Success Stories
Creating prosperous communities and thriving businesses
Featured Success Stories
All Success Stories
Kaila and Daniel Ball, newly married during the pandemic, had dreams of something fresh, away from metro Detroit. “We had plans to move to Oregon,”…
Story
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…
Story
The early days of the pandemic were tough on Carlton Briggs and his Emmanuel Barbershop. They were really tough on his customers. "This culture –…
Story
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.…
Story
Messersmith Manufacturing of Bark River, Mich., designs, manufactures and installs biomass boiler systems. Messersmith was incorporated in 1982 by Gailyn and Valerie Messersmith and…
Story
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.…
Story
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,…
Story
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…
Story
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…
Story
