 Celebrating 2023 Cayuga County Small Business of The Year honoree, Patricia Springer, Owner of Winand Products. In the spring of 2022, our Regional Small Business Development Center implemented what I had hoped would become an annual tradition. We began to recognize small businesses who had been SBDC clients as the small businesses of the year in the counties in which they operate. We timed this recognition to coincide with the US Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week celebration.
Our own Mark Pitonzo sits down with Michael Bower, Owner of Eagle Metalcraft here in Syracuse, to discuss his story, and the journey he followed to acquire and turn around a local manufacturing business.
 September 29, 2023: (From left to right) Sonya Smith, NYSBDC State Director; Shawni Davis, Owner of Luminary Electrical; Bob Griffin, Onondaga SBDC Regional Director. Shawni Davis, owner and operator of Luminary Electrical, received the New York State Small Business Development Center’s 2023 Minority Entrepreneur of the Year Award on Friday, September 29. She was presented the award by Sonya Smith, State Director of the New York Small Business Development Centers. Davis is a client of the Small Business Development Center at Onondaga Community College.
 Finger Lakes Cider House was started in 2014 with just a vision. It has now grown into a thriving organic farm, cider house, farm to table restaurant and even operates a yurt rental for glamping (and plans to grow with more yurts). They offer several different flavors of cider, using all home-grown organic apples specifically for cider. They specialize in the champagne method of cider making.
 Birch Tree Montessori provides comprehensive Montessori education to children ages 3 years to 6 years old. Their school is in Warners, New York. The mission of Birch Tree Montessori is to provide their students with a joyful experience in early learning. They provide guidance to help the children discover their own unique interests and abilities. They encourage their students to grow into independent individuals who achieve their full potential and contribute in a positive manner to society. Also, they offer curriculums with one-on-one and some small group lessons to meet individual levels and needs. In the time since they opened, their school has become so popular that the school now has a waiting list!
 Winand Products manufactures Perfeito, a Brazilian inspired group of spices for poultry, beef and fish. Owner and founder Patricia Springer started the company in 2020 when she was doing a lot of home cooking during the pandemic for her family. Born and raised in Brazil, this mixture of spices was from her mother’s seasoning blend recipes. Ms. Springer lived in Europe for a number of years and worked as a global business executive in the telecom and biotech industries with a proven track record of growing businesses. The combination of her business experience and love for cooking led her during the pandemic to make the decision to produce these spices and start her company. As she was starting the process in 2020, she continued working in her corporate job. But in 2021, she left her corporate role to devote her efforts to Winand Products.
 Man in the Moon Candies, Oswego, NY
Man in the Moon Candies started operations in 2005 as a hobby for owner Amy Stone Lear while she was working a full-time job. Amy’s grandparents had started a candy shop years prior and had a very popular lollipop called “man in the moon”. Hence where the name came from – a nod to that candy and where it all started years before.  Adam Ruszowski, PT, DPT It’s not uncommon for lines from popular movies or songs to find their way into the cultural lexicon. “May the Force be with you,” is one such line. “Hasta la vista, baby,” another.
In terms of business start-ups, however, few lines have become as culturally entrenched, often to disastrous effect, as “If you build it, they will come,” (the actual line is “If you build it, he will come,” but pop culture quickly misquoted the phrase.) Week after week, would-be entrepreneurs walk through my door at the Onondaga SBDC convinced, often without a shred of accompanying research, that their start-up idea is a home run, and they merely need some coaching (and not infrequently, grant funding or unsecured financing), to hit the ball out of the park and round the bases. The fantasy of ready-made markets and effortless success, it seems, has found its way into the American Dream, alongside hot dogs, apple pie, and baseball. Occasionally, however, a bona fide athlete-turned-entrepreneur comes through my door. Such is the case with Adam Ruszowski, PT, DPT.  If one were to look at the playbook for how to set up a successful crowdfunding campaign, Mark Pawliw would check the boxes. And along with Co-owner of Eden Fresh Network (EFN), Leah de Rosa, the two would successfully crowdfund the launch of Eden Fresh Network in May of 2022. Community members from the pairs’ networks, along with public marketing and outreach, resulted in the debt equity raise of $65,750 from 70 investors.
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Empowering Entrepreneurship, Inspiring Success in Central New York.
Cayuga l Cortland l Jefferson l Lewis l Madison l Onondaga l Oswego l Seneca
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Email: [email protected]
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Phone: 315-498-6070
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Onondaga Small Business Development Center. Partnership Program with the SBA, administered by the State University of New York. Funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA. All SBA funded programs are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.
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