, puts participants through an intensive six-week program to teach them basic workmanship and professional skills. The participants then go into a six-month internship program with a supervisor in the field.
 
"The internships program is designed to assist men who are fathers trying to make a better way in their lives," explains Maurice Stevens, president of CDPSI. "They have displayed some interest in carpentry but have some barriers in transitioning to employments due to incarceration."
 
During the course of their internship the participants will earn $9 an hour and receive comprehensive training on the various aspects of home renovation. The interns will also receive entrepreneurship training focused on providing the basics necessary to start and run a renovation business as a sole proprietor. This training will introduce the interns to contract development, budgeting, mechanic’s liens, invoicing, insurance and bonding.
 
Once the interns have successfully completed the 560-hour training program, they will receive a Certificate of Completion, a recommendation from the general contractor that has been acting as their supervisor and will receive priority consideration from the Cuyahoga Land Bank for selected future renovation work.
 
“Our mission is to provide workforce and personal development training opportunities to our target population,” says Stevens. “Clearly, this partnership will create economic and job development for the Greater Cleveland area.”
 
Since November the program has hired four interns, two full-time supervisors and a general contractor. The goal is to renovate six houses and hire four interns a year through the program. One house on W. 157th Street has already been renovated and sold through the program, and two more are near completion.
 
Source: Maurice Stevens
Writer: Karin Connelly

Since its launch in February, eFuneral has steadily grown as a resource for families searching for the right funeral provider. Now founders Mike Belsito and Bryan Chaikin are taking the company, which came out of the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business' 10-Xelerator last summer, to another level.
 
eFuneral recently announced a partnership with Hospice of Dayton. "Ever since we launched, some of our biggest supporters have come from the hospice community," says Belsito. "When patients enter hospice and don't have a funeral home picked out, they rely on hospice professionals for advice, but hospice employees are not allowed to make recommendations."
 
While Belsito and Chaikin have primarily focused on tapping the Northeast Ohio market, eFuneral decided to approach Hospice of Dayton, which is the second largest hospice in Ohio and one of the largest in the country.
 
The company has thrived in the Cleveland area -- users can get seven to eight quotes from funeral homes within minutes -- and Belsito is confident they will have the same success down state. eFuneral has hired two additional employees this year, most recently a software engineer.

 
Source: Mike Belsito
Writer: Karin Connelly

The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA) celebrated the completion of the stainless steel cladding being installed on its new home with a signing-off ceremony this week. The date when the glittering, gem-like new building opens its doors to the public is only months away, and that's when the true celebration will begin.

On a recent media tour of the building, the beautifully plotted details of the new museum were evident in raw form. A few of the finer points include the first floor lounge with coffee and free wi-fi that will function as an "urban living room;" the 1,000-square-foot store that will become a destination for visitors and residents alike; and an architectural emphasis on transparency that makes the museum a place where visitors can view the process whereby installations are created. 

Other prominent details include the first floor lecture and performance space, windows offering great views of the Uptown District and a breathtaking fourth floor main gallery space with a vaulted ceiling and uninterrupted floor plan.



Source: MOCA
Writer: Lee Chilcote

With the aid of a $500,000 economic development loan from the city, a former cement company's headquarters in Cleveland Heights will soon be converted into a 120-person call center.

The Medusa Cement Company occupied the building on Monticello until the late 1990s. Founded 120 years ago, the company was originally called the Portland Sandusky Cement Company. It was later renamed after Medusa, the fearsome Greek gorgon whose gaze turned men to stone. Medusa thrived in the post-war building boom. It moved its headquarters to Houston in 1999 after a merger.

Medusa Holdings, LLC applied for a loan through the city's commercial revolving loan fund program. In exchange for receiving favorable, below market terms, the developer committed to creating 120 full-time jobs. At least 51 percent of those jobs must be made available to or held by low- to moderate-income individuals.

Two-thirds of the $500,000 loan will carry a 3.5% annual interest rate and a 10-year repayment term following a one-year deferral. Up to $200,000 of the loan may be forgiven at a rate of $50,000 per year for every year during which 100 full-time equivalent jobs are maintained at the call center prior to 2018.

"This is an exciting opportunity for the Medusa building to be rejuvenated into a call center," says Suzanna Niermann O'Neill, Acting City Manager for the City of Cleveland Heights. "The whole area between the community center and the Rockefeller building has been refreshed with new restaurants and new businesses."

Nierman-O'Neill noted that this kind of economic development will bring revenue to the city's coffers and that the call center will serve nonprofit organizations.


Source: Suzanna Nierman-O'Neill
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Despite support through entrepreneurial assistance programs, area minority business owners say they still experience barriers -- some subtle, others not -- in their goal to contribute to the local business community. Finding success, many explain, is ultimately up to them.