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News Releases November 18, 2021 “The Next Great Idea” 2021 Business Plan Competition Winners Announced
“It was a great honor to present our fifth NGI awards on National Entrepreneur’s Day,” said Austin Wheelock, NGI chair and Deputy Director of Operation Oswego County. “Entrepreneurs and small business are the backbone of our economy and the building blocks for growth in our county. We believe that these three businesses are excellent examples of this and will be great ambassadors of the ‘Next Great Idea’ for Oswego County.” The $50,000 First Place Winner, Six Acres Farm Brewery, founded by Jenna Behling and head brewer Denyel Busch in Mexico, NY, is the first niche craft brewing company of its kind to develop fruit infused beers with locally grown fruit and proprietary methods to create naturally full flavored fruit ale beverages. Already producing 13 unique recipes on site at Behling Orchards, the owners see a great opportunity to capitalize on growing the fledgling craft beverage industry in Oswego County and building on our existing agri-tourism assets. “We are extremely grateful for the opportunities that NGI has given our business and are excited to get started on expanding Six Acres Farm Brewery”, said Jenna Behling from Six Acres Farm Brewery. “Winning the NGI will open up the possibility for us to increase our brewing production and expand our brewery. This will be highly beneficial as we plan to open a tasting room in the area.” The second place winner of $25,000 value in cash and business services was North 40 Clover On Site Hydraulic Hose Repair & Fabrication, a start-up created by James Macklen from Lacona who will utilize the NGI prize to expand his mobile hydraulic repair and fabrication business that services many industries including manufacturing, mining, road plowing, agriculture, trucking and logging operations around Oswego County and the north country. This mobile business is especially needed in rural areas where extended downtime due to distance from repair services can be catastrophic to business. Mr. Macklen sees multiple future opportunities to expand in this industry that the NGI prize would allow him to accomplish. The third place winner of $15,000 value in cash and business services was Moth & Flame Base Camp, a unique concept “glamping” business developed by co-founders Amanda McLaughlin and Paula Barreto to allow visitors to stay, play and support local business in the beautiful outdoors of Oswego County while having a unique and secure stay and experience in a vintage recreational vehicle, airstream and eclectic structure “glampground”. The business will utilize social media and technology platforms to market to the quickly growing target segment of “glampers”. The co-founders will use the prize towards developing distinctive fully furnished basecamps in a scenic location that will complement the growing outdoor recreation and event tourism industry in Oswego County. Judges for this year’s event were selected based on their local business knowledge and expertise in the fields of operations, management, financing, and entrepreneurship. Those judges were Ed Alberts, local entrepreneur and former winner of NGI; Mike Backus of Oswego Health; Rich Burritt of Burritt Motors; Allen Chase of Chase Enterprises, Nate Emmons, County Legislator; Karen Goetz of the Richard S. Shineman Foundation; Keiko Kimura of Cayuga Community College Fulton Campus; Kevin LaMontagne of Operation Oswego County; Liz Lonergan of the Watertown Small Business Development Center; and Tim McKernan of EJ USA. “The $90,000 value in cash and business service prizes was raised in partnership with local companies, private banks, business organizations, and public and private institutions that see the importance in making an investment in Oswego County’s future entrepreneurs and economy,” Wheelock said. Sponsors included the Richard S. Shineman Foundation, Advance Media NY, Operation Oswego County, SUNY Oswego, Lake Ontario Event & Conference Center, Small Business Development Center at SUNY Oswego, Pathfinder Bank, National Grid, C&S Companies, Greater Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce, Chirello Advertising, Kyle Ridlon Productions and Oswego County Business Magazine. In addition to Wheelock, the NGI Steering Committee includes Pamela Caraccioli, Fulton Savings Bank; Steve Chirello, Chirello Advertising; John Halleron, SUNY Oswego Small Business Development Center; Katie Toomey, Greater Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce; Evelyn LiVoti, Operation Oswego County; Ron G. Tascarella, Pathfinder Bank; John Trimble, C&S Companies; Tim Stahl, City of Oswego Community & Economic Development Office; and Garrette Weiss, Center for Instruction, Technology and Innovation. For more information, visit the web site at www.oswegocounty.org/NGI/index.htm or contact Austin Wheelock by phone at 315-343-1545 or by email at awheelock@oswegocounty.org. October 26, 2021 Three Finalists Selected for 2021 Next Great Idea Oswego County Business Plan Competition Six Acres Farm Brewery, Moth & Flame Base Camp and North 40 Clover have been selected as the three finalists for the 2021 Next Great Idea Oswego County Business Plan Competition- it was announced by Austin Wheelock, Chair of the NGI steering committee. On November 12, each finalist will give a 20-minute presentation on their business plan in-person to the panel of local judges. On November 16, a luncheon and awards ceremony announcing the winner will be held at The Lake Ontario Event and Conference Center, Oswego. “November 16 will mark the culmination of the 2021 Next Great Idea Oswego County Business Plan Competition,” Wheelock said. “This year’s Finalists have worked extremely hard to position themselves to win a share of prize money and business services totaling $90,000 to be used towards developing their business ventures here in Oswego County.” Finalist Six Acres Farm Brewing, founded by Jenna Behling and head brewer Denyel Busch in Mexico, NY, is the first niche craft brewing company of its kind to develop fruit infused beers with locally grown fruit and proprietary methods to create naturally full flavored fruit ale beverages. Already producing 13 unique recipes, the business would utilize the NGI funds to scale up production, acquire canning equipment for distribution, and develop a tasting room on-site. The founders see a great opportunity to capitalize on growing the fledgling wine and craft beverage industry in Oswego County with this business and their ambitious future plans. Finalist Moth & Flame Basecamp, a unique concept “glamping” business developed by co-founders Amanda McLoughlin and Paula Barreto, would allow visitors to stay, play and support local business in the beautiful outdoor landscapes of Oswego County while having a unique and secure stay and experience in a vintage recreational vehicle, airstream and eclectic structure glampground. It would utilize social media and technology booking platforms to market to the quickly growing target segment of “glampers”. If funded, this business would develop distinctive fully furnished basecamps in a scenic location that would complement the growing outdoor recreation and event tourism industry in Oswego County. North 40 Clover: Onsite Hydraulic Hose Fabrication & Repair, a start-up created by James Macklen from Lacona, would utilize the NGI prize to expand his mobile hydraulic repair and fabrication business that services many industries including manufacturing, mining, road plowing, agriculture and logging operations around Oswego County and the north country. This mobile service is especially needed in rural areas where extended downtime can be catastrophic to business. Mr. Macklen envisions several strategic opportunities to expand in this industry that the NGI prize would allow him to accomplish. This year’s Next Great Idea competition received 24 submissions with innovative ideas ranging from advanced manufacturing to craft brewing to specialized services and tourism. These ideas were all from local and regional entrepreneurs who would like to develop or expand their business in Oswego County. To be eligible to drawdown funding and services, the participants are required to use the funding to start or expand their business in Oswego County. Some of the anticipated outcomes from this year’s and future NGI competitions include, but are not limited to: developing a culture of innovation and entrepreneurism in Oswego county; improving the quality of life for the community by bringing innovative and needed businesses and services to Oswego County; fighting the ‘brain drain’ by encouraging the best and brightest to stay here; creating new job opportunities and markets; and expanding the tax base. The cash and business services prizes were raised in partnership with local companies, charitable foundations, and public and private institutions that see the importance in making an investment in Oswego County’s economic future. Financial and in-kind sponsors include: Richard S. Shineman Foundation, Operation Oswego County, Advance Media NY, C&S Companies, SUNY Oswego, Small Business Development Center at SUNY Oswego, Pathfinder Bank, National Grid, Centerstate CEO, Greater Oswego Fulton Chamber of Commerce, Broadwell Hospitality Group, Chirello Advertising, and the Oswego County Business Magazine.” The Next Great Idea web site, www.oswegocounty.org/NGI/index.htm, includes an overview of the event, a competition timeline, guidelines, details on the $90,000 value in total prizes, sponsors, partners and contact information. In addition, the cash prizes can potentially be leveraged to borrow up to 10 times their value in partnership with local banks, the Oswego County Industrial Development Agency, the cities of Oswego and Fulton community development offices, the U.S. Small Business Administration, New York Business Development Corporation and other economic development agencies. For more information about the Next Great Idea Oswego County Business Plan Competition, visit the web site at www.oswegocounty.org/NGI/index.htm, or contact NGI Chair Austin Wheelock by email at awheelock@oswegocounty.org. August 5, 2021 14 Businesses Compete for $90,000 in Prizes The Next Great Idea (NGI) competition kicked off in spring 2021 when entrepreneurs submitted 24 business concept proposals ranging from manufacturing, biotechnology, mobile app development, hospitality, agritourism, micro brewing, retail, and specialized services. Of those, 14 semi-finalists have been invited to continue to the second phase, developing a full business plan. In September, they will submit their business plans which include a full business narrative along with financial projections to NGI’s panel of 10 judges to determine who will be selected as the finalists to compete in the final round of the competition this November. The winners of NGI will be announced at an awards luncheon to follow at the Lake Ontario Event and Conference Center. “The Next Great Idea is the result of business and community leaders joining together to launch a competition that encourages entrepreneurs to commit to new business development in Oswego County and offers cash and other prizes totaling $90,000 to help make several entrepreneurs dreams come true,” Austin Wheelock, deputy director of Operation Oswego County and NGI chairperson, said. The semi-finalists still competing in the Next Great Idea Oswego County Business Plan Competition are:
In addition to awarding $90,000 in cash and services to the winners, some of the anticipated outcomes from the Next Great Idea program include: developing a culture of innovation and entrepreneurism in Oswego County; improving the quality of life for the community by bringing innovative and needed businesses and services to Oswego County; fighting the ‘brain drain’ by encouraging the best and brightest to stay local; creating new job opportunities and markets; and expanding the tax base. “We’ve designed the NGI program in a way to benefit all the participants involved, not just the ultimate winner of the competition. If we have several finalist prize winners come out of this, plus many other bankable, feasible business plans with confident entrepreneurs then everyone wins, especially Oswego County,” Wheelock said. The Next Great Idea competition, originally started in 2008, has awarded four winners to date and has grown from a $25,000 winner-take-all competition to multiple winners with $90,000 in total prizes. The overall winner of the 2021 NGI competition will receive $50,000 cash toward starting or expanding their business in Oswego County. Second prize is $10,000 in cash and $15,000 in business services and third prize is $5,000 cash and $10,000 in business services. Support for NGI comes from the Richard S. Shineman Foundation, Operation Oswego County, Inc., Advance Media NY, C&S Companies, Pathfinder Bank, the SUNY Oswego Business Resource Center, the Greater Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce, National Grid and Chirello Advertising. The competition website, www.oswegocounty.org/NGI/index.htm, includes an overview of the event, a competition timeline, guidelines, sponsors, and contact information. May 20, 2021 Judges Reviewing Business Concept Proposals for 2021 Next Great Idea Oswego County Business Plan Competition The first phase deadline has passed and this year’s panel of judges are now reviewing 24 business concept proposals submitted to the 2021 Next Great Idea (NGI) Oswego County Business Plan Competition, according to Austin Wheelock, Deputy Director for Operation Oswego County and Chair of NGI. “The Next Great Idea is the result of business and community leaders joining together to launch a competition that encourages entrepreneurs to commit to new business development in Oswego County and offer cash and other prizes totaling $90,000 to help make several entrepreneurs dreams come true,” Wheelock said. Judges for this year’s competition are Ed Alberts, owner of Riverwalk Oswego and a former winner of NGI; Mike Backus of Oswego Health; Rich Burritt of Burritt Motors; Allen Chase of Chase Enterprises; Nate Emmons, County Legislator; Karen Goetz of the Richard S. Shineman Foundation; The deadline to submit business concept proposals for the first phase of the 2021 NGI Competition was April 30, 2021. The entire competition consists of three phases. The next phase will require semi-finalists, selected from phase one, to develop full business plans. In the third phase, finalists will make their “pitch” in person to the panel of judges. This year, the judges will be tasked with selecting three winners. The overall winner will receive $50,000 towards implementing their business plan. The second and third place winners will receive prizes valuing $25,000 and $15,000, in cash and in-kind services, respectively. All participants will receive written feedback from the panel of judges on how to improve their business proposal through each phase of the competition. “We’ve designed the NGI program in a way to benefit all the participants involved, not just the ultimate winner of the competition,” Austin Wheelock, Deputy Director of Operation Oswego County and NGI Chairperson, said. “If we have several finalist prize winners come out of this, plus many other bankable, feasible business plans with confident entrepreneurs then everyone wins, especially Oswego County.” In addition, the prizes can potentially be leveraged to borrow up to $500,000 through our partnerships with local banks, the Oswego County Industrial Development Agency, the cities of Oswego and Fulton community development offices, and the U.S. Small Business Administration. “The NGI partnership believes that Oswego County offers a wealth of resources and opportunities for businesses to start and flourish here. We are all extremely excited to see the great ideas the competition participants generate turn into viable business opportunities,” Wheelock said. The competition web site, www.oswegocounty.org/NGI/index.htm, includes an overview of the event, a competition timeline, application guidelines, sponsors, and contact information. April 23, 2021 Last Call for Submissions in Next Great Idea Oswego County Business Plan Competition The deadline for submitting proposals to “The Next Great Idea Oswego County Business Plan Competition” (NGI) is a week away on April 30th. The business plan competition is open to all entrepreneurs with a new business concept and existing businesses looking to add a new product or service. Examples of eligible businesses include restaurants, stores, service businesses, tech based businesses, businesses manufacturing a product- practically any business as long as the proposed business will be based in Oswego County. The competition consists of three phases, with the first phase being a business concept proposal briefly explaining the idea due on April 30th. From there, semi-finalists will be selected by a panel of local judges to submit full business plans by September 1st, and then the finalists will be chosen to present to the judges in person on November 5th. Participation in the competition is $25 per entry and there is free business planning technical assistance throughout the process to all participants from the Small Business Development Center in Oswego, NY. The first place winner will be announced in November and will receive $50,000 towards implementing their business plan. The second and third place finalists will also receive $25,000 and $15,000 of value in cash and in-kind services respectively. All participants will receive written feedback from the panel of judges on how to improve their business proposal. “We’ve designed the NGI program in a way to benefit all the participants involved, not just the ultimate winner of the competition,” Austin Wheelock, Deputy Director of Operation Oswego County and NGI Chairperson, said. “If we have several finalist prize winners come out of this, plus many other bankable, feasible business plans with confident entrepreneurs then everyone wins, especially Oswego County.” The competition website, www.oswegocounty.org/NGI/index.htm, includes an overview of the event, a competition timeline, application guidelines, sponsors, and contact information. April 9, 2021 Oswego County looks to local businesses for the ‘Next Great Idea’ “The Next Great Idea Oswego County Business Plan Competition” (NGI) is calling for entries for the 2021 competition, which will give away $90,000 in prizes. The competition is accepting Business Concept Proposals now through April 30. “We’re excited this year to offer $50,000 in seed capital to the overall winner and the second and third place winners will receive a combination of seed capital and in-kind business services worth $25,000 and $15,000 respectively,” said NGI Chairperson Austin Wheelock, deputy director for Operation Oswego County (OOC). “We feel growing the competition in this way will help attract even bigger and better ideas to the competition and show the region and beyond that we are serious about encouraging entrepreneurship in Oswego County,” said Wheelock. NGI Oswego County Business Plan Competition began in 2008 when economic development officials joined business and community leaders to develop a program to encourage entrepreneurship and help business startups gain access to capital. “We knew we had a lot of great business ideas in the community but the recurring obstacle we kept finding when trying to assist businesses was a lack of equity for companies to get off the ground or to go to a bank and obtain traditional financing,” Wheelock said. “We were losing companies and talented entrepreneurs to locations that had these types of programs and cultures of entrepreneurship in place.” Today, entrepreneurship thrives as evidenced by the competition’s recent winners, which include Wired Telcom, an IT and communications installer and service provider specializing in franchise businesses. “We are thrilled to have been selected for the $50,000 Next Great Idea award and will use it to grow our team with local job opportunities and training for installers and IT support professionals,” said WIRED Telecom’s Ed Alberts in 2018. Other winners include: ArcoArt in 2014, Lakeside Artisans Cooperative in 2010 and Ocean Blue Technology, LLC, in 2008. For entrants, the competition consists of three phases, starting with the Business Concept Proposal due April 30. During the second phase, judges will select semi-finalists to develop full business plans due in September. The competition culminates with entrepreneurs making their “pitch” to a panel of judges consisting of local bankers, entrepreneurs, business service professionals and investors in November. Businesses that submit ideas not selected will get feedback on how to improve their proposals along with referrals to partner organizations that can help. Supporters of this year’s competition include Advance Media New York, the Richard S. Shineman Foundation, Operation Oswego County, Inc., C&S Companies, Chirello Advertising, Greater Oswego Fulton Chamber of Commerce, Pathfinder Bank, SUNY Oswego, and CiTi BOCES. For more information, visit http://www.oswegocounty.org/NGI/index.htmor contact NGI Chair Austin Wheelock at 315-343-1545 or at ngioswegocounty@gmail.com. April 3, 2021 'Next Great Idea' Featured on NewsChannel9's 'Newsmakers' Show
PHOTO CAPTION: The Next Great Idea: 2021 Oswego County Business Plan Competition" (NGI) and economic development in Oswego County was the subject of the April 2 broadcast of Newsmakers on Newschannel9 hosted by Dan Cummings. Cummings, far left, interviews Pam Caraccioli, deputy to the president for external partnerships and economic development at SUNY Oswego and Austin Wheelock, deputy director for Operation Oswego County, Inc. The show can be seen in its entirety online at Localsyr.com. Entries for this year's competition for a new business or business expansion in Oswego County, which culminates with $50,000 awarded to the winner, are being accepted through April 30. For more information, visit the web site at www.oswegocounty.org/NGI/index.htm or by email at ngioswegocounty@gmail.com. VIDEO: Click image to view video. February 5, 2021 Oswego County's 'Next Great Idea' Call for Entries “The Next Great Idea Oswego County Business Plan Competition” (NGI) is calling for entries for this year’s competition which culminates with $80,000 in prizes, said NGI Chairperson Austin Wheelock, deputy director for Operation Oswego County (OOC). The NGI competition will begin accepting Business Concept Proposals now through April 30th, 2021. The Next Great Idea Oswego County Business Plan Competition began in 2008 when economic development officials along with business and community leaders came together to develop a program to encourage entrepreneurship and develop a solution for a problem many businesses find when getting started- access to seed capital. “We knew we had a lot of great business ideas in the community but the recurring obstacle we kept finding when trying to assist businesses was a lack of equity or companies to get off the ground or to go to a bank and obtain traditional financing,” Wheelock added. “We were losing companies and talented entrepreneurs to locations that had these types of programs and cultures of entrepreneurship in place.” The most recent NGI competition winner, Wired Telcom, an IT and communications installer and service provider specializing in franchise businesses, was awarded $50,000 in 2018. Other winners include ArcoArt, who won the 2014 competition, Lakeside Artisans Cooperative in 2010, and Ocean Blue Technology, LLC, in 2008. Lakeside Artisans, now known as Riverside Artisans, is a for-profit art cooperative that has developed a retail showcase in Oswego’s downtown Canal Commons to promote local artwork and artisans’ crafts. “We’re excited this year to offer $50,000 in seed capital to the overall winner. The second and third place winners will receive a combination of seed capital and in-kind business services worth $20,000 and $10,000, respectively. We feel growing the competition in this way will help attract even bigger and better ideas to the competition and show the region and beyond that we are serious about encouraging entrepreneurship in Oswego County.” The entire competition will consist of three phases, starting with the Business Concept Proposal which will be due by April 30, 2021. From these, judges will select semi-finalists to move on to develop full business plans due in September 2021. The NGI competition culminates with the selected finalists making their “pitch” to a panel of judges in November 2021. The judging panel will be composed of local bankers, entrepreneurs, business service professionals, and investors. Ideas that are not selected will receive written feedback from the judges of how to improve their proposals for the future and referrals to other programs and organizations that could assist based on their needs. “We’ve designed the NGI program in a way to benefit all the participants involved, not just the ultimate winners of the competition,” Wheelock said. “If we not only have three prize winners come out of this, but also many other bankable, feasible business plans with confident entrepreneurs then everyone wins, especially Oswego County.” NGI is funded in part by the Richard S. Shineman Foundation as well as financial and in-kind contributions from many other local businesses, organizations, and individuals. The mission of the Richard S. Shineman Foundation is to be a Catalyst for Change to enhance the quality of life in Oswego County. The Foundation will use its resources to stimulate economic vitality, to encourage strong bonds that strengthen the community, and to build the capacity of its not-for-profit partners. In addition, the seed capital can potentially be leveraged to borrow up to $250,000 in partnership with local banks, Operation Oswego County, Inc., the Oswego County Industrial Development Agency, the cities of Oswego and Fulton community development offices, and other partner economic development agencies. The competition web site, http://www.oswegocounty.org/NGI/index.htm, includes an overview of the event, competition timeline, application guidelines, sponsors, partners and contact information. For more information, NGI Chair Austin Wheelock can be contacted at 315-343-1545 or at ngioswegocounty@gmail.com. |
Six Acres Farm Brewery, North 40 Clover, and Moth & Flame Base Camp were named the 2021 “Next Great Idea” (NGI) Oswego County Business Competition winners at a reception held Tuesday, November 16th, at The Lake Ontario Event & Conference Center in Oswego. The winning businesses received cash and business services totaling $90,000 in value to expand their business in Oswego County.