Mary Doyen and Peg Lippens have made some pretty savvy decisions for a couple of new business owners. “We had students who were completing school and not taking the certification…

The early days of the pandemic were tough on Carlton Briggs and his Emmanuel Barbershop. They were really tough on his customers. "This culture – although we’ll cut all hair…

Riley and Jennifer Justis had always dreamed of owning a bookstore. The pandemic gave them more time to dream. And plan. And make it happen. When they decided to go…

  Messersmith Manufacturing of Bark River, Mich., designs, manufactures and installs biomass boiler systems. Messersmith was incorporated in 1982 by Gailyn and Valerie Messersmith and is celebrating its 40th anniversary…

Amy McKinley has run businesses before and even has a degree in business. But she knows enough about business to know she doesn’t know enough. When she was looking for…

Ted Linabury wrote his first business plan in high school. It was for custom rollercoasters rich people could build in their yards. The second one, in college, was for a…

Javier Olvera has a simple reason for being in the grocery business: People eat three times a day. And, during the pandemic, they started eating at home a lot more.…

The sweet smells of cinnamon and apples waft through a northside Battle Creek neighborhood that is traditionally one of the poorest in the state. A former grocery store has been…

Mallowfields Grand Rapids, Michigan Jessa Challa, CEO of Mallowfields, combines her passion for GIS with her passion for uplifting minority-owned businesses Jessa Challa is having a blast discovering places to…