Companiesfor entrepreneurship / Entrepreneurship

From one employee and one $350,000 project in the company’s first year, Megen Construction has grown to employ 57, posting revenue of more than $40 million. The firm, owned by a native of Nigeria, has been involved in many high-profile Greater Cincinnati projects, including the Fountain Square revitalization, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum and Great American Ball Park.

Started in 2000, Cincinnati-based SparkPeople now claims 3.1 million unique visitors to its site, and says it is the one the most-visited health and medical sites, behind only WebMD, AOL Body and Weight Watchers.

Four alums of Cincinnati TV station WKRC-TV (Channel 12) came together a few years ago and formed I & Eye Productions, a production studio that develops radio and television commercials, corporate videos and other multimedia and has quickly become one of the fastest-growing private companies in Greater Cincinnati.  

AtriCure has developed less invasive and less technically challenging technologies for the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation, a heart ailment that afflicts more than 2 million in the U.S. alone. The use of its surgical devices in other surgeries led to record revenue and growth in 2007.

Candace Kendle started Kendle International as a small, private start-up in 1981.  Today, the firm employs about 3,000, is traded on the Nasdaq exchange, and does business in 90 countries.

In 1994, Jeff Eberlein and Tony Magliano purchased a six-employee graphic design shop and christened it “Strata-G Communications.” Over the last fourteen years they have grown the business to its current ranking as one of Cincinnati’s largest advertising agencies, with more than 60 employees, topped by 20 percent growth in 2007.

Marketing the Pursuit of Happiness is what happens at Barefoot Inc., an agency that works on making consumers passionate about brands and products. Cincinnati-based Barefoot has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies,

making it on to the magazine’s inaugural Inc. 5000 list.
 

Screaming Bob's goal is to make the digital experience richer and more entertaining by adding high-quality voice and sound. The company just in the last year has delivered voice and sound for the Web sites of some major consumer brands: Cheer, Pepto-Bismol, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Evenflo and Sprint. They expect only growth as more consumer brands explore the possibilities of digital media. 

 Big Fat Brain creates original content for the Web that aims to make the interactive experience richer, more creative and more entertaining for clients and consumer brands. They've found a way to take some pretty dull stuff and make it very funny -- and that's why their clients are smiling.