Gossett, Emergent named Best Young Entrepreneurs

Jesse Gossett The year 2009 has been a good year for Stanwood High School graduate Jesse Gossett.

The 23-year-old entrepreneur’s alternative energy consulting firm, Emergent Energy Group, has grown from a college-inspired conception to a profitable company.

His efforts, and the efforts of his business partners, are not going unnoticed.

Not only was Emergent profiled as a finalist in BusinessWeek’s annual Best Young Entrepreneurs contest out of 600 entries, the group gained the most votes out of the top 25 finalists during a recent online poll.

“We’re all very surprised by the news,” said Gossett. “This is really an example of grassroots and personal connections winning over anonymous volume.”

Emergent relied on a strong following among their communities, friends and families to get the word out, compared to many of the companies who operate online and have a massive amount of traffic to their Web sites, he said.

By the end of the voting period on Nov. 2, approximately 13,000 votes were cast. Emergent received 1,511 votes, nearly 500 more than the next finalist.

Gossett believes Emergent stood out as the only energy company in the competition.

“People buy into the vision that we push,” he said.

The competition gives Emergent added exposure in the business world and helps provide a level of credibility for the company, whose owners are all under the age of 25.

More information on Emergent and links to BusinessWeek’s competition can be found at www.emergentgroup. com.