Erlanger-based Heritage Bank is partnering with Ocean Programs, a Cincinnati-based business accelerator, to expand access to Ocean’s entrepreneurship training program.
Heritage launches the Heritage Bank / Chris Caddell Scholarship Fund with a $ 30,000 equivalent grant. The fund honors Christopher B. “Chris” Caddell, the former CEO of Heritage Bank, died in April 2020 at the age of 53. He was the son of the founder of the Heritage Bank, Arnold E. Caddell, Jr.
The Heritage Bank aims to expand access to Ocean’s programs and services People who are currently underrepresented in the local business community.
The $ 30,000 donation will be used to provide grants to low- to middle-income entrepreneurs to help cover part of the cost of the program’s enrollment fees, the bank said. Priority is given to minority women and entrepreneurs.
“Economies that provide opportunity for a variety of talented, passionate people are the economies that are most successful in the long run,” said H. David Wallace, CEO of Heritage.
Ocean is a faith-based accelerator and entrepreneurship center. It was founded as a non-profit in 2014 and opened its accelerator in 2015. Uses more than doubled in the following year, with 33% coming from countries outside the US and 40% from states outside Ohio.
The Genesis program combines business training, mentoring, inspiration and coaching over a period of eight weeks. This is followed by six months of group-based mentoring.
As of 2017, more than 200 entrepreneurs have participated in the program, and more than 85% of those graduates have started or expanded their business, it says.
Heritage Bank was founded in 1990 by a group of local business people who were concerned about shrinking access to community banks that traditionally serve the needs of local consumer and commercial banks. The Heritage Bank has 19 branches and is still family-owned.
In 2019, it acquired the naming rights for Cincinnati’s Riverfront Arena, formerly US Bank Arena.
