Programs News
SBDC Names Business Startups That Are "Most Likely to Succeed"
Three small businesses in South Carolina have been named a “2007 Business Startup Most Likely to Succeed” by the University of South Carolina’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC). The owners of the businesses are recent clients of the SBDC, which helps small-business startup ventures and assists in their continued growth.
The business owners are Debra Stringfield, owner of Central Carolina Performing Arts Center in Batesburg, S.C.; Joe Gilmore, owner of Gilmore Consulting Services in Blythewood, S.C.; and Paul and Abigail Vella, co-owners of Paul’s Philadelphia Eatery in Columbia.
The winners were announced by James. R. “Bob” Pettit, SBDC’s Midlands Area Manager, whose office is located in the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. The SBDC has three other offices at universities around the state -- at Clemson, Winthrop, and South Carolina State -- and works under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Stringfield’s center teaches dance to children three years and up. She has more than two decades of dance instructor experience.
Gilmore’s company provides digital thermal imaging for homes and businesses, a process that pinpoints air leaks in buildings, thereby providing an opportunity to save money on heating and cooling costs.
Paul and Abigail Vella’s new restaurant is “bringing a taste of Philadelphia to Columbia.” All menu items, they say, “are prepared on site with the freshest ingredients.”
Pettit, who helped all four owners with their business plans and other startup issues, told attendees at a Rotary Club luncheon earlier this month in Columbia that the University of South Carolina’s SBDC held 111 workshops in 2007 for 2,000 aspiring entrepreneurs. In addition to providing start-up guidance, the SBDC sponsors special-purpose programs and continuing education seminars.
Jan Collins
February 2008