{"id":32847,"date":"2025-07-02T14:57:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T14:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/32847\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T14:57:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T14:57:14","slug":"2-local-entrepreneurs-win-2025-boston-public-market-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/32847\/","title":{"rendered":"2 local entrepreneurs win 2025 Boston Public Market competition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"a-term a-term--primary\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boston.com\/tag\/business\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBusiness\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tThe women- and minority-owned businesses will receive one year of free rent as vendors at the Downtown Boston marketplace.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"768\" height=\"432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2025-Forum-Winners-Lisa-Murray-and-Cheryl-Cronin-6863f6a073de6-768x432.jpg\" class=\"attachment-16:9 size-16:9 wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\tFrom left to right: Lisa Murray, Massachusetts President at Citizens; Silpa Pande, owner of Melt in Your Mouth; Aelen Unan, owner of Ninawa Zero Waste Clothes; and Cheryl Cronin, CEO of Boston Public Market. (Photo courtesy of Boston Public Market)\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"m-article-header__author\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy <a class=\"a-link a-link--inline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boston.com\/author\/annie-jonas\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Annie Jonas<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJuly 1, 2025 | 1:01 PM\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>2 minutes to read<\/p>\n<p>The Boston Public Market revealed the winners of its third annual Entrepreneurship Forum Incubator Competition last week, which was supported by Citizens Bank.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After completing a comprehensive six-seminar series and participating in a competitive pitch contest, two local women- and minority-owned businesses will now have the chance to sell their products rent-free at the Market. An honorable mention was also given to another deserving business.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"t-amp__list a-list--no-style m-article-list m-article-list--recirculation m-article-list--has-images \">\n<li class=\"m-article-list__item m-article-list__item--featured\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"m-article-list__link-wrapper\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boston.com\/food\/food-news\/2025\/04\/23\/boston-public-market-usa-today\/?p1=article_recirc_inline_feature\" data-p1=\"article_recirc_inline_feature\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/BPL-680946709bcb0-768x432.jpeg\" class=\"t-amp__list-image m-article-list__image m-article-list__image--full wp-post-image\" alt=\"Boston Public Market\" aria-hidden=\"true\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston has one of the country\u2019s best public markets, according to USA Today readers\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cThese innovative entrepreneurs are not only creating valuable products \u2014 they\u2019re building vibrant communities through sustainability, creativity, and dedication. We\u2019re thrilled to partner with Citizens and offer these talented business owners the platform to grow, connect, and thrive,\u201d Cheryl Cronin, CEO of the Boston Public Market, said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ninawa.zerowasteclothes\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ninawa Zero Waste Clothes<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/meltinyourmouthboston.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Melt in Your Mouth<\/a> were selected as this year\u2019s winners, receiving up to a year of free rent to sell their products at the Boston Public Market.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Founded by Aelen Unan, Ninawa Zero Waste Clothes is a sustainable upcycling business stemming from Aelen\u2019s experience in a women\u2019s shelter while facing homelessness in 2019. The business specializes in turning unwanted textiles \u2014 such as curtains, sheets, and old clothes \u2014 into eco-friendly products like tote bags, aprons, tea towels, and other kitchen accessories.<\/p>\n<p>Melt in Your Mouth, founded by Silpa Pande, is a woman-owned business that specializes in handcrafted, all-natural desserts made with locally sourced, seasonal ingredients. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DJH4tckx0Cr\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\"\/>\n<p>Born from Silpa\u2019s desire to create healthy, lactose-free treats for her infant, the business quickly expanded into a broader mission: offering desserts made from real, clean ingredients \u2014 free from preservatives, artificial colors, and high-fructose corn syrup. Their product line includes a variety of flavors, from traditional vanilla to more globally-inspired offerings like rose cardamom. Melt in Your Mouth will be popping up weekly at the Market starting in the fall of 2025.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wickedbess.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wicked Bess<\/a>, a minority-owned business specializing in fruit vinegar drink mixers was awarded honorable mention. As a result, they will have the opportunity to host pop-up events at the Market.<\/p>\n<p>Launched in 2022 in partnership with Citizens, the Entrepreneurship Forum is a two-part program designed to promote education, access, and opportunity for women- and minority-owned small businesses. This year\u2019s cohort featured 24 small businesses \u2014 of which nearly 85% were women-owned and over 61% were minority-owned. These businesses participated in workshops covering crucial topics such as financial literacy, business development, and effective go-to-market strategies.<\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead, the fourth annual Entrepreneurship Forum powered by Citizens will launch in the fall of 2025. Applications opened on June 26, 2025, with a deadline of September 8, 2025. Interested entrepreneurs can apply through the Boston Public Market website at <a href=\"http:\/\/bostonpublicmarket.org\/entrepreneurship\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bostonpublicmarket.org\/entrepreneurship<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cropped-IMG_2875-671fb6f808237-671fb70325313.jpg\" alt=\"Profile image for Annie Jonas\"\/>\t<\/p>\n<p>Annie Jonas is a Community writer at Boston.com. She was previously a local editor at Patch and a freelancer at the Financial Times.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the Today newsletter<\/p>\n<p class=\"m-generic-cta__subtitle\">Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Business The women- and minority-owned businesses will receive one year of free rent as vendors at the Downtown&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":32848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[64,607,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-32847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-entrepreneurship","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114784230097237304","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}