From gilding to apps, 11 Maine entrepreneurs are getting set to launch businesses

Photo / Courtesy New Ventures Maine From left, six Venturing Forth graduates Jason Simms, Tessa Anable, Micheline Ngwinutete, Megan Strackbein, Laura Bramley, Jessica Penn; New Ventures microenterprise program manager Alicia LaFosse, MTI’s Emily Braley, UMA president Jen Cushman, NVME microenterprise specialist Gina Platt. Not pictured: Melissa Anderson, Rob Madden, Conny Terrio, Hannah Tufts.

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By Laurie Schreiber

Graphic design, murals and signs, transportation, gold gilding, children’s play and books, custom hand drums, app-based calculators, interior design.

Those are just a handful of the ideas shaped up into business plans by 11 nascent entrepreneurs who completed the latest business planning class offered by New Ventures Maine in Brunswick.

In-person and virtual participants in the eight-week Venturing Forth class hailed from western, midcoast and southern Maine.

Small-biz clout

Venturing Forth is designed to help entrepreneurs and current business owners create a written business plan, with feedback from facilitators and co-entrepreneurs. Course topics include customer base, competition, marketing, recordkeeping, taxes, financing and legal aspects.

The class was funded in part by Maine Technology Institute.

“In 2024, small businesses and entrepreneurs employed 54.5% of Maine’s workforce and between 2023 and 2024, 98.5% of Maine’s net job growth was driven by small businesses,” said. Emily Braley, the institutes’ Maine Entrepreneurial Resource Corps coordinator who spoke at a graduation ceremony last week.

New Ventures, a statewide education and economic development program of the University of Maine at Augusta, provides classes and individual coaching in planning careers, starting businesses and managing money.

In July, the course graduated four entrepreneurs who said they intend to launch restaurant, handmade jewelry, photography and storage businesses across the state in the coming months:

Cary Kerr: Marley’s Best Hugz Cafe and Montgomery Storage
Salina Paktipat: FeatherStone Gifts
Titi Balogun: Jollof & Spice
Sally Lehtinen: Pawsitively Yours photography