Entrepreneurship - Providence Business News

GUIDING LIGHT: Erica Davies got her boutique travel firm, The Well Traveled Soul LLC, off the ground in 2022 after years of working in corporate America. She calls the business “my baby.”  PBN PHOTO/ DAVE HANSEN

She’s on a journey curating trips for clients

Business Women 02/13/2026

Erica Davies’ heart belongs to Cranston. “It’s the center of the universe,” she said. “I’m super proud to have grown up there. I live...

Jennifer Hoffman / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

Five Questions With: Jennifer Hoffman

5Q 11/07/2025

Jennifer Hoffman | Executive director, New England Medical Innovation Center 1. What are your initial goals for NEMIC as you step into the executive...

FAMILY ATMOSPHERE: Mery Polanco, left, owner and director of Nery’s Land Learning Center, and teaching assistant Felipa Ponte, third from right, work with kids at the day care center in Pawtucket. PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Everybody’s Business: Day care offers kids a sense of belonging

Education 10/10/2025

(Editor’s note: This is the 62nd installment in a monthly series speaking with minority business owners and leaders. Each will be asked their views...

Constance Ferber

Business Services 07/18/2025

PBN 40 Under Forty Awards 2025 CONSTANCE FERBER | 36 Chief impact officer, Social Enterprise Greenhouse What is the biggest challenge currently facing your industry and...

STAY THE COURSE: Marcelo Mejía used to teach student drivers by using his personal car. That was before he launched Mejía’s Driving School LLC. Now the company owns several vehicles and has five instructors who are bilingual.  PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Everybody’s Business: Entrepreneur finds himself in driver’s seat

Entrepreneurship 07/04/2025

(Editor’s note: This is the 59th installment in a monthly series speaking with minority business owners and leaders. Each will be asked their views...

Is entrepreneurship a viable tool to alleviate poverty?

Commentary 12/20/2024

Nearly 1 in 5 people in the world lives in poverty. Even in many developed countries such as the U.S., poverty rates exceed 12%. As...

MARY GIFFORD, a Providence College senior, opened back in April "Friartown's Closet," a student-run thrift store on the college's campus that is separate from PC's main business operations. / COURTESY MARY GIFFORD VIA INSTAGRAM

Providence College student keeps community clothed with ‘Friartown’s Closet’

Business Services 12/09/2024

PROVIDENCE – Fast fashion has become quite the trend with students at Providence College, and Mary Gifford picked up on that right away when...

STYLE GUIDE: Interior designer Linda Greco of Linlocks Finds and Designs visits the showroom at Dal-Tile Services Inc. in Warwick, where she often gets materials for kitchen and bathroom remodeling projects.  PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

She used creative instinct to craft a design-build firm

Business Services 10/11/2024

Anyone who’s building a new house, redoing a kitchen, even freshening up a lowly mudroom knows the process all seems straightforward until it’s time...

Rise of the side hustle in today’s economy

Advice 07/19/2024

The landscape of entrepreneurship has undergone a remarkable transformation. The surge in new business formations in recent years speaks volumes about the evolving entrepreneurial...