The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
SEED Ventures aims to grow commerce and collaboration in Oberlin
New businesses, new products and new teamwork all are in stock at a new entrepreneurial market in Oberlin.
SEED Ventures opened Oct. 1 to feature the wares of five local business owners and four consignor merchants at 29 S. Main St., Oberlin.
“SEED Ventures affords a means for entrepreneurs to test the marketplace while providing new business activity in downtown Oberlin,” said Scott Hulver, an Oberlin College student and co-leader of the program.
The SEED stands for Sustainable Economic and Environmental Development and it is a program developed by The Oberlin Project, a collaboration of Oberlin College and the city to improve the resilience, prosperity and sustainability of the community.
One of the pillars of a sustainable community, is a strong economy based on a “triple bottom line” that maximizes the effects for people, profit and planet, said Cullen Naumoff, sustainable enterprise director for The Oberlin Project and “entrepreneur evangelist” for SEED Ventures.
The project is rooted in HATCH, a monthly meetup of entrepreneurs to collaborate, share information and encouragement, Naumoff said.
As that evolved, The Oberlin Project identified the need for infrastructure to support new businesses, she said.
Thus, SEED Ventures pairs business incubation services and education with a downtown Oberlin storefront to help remove risk and barriers for entrepreneurs to bring their products to market, Naumoff said.
“How do you generate economic growth? It’s really driven by innovation,” she said. “Then if you take that one step further and you think, well, how does innovation occur? That’s driven by entrepreneurs.
“So we knew that we needed to create systems, infrastructure and connectivity to support entrepreneurs.”
The plan started taking shape in this past summer when the Oberlin Project received applications from a dozen small businesses. Five were selected to sell their products at SEED Ventures in the fall.
One of the budding businesses is Love Delivered, the custom card company created by Ann Mickel.
A longtime admissions and registrar worker for Oberlin College, Mickel described her full time job as helping students stay in school. As she got to know the students, she became “Ms. Ann” or “Mama Ann” in the admissions office and she encouraged the students with cards — so much, she said she would shop for cards like most people shop for groceries.
Mickel began crafting her own greeting cards and found her “mistakes” were creations as lovely as any she could buy. Seven years ago, Mickel said she made a card for a woman who predicted one day Mickel would have her own card business.
This year, her current pastor and former pastor both recommended she apply for the SEED Ventures project.
“I just feel like, because it’s from the heart and it’s true and it’s real, it’s supposed to happen,” she said.
SEED Ventures also features The Buckeye and the Frog Handmade Housewares, named for the Oberlin bed and breakfast operated by Janet Gray Michal.
She has a fabric source that gives her material that otherwise would be thrown away. Michal uses them to make place mats, napkins, trivets, wine bottle bags and other items.
She describes the items as 99 percent recycled and 100 percent unique.
“They’re just gorgeous, silk and wool and linen, just beautiful, beautiful things,” Mickel said. “So I like turning them into something people can use.”
The other entrepreneurs are chocolate crafter Corey Butler of Doki Doki Chocolates; Bryon Skvor, founder of the Humble Grounds Roasting Co.; and Susan Wilgor, maker of Sudzy Pup Goat Milk Soaps.
There also are four small businesses selling products on consignment: The Runcible Spoon jam maker; Back Attack Snacks selling almonds; Oberlin Apparel Collective totes and shirts; and YardArt Bird Houses.
The five entrepreneurs moved in and SEED Ventures will stay open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week until Dec. 31.
The timing is meant to take advantage of the holiday shopping season in November and December, and shoppers may have a sense of urgency to visit due to the limited time of the marketplace, Naumoff said.
The store is the front area of the Asfound Gallery, an antique store owned by Wallace Johnson, who rearranged his stock to occupy the rear section of the building.
SEED Ventures hopes to increase foot traffic into the space, which could be helpful to Johnson finding another tenant when the popup marketplace program ends in early 2016.
Once it is finished, SEED Ventures aims to develop a strategy for the small business owners to continue growing their enterprises.
The program also has gained attention of the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce, the Oberlin Business Partnership and Oberlin College’s Creativity and Leadership program, so it may become a model for other communities, Naumoff said.