The owners of two businesses in the Mahoning Valley have been selected to be part of a U.S. Small Business Administration program designed to hone their entrepreneurship skills and tap into their potential for growth.

Aundrea Cika Heschmeyer, president of MARQUEE Creatives, a Youngstown-based marketing agency, and Mark Wolanzyk, president of Mr. PC, Inc., a full-service information technology firm in downtown Warren, are part of the latest northeast Ohio cohort of the SBA’s T.H.R.I.V.E. 2024 Emerging Leaders Reimagined.

The program provides entrepreneurship education and training for executives of small, poised-for-growth companies, according to SBA’s website.The seven-month series offers opportunities for small business owners to work with professional coaches and mentors, learn skills needed to grow and develop connections with peers, local leaders and the financial community.

At completion, each participant will present a three-year growth plan that highlights their vision, goal and strategies for lasting growth.

Heschmeyer said acceptance “validates our unique approach to experiential marketing and our commitment to helping visionary entrepreneurs, government buyers, and nonprofit organizations build their brands through captivating experiences and creative marketing.”

The program started in June and ends in December. Along the way, participants meet once a month in Cleveland for class and virtually on Mondays. There is a virtual classroom, too, with training and spin off groups that meet once or twice a month for networking, Wolanzyk said.

“It helps us network our company, so we’re already doing business with 25% of the class,” Wolanzyk said.

There are about 25 participants in northeast Ohio and about 1,200 across the U.S.

“In my case, we are branching out into other states and this helps us with our branch out,” Wolanzyk said. “Part of the program is a three-year growth plan, so you do projections for the next three years and you talk about them with your classmates and you look at different business avenues of what he / she is doing in their company and we give each other feedback.”

For Heschmeyer, the program is helping her make new connections, too.

For example, because the Monday sessions can include participants coast-to-coast, Heschmeyer has connected with a woman in Portland, Oregon, who wants to grow her business, but needs help with marketing.

Also, the program provides for peer interaction with people “who have been there, done that on some things,” Heschmeyer said for her business, a smaller firm.

She founded MARQUEE in 2015. The agency also is an Ohio-certified Minority Business Enterprise, Woman-Owned Business and Economically Disadvantaged Business Enterprise.

In July, the agency won a $5,000 grant as part of the Ohio Minority Business Bootcamp program, a six-month program that covered a range of business development areas, from financing to procurement to accounting to information technology.

Wolanzyk’s Mr. PC has been in business for 26 years, the last eight on Warren’s Courthouse Square.

He went through the SBA’s Emerging Leaders program in 2016 at Youngstown State University, and was asked to participate again in the new T.H.R.I.V.E.version.

Mr. PC is also a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, a multi-week business education and development program.

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