Entrepreneurship : Buzz

Synergy can be a really good thing bringing together two seemingly disparate partners, Emily's Desserts and Pizzaz Tuscan Grille. Especially when the results are Baltimore's first wine and cupcake bar.

Here's the deal.

Its status as Baltimore's first State-designated arts district got the neighborhood revitalization started, but it's the area's small businesses that keep the place humming.

Check out a few pics from the NY Times slideshow.

Washing your car. Everybody does, but few think about its impact on the environment. A local entrepreneur is on the cutting edge of the carwash industry with his green carwash in Canton.

Watch the video:

The Marlin Steel Wire Products factory in Baltimore is part of a network of small businesses that are vital to the U.S. and it's economy.

Here's an excerpt:

"Small businesses have become a bellwether for the condition of the American economy. Indeed, to hear politicians talk, small business is�pick your favorite clich�the lifeblood, the backbone, the thunderously beating heart of the American economy.

Like most clich�s, these have some truth. America could truly not survive without operations like Marlin Steel Wire Products. Among other things, they produce specialized parts like that stand, in small production runs that would be uneconomical on the scale of an airplane or automobile plant. Even mighty industrial machines cannot survive without tiny cogs."

Read the entire article here.

You're at the checkout counter at a local retailer and instead of pulling out a pile of greenbacks -- U.S. government issued $1s, $5s, $10s or $20s -- you hand the cashier a bunch of BNotes. That's the scenario two local entrepreneurs hope to see play out soon across Baltimore.

Here's an excerpt:

"Baltimore may soon have its own local currency, or scrip, if Jeff Dicken of the Baltimore Green Currency Association has his way. Next spring Dicken, with partner Michael Tew, is planning to launch the BNote, a form of money that can only be spent locally. The object, Dicken said, is to have the money stay in the local community and help the community grow economically.

"A bunch of us realized that there is a real need for economic options in Baltimore City," Dicken told the AFRO. "A local currency provides a way for residents to support their own community and their own local merchants. And it makes them think twice about where they spend their money, whether they want to support their neighbors, the local merchants, or whether they want to support national chains that may be taking the money and booking it as profit in Delaware or Texas."


Read the entire article here.

It's one of the best parts of returning home from a trip -- showing photos of travels to destinations near and far. It's a highlight unless the pics are out of focus, have a finger or two in them, and the list goes on. Baltimore Photo Safari is just one of the new workshops springing up around the world helping tourists avoid mistakes and make the most of their travel-based photography.

Here's an excerpt:

"Our group rendezvoused outside the Maryland Science Center for a quick briefing by Muse, who was dressed in urban safari attire: hiking boots, brown pants, checked shirt, blue cap. He showed us a series of photos, using the USS Constellation and his children as models, that highlighted various lessons: study the scene before shooting, don't overcrowd the image, and zoom in on details."

Read the entire article here.

Companies developing alternative green energy sources are known for their innovation and out-of-the-box mentality.  New Energy Technologies, a Baltimore-based company, is taking it to the extreme with two new technologies that seem like something from a Sci-Fi film.

Here's an excerpt:

"In the not too distant future, companies may spray the world's tiniest solar cells on office and residential building windows to generate electricity. New Energy Technologies, (OTCBB: NENE), a Baltimore-based firm that is developing the SolarWindow technology, is also working on a MotionPower system that grabs kinetic energy from cars, trucks and buses as they decelerate to enter maintenance facilities, parking areas or drive-in windows.

The company has developed successful prototypes of its technologies. It tested MotionPower, for instance, at a Burger King, a Holiday Inn Express, and a Four Seasons Hotel and is looking for additional test sites with high bus or truck traffic in and out of a facility.

Its SolarWindow technology not only works with sunlight, but also with artificial light, says John Conklin, who recently took the helm as CEO of the company."

Read the entire article here.

The Towson Library has started a new program for small business owners that introduces them to the free services the library offers and teaches them how to use them.

Here's an excerpt:

"The free service offers an hour of one-on-one training to business people on the use of databases, websites and print sources available through the library.

"I highly recommend it for anyone trying to break the ice in the Towson area or even Baltimore County," said Hyson. "It's a great resource. It offered us hundreds of thousand of contacts," he added, "and the driving force is that it was free."

Indeed, some of the databases available at no cost through the Baltimore County Public Library website (bcpl.info) would otherwise cost hundreds of dollars.

Among the offerings are Standard & Poor's NetAdvanatge, a source of business and investment information; Reference USA, a list of 11 million company profiles including addresses, phone numbers, numbers of employees, sales volume and product lines; and Value Line Investment Survey Online, a resource offering information and advice on some 1,700 stocks."


Read the entire article here.

Millennial Media  could soon be part of mobile giant Research in Motion. The Blackberry-maker has been in talks with the mobile advertising company, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

"Under pressure in the increasingly competitive wireless market, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. is shopping for a mobile advertising network, people familiar with the matter said.

In recent months, the Canadian device maker has held talks with Baltimore-based mobile ad network Millennial Media about a potential acquisition, these people said. But the talks have stalled over disagreements regarding the value of Millennial, which serves advertisements on its own network of mobile websites. It also brokers ad sales to a group of other mobile ad networks."


Read the entire article here.

While the local and national economies continue their halting recovery, area vendors report that food service is one sector that's not struggling in the Greater Baltimore Area.

Here's an excerpt:

"Through good economic times or bad, the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., corridor remains a stronghold for the foodservice business, produce vendors in the area say.

It's just a matter of finding the right niche, they add.

Jessup, Md.-based Lancaster Foods Inc. has grabbed ahold of fresh-cut business as its ticket into the foodservice sector.

A move to a new building two years ago prompted the strategic shift, said Jerry Chadwick, vice president of marketing and business development for the company, which built its business on the retail side."

Read the entire article here.

Paul Lebelle and Adam Burkowske, two friends from Baltimore, have hit the middle stages of a cross country bike tour for their Bike Free charity. The idea is to raise $125,000 to purchase bikes and helmets for the children of military personnel.

Here's an excerpt:

"The pair began their ride in Maryland on June 10 and plan to end it with several large fundraisers in mid-October in California. They have been riding about 300 miles a week while carrying 60 pounds of gear on each bike.

Burkowske said Bike Free has connected with Rotary Clubs along their route to help raise money for the cause and has paired with the USO for distribution of the bikes, which they hope to do in December.

Lebelle and Burkowske met five years ago while working in a Baltimore restaurant. Both had given up their vehicles and taken to bicycles, and both were looking for something that would give their life greater purpose.

Burkowske said he had always wanted to walk across the country, doing volunteer work along the way. He shared his dream with Lebelle."

Read the entire article here.

It's one of the bright sides of a struggling economy, entrepreneurs creating new businesses. With credit tight, new business owners in Baltimore are looking beyond the confines of a traditional brick-and-mortar business to other opportunities that require less capital.

Here's an excerpt:

"Street vendors like the Quints are popping up on new corners, with city-inspected stainless steel food carts in tow. At the end of last year and into this summer, applications for street vending licenses shot up, said Alvin Gillard, Baltimore's vendor board chairman. The city still hasn't caught up with processing all of them.

It's not often that a top tier university launches a brand new school. With its new Carey Business School, Johns Hopkins and the school's inaugural dean Yash Gupta are out to redefine the MBA.

Here's an excerpt:

"At Johns Hopkins it will be compulsory for MBA students to work with the department of medicine and public health. For example, business students will have to work with their scientific counterparts to write a business plan and bring a product to market "connecting invention with innovation", as Prof Gupta puts it. "If I am going to pull this together, I've got to have a synergystic school," he says.

Students must spend time in developing countries, such as India, Rwanda, Kenya or Peru, and work in teams on economic development projects, such as introducing a drug delivery system for people with Aids."

Read the entire article here.

Just in case you couldn't make it to the TEDxOilSpill conference held in Washington, D.C., here's what the event's two founders, Dave Troy and Nate Mook, had to say about it.

Here's an excerpt:

"There's sort of this void right now with information coming out of the Gulf," says Nate Mook. "Something catastrophic has happened. Most people don't understand the underlying issues that led to this happening. They're really not aware of the all of the complexities behind their getting into their car and driving � it's brought to the forefront a lot of things that have been on the sidelines for a long time � with our oceans, with how important the marine eco-system is, with where we are getting our energy, what are we putting at risk, and � new technologies being developed."

Read the entire post here.

As cities around the U.S. fight to pull themselves out of ditch dug by the global economic downturn, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and other cities that were built up by a bevy of industrial industries may fare better than those with economies rely heavily on more vulnerable sectors like the housing market.

Here's an excerpt:

"At a recent London School of Economics symposium on U.S. and European cities, Katz said American bubble cities are characterized by "real estate economies built on consumption and excess."

More mature industrial centers, he said, tend to have strong universities and a history of research, innovation and making things. If America is going to "rediscover our innovation mojo," as Katz put it, traditional industrial metros are best equipped to lead the way..."

Read the entire article here.