Creating prosperous communities and thriving businesses

Lori Olsen is delighted with one benefit of owning a business – the jump in her confidence. “I’m doing things I never thought I’d do,”…

Curtis Smith is sure of one thing: There will always be garbage. Smith has worked nearly a decade in waste hauling and recycling. He opened…

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,”…

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…

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.…

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…

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.…

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,…

  “Northern Initiatives saw the potential we saw and was the first lender who helped us ... You are the ones who made this happen.”…