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Global Entrepreneurship Week celebration kicks off today at YBI
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
The door of One Hot Cookie swings open and guests get a whiff of sweet entrepreneurial spirit.
Behind the counter are the mother-and-daughter team who baked up their business a few years ago.
Armed with a sweet tooth, courage and belief, the two became entrepreneurs.
“We just pounced on the opportunities as they came along,” said Bergen Giordani, co-owner of One Hot Cookie with her daughter, Morgen Reamer.
Giordani’s and Reamer’s story of entrepreneurship will be shared this week during the Global Entrepreneurship Week program sponsored by the Youngstown Business Incubator and Youngstown State University’s Williamson College of Business.
Giordani will be speaking during a “Women in Entrepreneurship” panel discussion with two other local female entrepreneurs on Wednesday. Giordani is on the steering committee for YBI’s Women in Entrepreneurship program.
YBI’s events begin today with a talk on “How to be more effective with digital information” in the morning and a lesson on “Business Model Basics” in the evening.
For one week in November, the Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit based in Kansas City, Mo., encourages celebrations of entrepreneurship to inspire future entrepreneurs. This year, 160 countries will celebrate with 115,000 activities.
“Entrepreneurship is the backbone of the country,” said Barb Ewing, chief operations officer at YBI. “It’s a great opportunity to highlight the work we do.”
This is the third year YBI has celebrated Global Entrepreneurship Week with public events.
The new features this year are the discussion with female entrepreneurs and demonstrations from YBI portfolio companies.
“We are talking about some of the challenges and successes that go along with the journey of entrepreneurship,” Giordani said.
Giordani and her daughter, who was in high school at the time, started their business in downtown Youngstown in 2013. They quickly learned that making money is always a challenge.
“There’s a lot of hidden costs,” Giordani said.
So, Giordani said, entrepreneurs should really know the costs when starting a business.
Giordani and Reamer knew marketing was key, so they built a brand with good cookies and a bright atmosphere that people talked about.
“We believe very strongly in the brand and the brand presence,” Giordani said. “We put our logo on everything. In the smaller markets name recognition is huge.”
Within two years, One Hot Cookie expanded, adding a second location in April 2015 in Niles and a third in October 2015 in Boardman. Today, One Hot Cookie employs 25 and has a lengthy menu of speciality cookies that keeps customers coming back and continues to get the business name out there.
Entrepreneurship “keeps the community thriving,” Giordani said.
For information on Global Entrepreneurship Week go to gew.co/.