Fuse News

By Leslee Hill, Director, WEOC Women’s Business Center (WBC) at NIIC Since 2007, the number of women-owned firms has grown at five times the national average, with 1,072 new women-owned firms starting every day,” according to CNBC.com. Also, women have started more businesses than men. Harvard Business Review states that 7% of Black women start or run new businesses daily. Northeast Indiana […]

Life as a founder can be a lonely place. But what if it wasn’t? What if you had an established local businessperson in your corner? Someone who could share ideas, business connections, or a word of encouragement? That’s what the Bridge Program does: it helps founders bridge the gap between startup and success. How it […]

SEED Fort Wayne and IFF Hosting CDFI Event Fort Wayne, Indiana – The City of Fort Wayne’s Summit City Entrepreneur & Enterprise District (SEED)will host the first Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) educational networking event on Monday, March 20, from 4:00 -6:00 p.m. at Parkview Field, 1301 Ewing Street, Fort Wayne. The free event will […]

By Jeffrey Moore, Chapter Chair, SCORE Northeast Indiana SCORE is a not-for-profit organization, partially funded by the SBA, that assists small business owners start and /or grow their businesses. SCORE provides vast resources both online and in-person, including workshops, articles, and access to mentors. Mentors provide a cost-free, impactful resource to entrepreneurs wanting to start […]

What: A Fuse NEI networking event for the entrepreneurial community focused on financial resources. Light refreshments will be provided. When: Thursday, March 16, 5:00 -7:00 p.m. Where: The Dream Center, 1615 Wallace Street, Fort Wayne Who: Entrepreneurs, community leaders, financial institutions, entrepreneurial support organizations Register:Fuse @ 5 Tickets, Thu, Mar 16, 2023 at 5:00 PM […]

Isaac Fincher, 29, and his siblings are proud products the city’s South side. They went to Prince Chapman Academy, then to South Side High School. “We grew up in the church,” Fincher says, noting that his father, Isaac R. Fincher, was and still is a pastor, now at the Eleventh Missionary Baptist Church in the […]

The phrase flipping a house doesn’t speak to the artist in Sergio Perez De Leon, owner of Leon Properties Enterprise, a business that buys, renovates, and sells homes in Fort Wayne. “When you say the word flip, it sounds like a quick turnaround,” De Leon said. “I like to renovate, to bring houses back to […]

Homemade pie. If that brings to mind tempting smells and mouthwatering taste, you’re not alone. “Because pie is meant to be shared,” as the tagline for Bakerson Pie Co. says. Owner Angela Harrison credits her great-great-aunt for setting the baking standard she follows, but the recipes are hers. All of the pies are homemade and […]

During General Motor’s shutdown due to COVID-19, Janice Hodges of Fort Wayne came to a life-altering conclusion. “I thought: There has to be more to life than this,” she says. Hodges has been working for GM for 32 years. While she’s thankful for the position, she’s known for a long time now that it wasn’t […]

Stephanie Ruiz grew up in a large Latino family in California. On holidays, the women in her family would spend hours together in the kitchen, making tamales. “I loved it because you’d hear stories and learn about your family,” Ruiz says. When she was 10-years-old, her immediate family moved to Fort Wayne for her father’s […]