“Next Great Idea” (NGI) Oswego County Business Competition announced Ed Alberts and his business WIRED Telecom winner of the competition for the 2018 year, as of Sept. 18.

The ceremony was held at the Lake Ontario Event and Conference Center in Oswego and marked the end of the extensive competition.

Alberts and WIRED are the conclusion to a long, multi-step competition aimed at bolstering entrepreneurism and small businesses in Oswego County. NGI and its sponsors work to provide the support and funding that local entrepreneurs need to get their businesses started. The competition is run on the basis that the community will benefit when they help locals get a start on their dreams.

NGI is focused on bolstering the local economy. The sponsors, such as Richard S. Shineman Foundation, Operation Oswego County, the County of Oswego Industrial Development Agency, New York Business Development Corporation, Oswego State, Lake Ontario Event and Conference Center, Small Business Development Center at SUNY Oswego, Pathfinder Bank, National Grid, C&S Companies, Greater Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce, Centerstate CEO, Chirello Advertising and Oswego County Business Magazine are all locally based. The judges of the competition were local choices as well, with expertise in fields from operations, management, financing and entrepreneurship.

WIRED is located in Oswego and is run by Alberts and his business partner Ryan Baldwin. WIRED started when Alberts could not find reliable IT service for his own business. From that WIRED became an in-house solution that Alberts said he hopes to expand to help other businesses locally and eventually nationwide find reliable, standardized IT and communication services.

“We are thrilled to have been selected for the $50,000 Next Great Idea award,” Alberts said. “[We] will use it to grow our team with local job opportunities and training for installers and IT support professionals.”

Alberts will receive the $50,000 as he presents to the competition invoices or receipts to display need when he will then receive reimbursement for the money spent.

“That way we can ensure the funding is being used for appropriate uses,” said Oswego County Deputy Director Austin Wheelock. “We will check in with them over the first three years to see what kinds of obstacles they are running into and if there are ways we can help to meet their goals.”

Alberts’ other business interests he held prior to NGI include being the president/CEO and owner of Little Lukes Preschool and Childcare Centers in Oswego and Syracuse as well as being the owner of RELAX The Spa, which is in Rochester, New York.

The creators of NGI hope competitions develop a culture of innovation and entrepreneurism in Oswego County to improve the quality of life for residents overall by bringing in the needed innovation, businesses and services to the area.

Baldwin and Alberts won because the judges said they felt WIRED and the men behind the business are representative of this culture. What began as a solution to their own problem has since expanded to help business owners and community members around them who may be struggling with the same problem.

WIRED Telecom is currently based in Oswego, New York. Alberts has been owner of the company for three years, and now with the help of NGI funding, he hopes to expand his business first to the East Coast and then across the nation.

Photo provided by Austin Wheelock