BB2C Business Perspective: Combined Insurance/John Bowling

When the Epicenter, a youth and entrepreneurial development center in Armory Square, opened three businesses waited in the wings to move in and begin incubating their business. To be a part of the business incubator a business must agree to one caveat: they have to be willing to work with students. Job shadowing, internships, and problem based projects are a few of the ways businesses can engage with students.

One of those businesses was Combined Insurance led locally by John Bowling. They were getting ready to leave their old location when the opportunity presented itself to become a member of the Epicenter. John Bowling, a district manager, felt the timing was perfect.

During the interview process,  Mr. Bowling stated his intentions of growing his team from four employees to twelve in a short period of time. Just a little over a month after moving into the Epicenter, he has already increased his team of four to a team of nine. He is well on his way to achieving his goal.

John told Peyton Neely from The Marietta Times: "There are several big things to like about the Epicenter," he said. "The job shadowing and the community involvement is just what we are looking for. We want to help the young people look at different career choices."

The Combined Insurance team met early on with a group of students from the entrepreneur class at Marietta High School to brainstorm programming ideas and have already utilized working with Lizzie Lehman, our Epicenter intern from the high school.

John is working hard to achieve has goal while supporting the career development efforts of Building Bridges to Careers. Combined Insurance is incubating, working with students, and having an impact on our community. Come and meet them at our ribbon cutting and open house on Mar. 22, from 3:30pm-5:30pm at 241 Front St. in Armory Square.