Peter Groverman rolls up to the Centennial Café at the historic Ohio House in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park, the place his entrepreneur/developer father restored and now serves as a sort of family home base, on a late winter afternoon. Emerging from his vehicle wearing a sharp blazer, wide open collared shirt and Villanova skull cap, Groverman moves fast and talks faster.
For Groverman, there’s lots to do, lots to see. The Villanova Law School grad isn’t into billable hours. Since his time at the University of Miami, where he started making money by connecting underage partygoers with some of the hottest clubs on South Beach, Groverman has exhibited all the signs of a card-carrying global entrepreneur.
Since then, Groverman’s entrepreneurial pursuits have taken on more weight, like the RELIEF Foundation he started to provide assistance in Haiti to victims of the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake there. He managed to round up 120 volunteers for the relief effort, including UM students and even the mayor of Coral Gables, Fla.
Beyond this humanitarian effort, Groverman is heading up separate ventures involving what he believes are two tickets to prosperity and success in the U.S. and abroad – exports and gamification. Representing the former is Grovara, an international distributor of US agricultural supplies and food products that connects American manufacturers with global distributors. Points.ly represents the latter venture, a gamification platform still a few months away from being ready thatGroverman hopes will transform sectors like education and healthcare.
Creating a Social Reality
So how did Groverman, 29, go from party-hopping frat boy in Miami to chaser of the 21st century American dream?
“You’d never think there’s a connection there. It’s just me being social,” says Groverman, who has shelved his other well-known venture, online ad sales platform Tapinko, a member of DreamIt Ventures' inaugural class. “My definition of an entrepreneur is someone who takes passion in fixing problems. I’ve learned the best way to fix problems is build teams who can help you.
“You can’t fix every problem by yourself. That’s kind of where the RELIEF Foundation came into the picture.”
Groverman easily rounded up 120 people for that first relief mission in Haiti. Since that trip, RELIEF was in Georgia last May following a brutal tornado and in Japan last April after the tragic tsunami there. Now the foundation, which specifically aids in disaster relief from the earth’s forces, is back in Haiti producing a documentary about its rebuilding of the Mayor’s office in Port Au Prince. Groverman also is working on rebuilding the American economy.
Exporting Dreams
At the start of 2010 President Obama announced a goal of doubling the nation’s exports within five years. U.S. exports are improving, especially to China, but nowhere near that goal, and not because Made in the USA carries less weight than it once did. Rather, Groverman contends, exporting is not a glamorous or even widely accessible business to break in to.
“(Most companies) never had a reason to export. It seems shady, scary and hard,” says Groverman. “Every country has (barriers), but they’re no different than barriers to opening a café in Fairmount Park.
“You don’t even need a law degree. I’m now working with my best friends. Anyone can do this.”
Groverman founded Grovara with Sierra Leone native Abu Kamara, the company president who works with Groverman in Philadelphia along with a half-dozen mostly local salespeople and travels around the world. Kamara met Groverman at Parc in Rittenhouse Square after hearing him pontificate about business in a crowd and seeking an introduction.
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