What's New in the Blog

Jeffrey on the road to the Lansing Center for the SBDC awards. 

Michael Rogers, vice president communications for the Small Business Association of Michigan, interviews Doug Callahan, president/CEO/owner MMI Engineered Solutions (MMI ES), a member of the Michigan 50 Companies to Watch.

Michael Rogers, vice president communications for the Small Business Association of Michigan, talks with John Truscott, co-owner of Michigan 50 Companies to Watch winner Truscott-Rossman. John Truscott and Kelly Rossman-McKinney joined forces to form Truscott-Rossman in January 2011, after individually setting decades-long track records that consistently put them at the top of the biennial MIRS/EPIC-MRA survey of state Capitol insiders. They’ve been ranked the two most effective public relations professionals in 2004, 2007, 2009, 2011 and again in 2013. As a full-service public relations agency, Truscott Rossman represents local, statewide and nationwide clients from its offices in Lansing, Grand Rapids and Detroit. TR provides the full spectrum of communications services, including issues management, crisis communication, new media, ballot initiatives, community relations, government affairs and grassroots initiatives.

Michigan Celebrates Small Business

Excerpts from the 2016 Michigan Celebrates Small Business annual dinner, including 2016 Michigan Small Business Innovation Award, 2016 Main Street USA Award, thanking of the partners and sponsors on the evening, then back in for the second half of the evening after the dinner. Then the acknowledgment of the founding partners and introduction of Sherri Jones, who formally announces Michigan 50 Companies to Watch award winners for this year.

Michigan Celebrates Small Business - Inspiring Progress and Prosperity.

Contract Professionals, Inc

Certified by the National Veterans Business Development Council (NVBDC) as veteran owned, Contract Professionals, Inc. (CPI) is a DoD cleared, ISO certified, ITAR compliant global staffing company with over 33 years of operating history. Founded in 1982, CPI has extensive experience providing services to aerospace, automotive, defense, industrial, information technology, manufacturing and telecommunication industries.

Mrs. Glee's

Seeking alternative markets for the Michigan produced navy bean; a group discovered that the gluten-free food market was in need of products with more protein and fiber. When navy beans were converted to flour, it was shown to be very adaptable as a base ingredient for a number of gluten free products.

Coastal Automotive

Clarence Martin was one of Coastal Automotive’s three founders in January of 2008.  A Massachusetts native, he earned his Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Massachusetts.  Martin has over 17 years’ experience in the international automotive and manufacturing industry, serving as a Director of Purchasing, Quality Engineer, Field Engineer, and his current role as President of Coastal Automotive.

Motawi Tileworks

Nawal Motawi founded Motawi Tileworks in 1992. A University of Michigan art school graduate with a restless spirit and an interest in applied arts, Nawal moved to Detroit to learn tilemaking at Detroit’s storied Pewabic Pottery. She returned to Ann Arbor after just two years to begin making her own tiles in a garage studio and selling them from a stand she rented at the local farmers market.

Named 2016 Innovation Award Winner

ContentOro was founded in 2014 by Bob Chunn to address a problem he had while attempting to attract and engage customers online. “Finding a freelancer or company to write for my sites was a time consuming and expensive proposition. The writing was inauthentic and usually written to promote keywords versus delivering value to my end consumer.”

Bob knew there had to be a better way.