12 Graduate from WE Create Program at YBI
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A dozen women graduated Wednesday from the We Create program at the Youngstown Business Incubator.
We Create, conducted by the YBI’s Women in Entrepreneurship program, is the first step for women who have a a very early-stage business or business idea.
As part of the graduation ceremony, the women made a business pitch to a panel of judges – YBI’s director of diversity Carmella Williams, YBI’s director of marketing Corey Patrick and Too Hot Mama’s owner and WE Launch graduate Audra Thorton – who decided on a winner to award a $500 grant.
The winner was Wuanita Thompson, who owns Little Miss Inner Beauty, a nonprofit summer program for girls focusing on confidence, inner beauty and self-value. Thompson said she plans to use the prize money to register as a 501(c)3 organization.
Among the other businesses and business ideas presenting at the ceremony were Dr. Shale’s Mango Salsa, the Urban Eggroll, Fancy Pants Fashion Consulting and Personal Shopping, Norwood Catering, a baby gear consulting company, a resume and application filing app and several beauty product companies.
More than half of the participants in the cohort plan to apply for the second phase of the WE Accelerator program, WE Launch.
For more information on the WE Accelerator, contact Carmella Williams at cwilliams@ybi.org or call 330 884 6053.
Pictured above: Carmella Williams and Waunita Thompson.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
