Knowledge, Networking and Persistence Bring Disaster Relief to Mid-Georgia Manufacturer

MF&H Textiles is Taylor County’s largest single-point private employer with nearly 50 employees. Its 19-acre campus between Columbus and Macon was dead in the path of Hurricane Irma on September 11, 2017. Irma’s gale force winds damaged the roof surface of MF&H’s main production facility. “Irma ripped off 20 percent of the synthetic roofing membrane […]

A UGA-Assisted Doggy Day Care and Dog Treat Bakery in Savannah is Thriving

When Tonya and Nick Rintye decided to open a day care and boarding facility for dogs, they went to the UGA Small Business Development Center (UGA SBDC) in Savannah for assistance. They learned right away that they needed more than an idea to start a business. “I didn’t have any money to put down on a […]

Dogged Determination Results in Veterinary Practice for UGA Graduate

Dr. Jennifer Peterson of Firehall 4 Animal Hospital

When Jennifer Peterson was young, her father, an architect, would draw designs for the veterinary practice she hoped to own someday. While enrolled in the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine, she participated in what was then a new program—an entrepreneurial rotation that teaches teach future vets how to run a business. Peterson was among the first […]

Finance And Marketing Assistance Put Tour Operator On The Path To Rapid Growth

Tour bus parked in vibrant green grass; vineyards extend into the background behind bus

VIP Tours president Christina Ernst is a seasoned travel agent who grew up in White County. So when the chamber of commerce leadership, county commissioners and local winery owners were looking at how to attract visitors to the region, they invited her to join their meeting. “They wanted advice on what was possible and how […]

Updated Financials, Better Data Land Loan for Valdosta Wake Compound

Valdosta State University students Luke Tilt and Quinn Silvernale competed together on the university’s wake boarding team. Tilt was required for his business class to develop a plan for an imaginary new company. So he wrote a plan modeled after the cable parks they had visited in Europe and Florida. Wake boarding, for the uninitiated, […]

Best Practices in Business Help Dunwoody-based Special Education Practice Expand

Man in suit and woman in black shirt stand in front of large green foliage

Becky Lamont dedicated the first 17 years of her career serving public school districts as a special education teacher and administrator, rising to program manager in the Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia. The district—the size of Georgia’s DeKalb and Gwinnett school systems combined—had 300 autism classrooms in the program she managed using research-based practices […]

Creative Approach Restores Bank’s Interest in Hephzibah Automotive Shop

Four cars parked outside warehouse

Muscle cars are Doug Springer’s passion. A registered nurse who sells medical devices from Augusta, he admits he has owned almost every make and model of hot rod made in the last 30 years. Those vintage beauties are often in need of restoration, but that only drives his passion further. “I grew up in Oklahoma, […]