Articles by Tony Fuentes

Portland’s food scene continues to grow. While there are many different themes in the culinary expressions of the Rose City, one area of emphasis for many years has been vegetarian fare. The annual VegFest is the central celebration for local vegetarian and vegan food products. This year’s VegFest attracted more than 6,000 people to taste a wide variety of vegetarian delights, and I was one of those more...

When the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act was adopted by Congress earlier this year, the promise of locavesting—locally focused investing—gained a lot of momentum. As noted in our previous article, locavesting holds a lot of promise for small businesses that need capital to grow. The JOBS Act details still need to be ironed out and there are plenty of devils hanging out in those details. But more...

Author Amy Cortese coined the term locavesting in her book Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit from It. Just as locavores focus on foods grown close to home, a locavestor aims to only invest in businesses within 50 miles of his or her doorstep. The emergence of locally focused investing is potentially good news for small businesses that are struggling for the capital needed to grow their more...

Pickathon, Portland’s roots music festival, is always a summer highlight for me. While enjoying workshop concerts by Laura Gibson, The Two Man Gentleman Band, and The Cactus Blossoms at this year’s fest, I found myself focusing on the uniquely stylized microphones being used by the performers. One of my first businesses was a recording studio, so it wasn’t just the attractive look of these mics more...

As previously reported, crowdfunding has gained momentum among small businesses. A direct appeal from a business to its community, prospective customers, and/or concerned individuals for financial support, online crowdfunding platforms like Smallknot and 40billion have made initiating a small business crowdfunding appeal easier than ever. One local church community is flipping crowdfunding onto its head: It got the more...

The flood of contests aimed at small businesses continues. Last month, Chase Bank’s Mission: Small Business made plenty of headlines as its entry deadline neared. The winners of the contest, which promises to award $250,000 to up to 12 small businesses, will be announced in September. Filling the small business contest void until Chase reveals its winners is the final voting stage of the Big Break for Small more...

I follow Mayor Sam Adams on Twitter, which is a nearly impossible task since he tweets at a rate that would cause the thumbs of normal people to seize up and fall off. Regardless, during a recent Sunday Parkways, His Honor tweeted a photo of a uniquely Portland household invention that is being made right here in town: the Kitchen Compost Caddy. Why uniquely Portland? Because in late 2011, Portland initiated a more...

The strength of Portland’s economy is built upon the small business sector. Small employers make up 95 percent of Portland’s business base, and these businesses are built on ideas, savvy and sweat. But, it also takes money—plenty of money. Cash doesn’t come easy to small businesses. Even financing via the Small Business Administration (SBA), which has a mission to support small business more...

Through a series of interviews with successful small business owners, Movers & Makers will introduce you to the people making the goods that are moving our local economy. For this month’s Movers & Makers, Neighborhood Notes connected with one of Portland’s cool treat entrepreneurs, Kevin Bell, founder of Oregon Ice Works. We talked business and left room for dessert. NN: What was the inspiration more...

Teenagers seeking jobs in Portland and across the country are facing another unwelcoming summer job market. Reduced funding for summer employment programs and increased competition from displaced adult workers have greatly reduced job opportunities for youth. As noted in our previous article on youth employment, the benefits of summer youth employment includes improved academic success for students that work during more...