JCDC Woodworks is a natural fit for Craig Greening.
He inherited a love of woodcraft from his woodworker grandfather. He learned compassionate respect for people with disabilities from his sister who had Downs Syndrome.
Greening has been working with individuals with disabilities for 37 years. He now serves as the executive director for the not-for-profit Jackson County Developmental Center (JCDC), headquartered in Millwood. JCDC’s mission is to support and employ people with disabilities.
With Small Business Saturday quickly approaching, WV SBDC business coach Sharon Stratton is determined to make the 10th annual Small Business Saturday a success. Since 2010, Americans have celebrated Small Business Saturday and an estimated 108 million consumers have shopped on Small Business Saturday, making it one of the most impactful days of the year for small business owners.
Small Business Saturday falls on Nov. 30 this year. The event was created to raise awareness of how important it is to support small businesses not only during the holiday season but year-round.
Did you know, small business enterprises employ a whopping 49.2% of the private workforce in West Virginia?
Our small businesses count on you, especially during the upcoming holiday season. The tenth annual Shop Small Saturday on Nov. 30 is your chance to show your local community support. Here’s how:
Morgantown was Josh Bennett’s home while he attended West Virginia University in 2006, but the distance between the college town and the farm he grew up on in Highland County, Virginia stretched further than the 150 miles of country roads separating the two locations. As far as Bennett was concerned, city living, and farm life were a world apart.
Bennett had a genuine passion for agriculture and couldn’t wait to get back to his roots once he finished studying horticulture at WVU.
“All I knew was that when I got out of college, I wanted work with agricultural products,” he said. “I wanted the agrarian lifestyle.”
Bennett only needed to find a way to make it all work.
Psychopath Escape Room opens in Raleigh County
What started as a whim for escapist fun grew into a business adventure.
Philip and Paul Akers are member managers and Nikki and Belinda Akers are members of Psychopath Escape Room LLC in Mount Hope.
Bluefield café owner transitions from employee to entrepreneur with help from WV SBDC.
Nicole Coeburn had a respectable career working in a community she loved. But like many millennials she yearned for more.
Having grown up in a family of entrepreneurs, Coeburn wanted to own a small business like her grandmother, father and uncles before her. But starting a business is easier said than done. And like many young professionals looking to take the leap, she still had a day job. How would she make a clean break and pursue her dream? And where would she even start?
A new automotive service store, Ziebart, opened its doors last Friday, August 9th in Morgantown. The store offers automotive services including undercoating, rust protection, rhino-lining, detailing, window tint, ceramic paint protection. The franchise is owned by twin brothers Mark and Nick Lambie. The West Virginia Small Business Development Center (WV SBDC) assisted with:
Imagine how confident you would feel knowing that your business is positioned to be successful for years to come. With profits rolling in, you could focus on strategically growing your company. Whatever plans you have for taking your business to the next level, the West Virginia Small Business Development Center can help you come up with a plan, get results and make more money in the process.
RXbyTel Pharmacy in Charleston reopens after owner comes out of retirement.
After a successful career as a pharmacist, Walter Moore should be playing a round of golf right about now. But you won’t find him on the greens, decked out in Titleist apparel and celebrating retirement with a victory cigar. Instead, he’ll go into work on Monday, put on his white coat and spend his morning filling prescriptions behind the counter at his pharmacy.
“I was retired for seven years and I would look back on my time as a pharmacist and see how much I took it for granted,” Moore, 70, said. “I’ve got a new outlook on life.”
Buckhannon Lanes had been a recreational fixture in Upshur County for 56 years. Now teens, friends and family can continue to have a ball in the same spot, updated under new owners as Woody’s Bowling Center.
Opened in 1962 by the Archer family, the bowling business was purchased by the Archer sisters and their husbands in 1974. Upshur County natives Cemantha and her husband Ron Woody purchased the second-generation family-owned bowling alley in 2018.
The couple had a vision of what they wanted to achieve. They’re getting it done, with a little coaching from the West Virginia Small Business Development Center and investment from BCBank.
