By Cliff Peale
The Cincinnati Enquirer

DOWNTOWN - Sandra Daniels hasn't lived in Greater Cincinnati for long, having moved from California early this year to run her dessert catering business, Embrace Sweets.

But an hour into the Chamber Expo presented Wednesday morning by the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, she already had collected several dozen business cards from prospective customers.

Starting up a business in a new city is "a little trying," says Daniels. "But we're supplying desserts to some restaurants in the area, and for some special events."

Building businesses one customer at a time was the theme for about 175 businesses that manned booths in the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center.

Kicked off with a speech from University of Kentucky basketball coach Tubby Smith and split by a luncheon honoring the chamber's small-business award winners, the event had something for everybody.

In his talk about leadership, Smith recalled an early interest taken in him by a middle-school basketball coach. "From that point on, I always wanted to teach, and I always wanted to coach," he said.

The expo also featured an autograph session with Smith, exercise led by the SparkPeople online fitness company, and companies offering food. Desserts, such as the cookies at Daniels' booth, were particularly popular.

Participants also learned:

• The city of Cincinnati's Development and Permit Center opened last week at 3300 Central Parkway, Clifton. Most permits can be processed while the customer waits, and the center opens at 7:30 a.m., said Chad Munitz, the city's development director.

• Cincinnati Creates Companies - a partnership among the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Bio/Start, CincyTechUSA and the Hamilton County Business Center - is up and running, said Dorothy Air, associate senior vice president for entrepreneurial affairs at UC. The program can offer planning and networking help plus seed grants starting at $25,000. See www.cincinnaticreatescompanies.org for more information.

E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com